If a needy person cannot afford a cup of coffee, he can count on a portion of an invigorating drink, pre-paid for by a well-wisher. Hanging coffee (caffesospeso) is a social welfare tradition that originated in Neapolitan coffee houses more than a hundred years ago. Nowadays, in cafes, this method of charity is becoming especially popular among visitors.
Hanging coffee - what is it?
Suspended coffee is also called “sospeso” or “Naples” coffee. The tradition originated in Naples and was called “caffe sospeso” there, which in loose translation is closer to “paid”, but in Russia it was somehow first called “suspended”, probably from the verb “sospender”, “to hang”, and since then Since then it has been known by that name.
The idea behind hanging coffee is that anyone who is in a good mood and ready to share their joy with the world can order coffee not only for themselves, but also for a hypothetical stranger who is less fortunate in life and cannot pay for their own coffee . That is, you pay for two cups of coffee, but receive one. The second remains, as it were, suspended, held. Poor and homeless people can ask the barista if there is sospaso coffee, and if they do, they get it for free.
The Neapolitan tradition is losing relevance
In Italy, the ancient tradition of Naples is now practiced less and less. More often, Italians began to make free treats for their acquaintances, friends or colleagues. And the owners of coffee shops and bars confirm that this form of helping the poor is gradually becoming a thing of the past.
Previously, many beggars needed some kind of help, so hanging coffee for the poor was like a breath of air. Now almost every resident of Naples is able to pay for a cup of espresso. And for idle people who want to treat themselves at someone else’s expense, they stopped giving them a drink.
Sospeso coffee then and now
In fact, for 15 years now this initiative in Naples has not worked in the same form as before. And when someone “gives” coffee, it is done for acquaintances, neighbors, colleagues, those who go to the same bar or coffee shop. Something similar to our “bottle of wine for the next table,” that is, the desire to treat someone specific.
But the tradition has spread all over the world; it is regularly remembered by both domestic and foreign media as a story of endless human kindness, sharing, understanding that someone cannot afford the simplest pleasures, and they need to be helped simply because You can.
December 10 is Suspended Coffee Day around the world. A kind of day of kindness.
In Naples, literally a few coffee shops join in the celebration, and in Europe there are usually more. In Russia, not all cafes support the initiative, but it is quite possible to find such ones.
Introduction of innovations in domestic institutions
In Russia, the tradition of buying coffee for other coffee shop visitors arose in 2005. Then this was widely discussed in the media and social networks. Coffee shops in Moscow and St. Petersburg immediately supported this initiative. Several hundred of these establishments gave low-income people a chance to drink espresso for free.
It is worth noting that the Russian people decided to approach tradition in an inventive way. They began to hang not only coffee drinks, but also alcohol.
It was noted that in the territory of only one of the Moscow coffee shop chains, about 800 portions were paid during the year . As a rule, this was done by regular visitors. Older people often used the prepaid service. In areas where universities are located nearby, it was usually students who removed and hung up drinks.
Why do people like to "hang" their coffee?
In the rhythm of modern life, it is not so easy to find an opportunity to be merciful, to bring joy to a stranger just like that. At the same time, this need exists in people, and that is why the tradition unexpectedly took root. In addition, young people like to follow unusual traditions and attract attention, and the offer to “hang up the coffee,” which at first caused a lot of surprise among the baristas, created a special image of a person paying for coffee sospeso.
Sospeso coffee is an opportunity to feel like part of the world’s goodness. Give freely without expecting gratitude from a stranger.
“A cup of aromatic drink is waiting for you”
This phrase expresses the desire of every caring person to help people who do not have much income. Some of them cannot always afford even such a small thing as a small portion of an invigorating drink. The hanging coffee system helps some people become kinder, while others, without demanding anything in return, get a little help and feel that they are not alone.
The tradition of coffee shops in Naples quickly spread to many European countries. 17 states supported the idea of such social assistance for low-income people. 162 officially registered companies participate in the caffe sospeso network.
History of Sospeso coffee in Russia
When the media wave began in 2005, many cafeterias, especially in large cities, began to offer interest in leaving coffee for others. Thus, in just one chain, “Coffein,” more than 700 cups of coffee were “suspended” in a couple of years. What’s interesting is that in the center of Moscow the same regular visitors did this, and older people “took” the coffee. In a coffee shop located near the university, young people were “hanging” and “taking down” drinks.
At first, more than 100 establishments in the capital participated in the program, but after 2-3 years there were literally a few of them left. The same anonymity and gift without hope of gratitude, which pleased at first, then began to be felt by people as futility. It’s one thing to send a cocktail to the next table, and receive, if not a phone number, then at least smiles and acquaintance, and another thing to regularly treat coffee to the less fortunate and those who rely on others.
Later, most coffee shops simply abandoned this initiative. No one was interested in the hanging coffee, and no one suggested leaving the coffee sospeso. The promotion was attractive at first, but then the fashion passed.
Charity in Russian
There is an opinion that the tradition should have taken root thoroughly in Russia. After all, everyone wants to prove themselves to be kind, generous, and merciful. Hanging coffee in Russian is a broad gesture of our soul. Giving someone else joy, albeit small, is worth a lot. And it’s easy to overpay for your cappuccino or latte. It is much more difficult to transfer money, especially in large amounts, to charitable foundations.
It’s convenient: no one asks about your wealth in an expensive cafe. Employees of coffee shops note that older people spend time drinking an invigorating drink, and sometimes students come in. Sospeso just gives a piece of warmth, it gives hope for the future. A person, having become wealthy, will then also buy coffee for others. Of course, this is not a lot of support, but it means that there are people nearby who don’t know you but can help.
Where to leave or drink suspended coffee in Russia today?
Despite fashion trends, there are always people who care about those less fortunate. And today there are bars and cafeterias where you can join the global action or get a free cup of coffee left by a kind stranger.
In Moscow:
- Chain "Caffeine";
- Chain "Artemy Lebedev's Cafe";
- Cafe in the Hermitage garden “Veranda 32.05”;
- Bar on Barrikadnaya “Red Espresso Bar”.
In St. Petersburg:
- Vegetarian cafe "Ukrop" on Mayakovskaya;
- Vegetarian cafe Samadeva (metro Nevsky Prospekt);
- Cafe and museum "Republic of Cats" on Admiralteyskaya.
Difference of opinion
Many skeptics see such solidarity as short-lived. In their opinion, a number of reasons may hinder the full development of such a movement:
- In our country, a cup of coffee is much more expensive than an Italian portion. Therefore, not many people “suspend” an invigorating drink.
- There are many more people who want to treat themselves to such coffee than there are people who want to give a fragrant drink to strangers.
- Portions of suspended coffee can be stolen by the staff of coffee shops and cafes.
- The cafes will be visited by homeless people. Their presence will scare off regular customers.
Not everyone shares the opinion of this category of people. Many people believe that if a person often visits an expensive cafe, then a cup of suspended coffee will not affect his well-being. For the poor and homeless, you can offer takeaway coffee in paper cups. All these problems are solvable; if only there was a desire to selflessly do good for strangers. Anyone who wants to do a good deed for a random person has a good opportunity - when entering a cafe, “give” him a cup of invigorating coffee.
Not charity
The moderator of the Ukrainian online magazine “Open Palms” Zurab Alasania insists that this is not charity. “People for people: for nothing, just like that, from the heart, from the heart and as a gift.” Not a handout, not helping the homeless, just a “hello” that is conveyed on a gloomy morning or “out of a good mood” in any weather.
For me, “hanging” Corvalol in a pharmacy does not raise any questions: the meaning of this action is obvious. Hanging up coffee for 50 rubles is truly a “social game”, in other words, entertainment. If I want to do charity work for that amount, I will most likely transfer it to one of the charitable foundations via SMS (fortunately, the Internet is full of descriptions of such opportunities).
Leaving “Kofein” on Sretensky on Sunday evening, I asked if the coffee I had left had been taken away. “It’s not evening yet,” they answered me: the coffee continued to hang. Since he continued to hang alone, I hung a second one: suddenly the “pure grandmothers” will come together, or, even better, the grandmother will come with her beloved grandfather.
Robot Budya is calling you
He'll wake you up at dawn
- Wake up, sleepyhead!
— a gentle female voice on the phone coaxes. - Let me tell you a riddle now to make sure that you are actually awake? They can get you out of bed with song. The essence of the “social alarm clock” project is simple: if you don’t want to wake up to the tired sound of your alarm clock, there is an alternative: a person will wake you up. Free by phone. And then you wake someone up yourself, although this is not necessary. The authors of the Budist project position themselves as a new social network. To use the service, you need to register on the website https://www.budist.ru/ and set an alarm for the desired day, indicating the time. That's all.
The volunteer wake-up caller or wake-up caller will call you not directly, but through the Budista automatic telephone exchange - this is so that none of you will receive a bill. The service is free, even if Sonya snores in Vladivostok, and his wake-up call is from Kaliningrad. Or - from Zanzibar, there are no geographical restrictions. Sometimes it is even more convenient from Zanzibar, given the difference in time zones.
However, if you are woken up by calling your mobile phone, there is a risk of being in roaming. Then the operator will issue the invoice to you.
And you also cannot determine the phone number of the caller - this is in case the voice of the interlocutor (interlocutor) charms so much that you want to continue acquaintance. Although you can try to find an awakener through the Budista website or on social networks. If on some morning there are more people in need of a wake-up call than there are wake-up callers, then “Robot Budyu” is involved in the process.
“But this doesn’t happen often,” says Arseny, project manager. — We hire “Budu” only during peak loads.
The project is led by a team of 15 people, not counting the robot. The service was used by 600 thousand people. Up to 80% of clients are from Russia, a third of them are residents of the Moscow region and St. Petersburg. The rest are mainly from Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Germany and the USA - countries with large Russian communities.
“Although there are clients from almost all corners of the planet, including Honduras,” notes Arseny. — We have ambitious plans: we dream of making the idea of a social alarm clock a new culture of awakening throughout the world.
To the dregs
The fashion of “hanging coffee” came to us from Italy. Remember, in the once insanely popular series “Octopus,” Commissioner Cattani paid for a couple of cups of coffee and drank one. An old tradition: the rich man “hangs” (pays for) coffee, which the poor man then receives from the bartender.
“Suspended coffee” is now available in some coffee shops in Moscow. On Russian-Ukrainian forums, people are terribly arguing about who was the first to revive the Italian tradition: St. Petersburg, Moscow or Kyiv? It’s funny, but so far Kharkov is winning the discussion, where entire dinners are already being hung up.
Our answer to Kharkov: at least one restaurateur in Moscow is “suspending” vodka. In an establishment in the city center, on Bankovsky Lane, 50-gram glasses of vodka, paid for by kind people, regularly “hang” out. If you drink at your own expense, you will have to pay 100 rubles per serving.
People on the forums demand not to stop there, but to creatively develop the tradition: “suspended” aspirin should appear in pharmacies, and mortgages should appear in banks.
Try on my skirt
Dress crossing is also gaining momentum: shopaholics organize meetings to exchange unnecessary but good things. Not to be confused with second-hand stores. In the dress-crossing system, you also come across unworn items (I bought an evening dress, but there was no reason to wear it). The intermediary store announces the days on which you can bring items, receiving coupons or dress checks in exchange. After which you exchange these coupon checks for what you like.
It is important not to go broke with coupons. Here is an announcement on social networks: the showroom on Kutuzovsky Prospekt is organizing clothing exchange events. I dial the number and you get it: the store no longer participates in dress crossing.
Practical advice: where you find such advertisements - LiveJournal, VKontakte, etc. — you can directly negotiate with others who want to exchange skirts and blouses. No intermediary stores. Many people already do this. In general, dress crossing is spreading widely throughout the country. Every place has its own characteristics, for example, in St. Petersburg, exchanges are organized both in shops and bars. In Ufa - in flower greenhouses.
Healthy
In Moscow, they continue to install social videophones for the deaf and hard of hearing.
The service is free, a complete list of devices with addresses is on the website https://deafmos.ru/citynolimits/dispservise/addresses.php
The rules of use are simple: dial the number on the videophone (1111 or 1112). An interpreter will appear on the screen. In sign language, tell him your last name and the content of the request.
What can you ask for? For example, call an ambulance or the police or a specialist from the emergency department at your home, order a “Social Taxi”, make an appointment with an official. Or just check the weather forecast.
The operator will transmit your message to the hearing subscriber, and he, again through the sign operator, will tell you the answer.
You can use a similar service from your home computer: you need a WEB camera and Skype (address: mgohelp).
An easier way is to communicate by email (address: [email protected] ). Or send an SMS from your mobile phone to 8 (926) 743-1180. You will also receive an answer by text message.
By the way
Currently under development is booking a place in a cemetery in Moscow and the Moscow region via the Internet. In addition to convenience, the new service, according to the capital’s authorities, will also help fight corruption, since all vacant plots in churchyards will be published in an open and publicly accessible register.
Boutique and cafe of Alena Akhmadullina
The first Moscow experience of combining clothing and food, Alena Akhmadulina’s boutique and her Cup&Cake cafe, turned out to be harmonious and atmospheric. Tiny cozy tables, handmade sweets, a huge selection of desserts, good coffee and the opportunity to buy designer clothes.
The boutique and cafe formed a common stylistic space for good reason: Alena Akhmadullina designed the interiors herself. Now a very nice, unusual Parisian cafe with Alena’s distinct author’s style has appeared in the center of Moscow.
Address: Nikolskaya street, building 10/2.
Photo: from the cafe’s official websites
Intelligent cafes
No matter how much they say that reading while eating is harmful, it is still rare for anyone to deny themselves the pleasure of drinking coffee and reading an interesting book. And if, without hiding, you can take a book from the shelf while waiting for an order in a cafe, this is generally happiness. There are several pleasant places in Moscow where libraries and delicious food are combined.
The FAQ-Cafe in the Library hall contains books from regular visitors. In Bilingua there is a hall with several shelves of cultural, philosophical, and fiction literature. The 12 Tables cafe in Medvedkovo displays the latest fiction, and the Bookafe has amazing photos and art albums on architecture, design and fashion.
Addresses:
FAQ-Cafe – st. B. Polyanka, building 65/74 building 1;
Bilingua – Krivokolenny lane, 10, building 5;
“12 tables” – Zarevyi Ave., 12;
Bookafe – Sadovaya-Samotechnaya, 13.
Food and cinema: Dome
Cafe-bar Dome on the territory of Red October is an opportunity to have dinner accompanied by a good film. The cinema hall with 60 seats is equipped with professional equipment, and the menu is dominated by Mediterranean cuisine. You can watch a movie while lying on soft sofas, or, without climbing into the cinema hall, right at the table. All film screenings are free, and films are shown every evening.
You can watch a movie and have dinner at the same time in this unusual Moscow cafe at the address: Bersenevsky per., 3/10, building 7.
Neapolitan prehistory
Tonino Guerra’s story “comes to life” once every six months or a year on social networks: people share a short, touching story:
“Once Fellini and I were in Naples visiting Vittorio de Sica. We went to a cafe. We sit and talk. A man comes up to the bar and says: “I have two coffees: regular and suspended,” takes a cup of coffee, drinks and leaves. We ask Vittorio: “Listen, what does “suspended” coffee mean? Is this some kind of Neapolitan expression? He laughs and says: “Watch further!” A group of three approaches. They say: “We have five coffees: three normal and two “suspended”!” Federico and I don’t understand anything anymore. Vittorio laughs: “You’ll see soon!” And suddenly a ragged tramp appears at the door of the cafe. He timidly approaches the counter and asks: “Excuse me, has anyone left coffee hanging here?” It turns out that in Naples there is a local tradition: to pay for coffee in advance for those who do not always have money even for a cup of coffee..."
From blogs, history moves into the media, and then into life. In November 2011, several coffee shops in Moscow announced that they could now “hang” coffee. Then, on the air of the Silver Rain radio station, host Alex Dubas (aka Alexey Toporkov) devoted an hour to talking about this tradition, asking listeners two questions: “Would you personally leave hanging coffee in your favorite cafes?” and “If you are the owner of a cafe or bar, would you allow the sale of “suspended coffee” at your place? Moreover, you don’t lose anything by doing this?” Two years have passed, and we can already talk about whether the tradition has taken root on Russian soil.
