Don’t speak Italian? Well, you needn’t know how to speak Italian in order to take part in caffe sospeso, an international initiative that coffee lovers are taking part in world wide.
The Italian phrase literally translates into ‘suspended
coffee’, and was born in Naples over a century ago, where baristas would allow
patrons to pay twice for one item, leaving the second paid-for item ‘in
suspense’; somebody of lesser privilege could later ask the barista if there
was anything in suspense, to which the barista would prepare the paid-for item.
This tradition spread over much of Italy over the last
century, and has recently moved onto neighbouring countries such Bulgaria and
Austria, and even as far as the United States.
This simple act of kindness has become a form of competition
between some magnanimous coffee drinkers, who try to out-suspend their coffee
dates; this trend has spread to encompassing not only coffees, but also
pastries and entire hot meals.
Through glamorising generosity, coffee house patrons have
provided many homeless and underprivileged people with enough sustenance to
survive the cold winters of Europe and North America, with tough economic times
resulting in more and more people being forced out of secure jobs.
Photograph: Washington Post
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