Would you buy a suspended coffee?

Picture: gwblogspot.blogspot.com (through Google)

Along with their usual cappuccino, Londoners can now buy a ‘suspended coffee’.

Is it a new taste of coffee we are talking about? Not really. 

It is a hot cup of goodwill, instead.

The ‘suspended coffee’, in fact, is either a coffee or any other hot beverage people pay for but do not drink. This very special cup is reserved for someone who cannot afford to pay for their own.

The idea was born in Naples (Italy), a decade ago and thanks to social networks, hundreds of cafés around the world have joined the scheme.

More than 150 venues across the UK have signed up to the initiative at the end of March.

There is a ‘suspended coffee’ website in development and an already popular Facebook page, counting more than 45 thousands ‘likes’.

“It is a fantastic idea and the recipients are thrilled,” said Hettie Clarke, manager of Coffee7 in Forrest Gate, London.

There are concerns about people taking advantage of the scheme, that, at present, is entirely based on good faith. Anyone can enter a café and ask for a ‘suspended coffee’; they are unlikely to be asked for credentials.

“We’re not going to make judgments. If you can say, ‘here is a suspended coffee, from us to you’, you feel like you are doing good, but it is not too in your face,” Ms Clarke added.

Meanwhile, other British coffee shops are thinking of offering ‘suspended food’ as well, such as cookies or sandwiches homeless and broke people could enjoy along with their ‘special coffee’.