Have you heard of “suspended coffee”? Neither had I — until yesterday.
I was doing what I do (trolling around Facebook in order to avoid the next task on my list) and came across a post shared by a friend. It explained the following scenario — with a tale that demonstrated much more heart:
When you go into your favorite coffee shop, you can place your order and add “suspended coffees” to you order. It sounds like this:
“I need two medium soy lattes, no foam, and two suspended coffees.”
You’ll be leaving the coffee shop with two soy lattes (no foam, ahem). Those two “suspended coffees” will remain on a house account until someone who can’t afford a coffee comes in and requests one. They’ll then get that coffee at no charge.
Maybe it’s called “pay it forward”. Maybe some coffee purveyors will adopt a sense of snobbery and think they don’t want to join the movement because those consumers of suspended coffees are unsavory types. Honestly, I think it’s cool. It’s also exactly the kind of movement that Boulder and Denver startups are known for: paying it forward and passing along community support.
If you dig the idea, here are a few ways you can get involved:
- Join the Suspended Coffee Facebook Community
- Encourage your favorite coffee purveyor to join the cause. Suspended Coffees is joining a list of businesses that support the movement.
- See what this movement needs. Rumor has it, they need a website built (ahem, Front Rangers?).
- Share this post. Spread the word.
The one thing I do love about living in the Front Range is the abundance of local coffee shops we have. I’ll take a hand-crafted local brew (both beer and caffeinated) over a green-and-white cup concoction any day. These shops are the lifeblood of communities and help our entrepreneurial, tech, small business, and startup communities thrive.
And they already do so much for us. It would be beyond super if they were the reason we could do something small, yet meaningful, for someone we’ll probably never meet.
