Cafés join scheme to provide ‘suspended’ coffees

Three Galway City cafes are among a network of 1,800 coffee shops across 20 countries which give customers the chance to buy a ‘suspended’ coffee for somebody down on their luck.

The Suspended Coffees scheme, founded by unemployed Cork plumber John Sweeney, was borne out of a tradition which began in Naples, Italy.

Legend has it that if a citizen of Naples happened upon good fortune, they would buy themselves a coffee and an extra cup which was suspended for someone less fortunate. The ‘barista’ or coffee maker would keep a log of any extra paid-for coffees and when anyone who had fallen on hard times would enquire about a suspended coffee, it was duly served and chalked off the ledger.

The national tradition ‘Caffè Sospeso’ continued until Mussolini’s downfall.

John read about the resurrection of the practice in a blog by a visitor who watched as a succession of customers both donated and redeemed the suspended coffee, no questions asked.

The father-of-four had suffered an industrial injury and was out of work for months. He decided to use his free time to reignite the scheme by setting up a Facebook page and ringing cafes to sign up.

“I thought it was a fantastic idea. My goal was to get two or three cafes on board. Then all of a sudden it blew up in a way I could never have imagined. It’s been a really big journey. Things have really taken off.”

For nearly two years, John has worked on the project almost full-time, with the Facebook Page at last count attracting 280,000 followers. The website is full of stories where people do acts of kindness and quotes that may help brighten up someone’s day.

There are plans to develop other aspects to the project that will benefit people down on their luck. With the whiff of bad press about charities still in the air, John is keen to stress that he will never take a penny out of the venture, which is run completely by volunteers.

“People say what good is a cup of coffee when somebody is homeless, hungry and cold. But it’s much bigger than a cup of coffee. If somebody is going to the bother of buying a coffee for someone else it could start something else,” John explains.

“The most simple act of kindness can have the largest affect, just a hello or a smile can have a huge impact. There’s quite a big homeless population in Cork and I make it my business to go and talk to homeless people and bring them for a coffee and ask how are they. You can see the look in their eyes, it gives them a small bit of hope,” he said.

The three Galway cafes which take part in the scheme are Pura Vida on Quay Street, Java John’s on Francis Street and Coco Café on Eyre Street. The Mobile Brew Crew which travels to different locations has also signed up.

Rob Kenny in Pura Vida has been offering customers the chance to buy a coffee and put one on the slate since Aummer 2013.

“It was very popular when we started out. At one point we had 26-30 coffees rung up, then people started to ask for them,” he said.

“It’s funny we’ve noticed a lot of people asking for the coffees are from Dublin – also a few of the lads from the Fairgreen [homeless hostel]. At the moment we probably do between five and 10 coffees a week, we’ve 18 on the slate at the minute.”

Cafes which are not being asked for the suspended coffees can donate the money to a charity of their choice, with many Irish ones choosing to give the money to the Simon Community.

“We have one café in Waterford where the owner Aoife goes out to actively look for people to give the coffees to. Another one knows his customers so if Mike down the road has been looking for a job for six months or there’s a single mother of three who comes in, they shout it.

“Or it could just be somebody who’s had a really bad day. That happened in Australia. A businessman who saw something in his own house he didn’t want to see left to walk the streets. He went to get a coffee and discovered he had no wallet. He was about to leave when the guy behind the counter offered him a suspended coffee.

“He later returned and bought $800 of suspended coffees. That’s what it’s all about – starting something bigger than just buying a coffee.”