This is the best idea I've heard in weeks: the caffè sospeso--a coffee "on hold." It showed up on Facebook yesterday in the form of an anecdote:
"We enter a little coffeehouse with a friend of mine and give our order. While we're approaching our table two people come in and they go to the counter -'Five coffees, please. Two of them for us and three suspended'
They pay for their order, take the two and leave. I ask my friend: 'What are those 'suspended' coffees?'
'Wait for it and you will see'
A man dressed in shabby clothes who looks like a beggar comes in through the door and kindly asks, 'Do you have a suspended coffee ?'
It's simple - people pay in advance for a coffee meant for someone who can not afford a warm beverage. The tradition with the suspended coffees started in Naples, but it has spread all over the world and in some places you can order not only a suspended coffee, but also a sandwich or a whole meal."
Turns out it's a real thing, and not just in Italy, either.
(We sometimes see this phenomenon as the bizarre "Pay it Forward" gesture at toll plazas; this is different.)
Are you listening, Uncle Howard?
Leave a comment