Suspended coffee - "corporate social responsibility at its worst"
The fika, or coffee break, is practically a social institution in Sweden. But not everyone can afford to buy that cup of joe. To help change this, more and more cafes in Sweden are importing an idea from Italy, called "suspended coffee", and this month, in particular, the idea has been taking off here, especially with the help of social media. But as you might imagine, even serving free coffee is not beyond criticism.
Suspended coffee, or café sospeso, is said to come from Naples, Italy. The idea is to go to a café and buy not just a coffee for yourself, but also pay for an extra that the café will prepare later if someone less fortunate comes in and wants to enjoy a nice warm drink but can't pay for it themselves.
Café Global Living in Västerås is launching their suspended coffee program this week. One of the cafe owners, Conny Karlsson tells Swedish Radio P4 Västmanland, that anything people can do to make a nicer and warmer Västerås is interesting, and that he and his business partner felt this was something they could do to make a small difference.
Apparently, the idea of suspended coffee has existed in Sweden for a number of years, but on a small scale. Now, the idea is taking off, with cafes racing to be the first one in their area to offer it.
Earlier this month, a store and café called Travelshop, became the first in Helsingborg. The manager told the local newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad that within just a few hours of launching the program, she'd already served her first suspended coffee. She said it went to a guy who often hangs out nearby, digging through trash cans for bottles to recycle.
What seems to have started the recent craze was an announcement that Starbucks UK made on its Facebook page, saying they were going to institute a version of suspended coffee. Even as Brits raced to accuse Starbucks of using this as a way to distract the public from the fact that they hadn't paid corporate tax for the last three years, it inspired one Swede, named Marika Hård af Segerstad.
She told the website Nyheter 24 that she had been homeless once upon a time and would have been delighted to get a free coffee. And now that she was back on her feet, she wanted the chance to buy coffee for others. So, she started Suspended Coffee Gotland, a social media site to spread the word. And now, there are several others for different areas, like Stockholm, Skåne and Skaraborg.
But there's been a good deal of criticism too: some people question whether the money for coffee could be better spent on things poor people might find more essential, like food.
Björn Werner of the Nöjesguiden entertainment newspaper wrote online that it's corporate social responsibility at its absolute worst, and that if you have just a little money, it's not going to be a cup of coffee from a hipster café that will turn your life around.
People have both praised and criticized the anonymity of it.
And then there's the question of whether the coffee will go to the right people.
Conny Karlsson from the cafe in Västerås says you can never say 100 percent, but if people don't dare do things because they're scared it'll be abused, it would get pretty cold. His business partner, Sophie Karlsson, adds she thinks she can easily distinguish between a joker and someone who's telling the truth.
