THE suspended coffee movement is taking the Hepburn Shire by storm.
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Three Daylesford cafes and another business in Creswick are now offering customers the chance to buy a cup coffee for themselves and “suspend” another hot beverage for someone in need.
Facilitator of the initiative Carmel Thannhauser said businesses taking part were Fair’s Fair, Buffalo Girls, Stella’s and Red Fox Deli.
“Suspended coffee works by someone going into a cafe, buying a coffee, but you also buy one for someone who hasn’t got the resource,” she said.
“Then someone can just go in ask, ‘Is there a suspended coffee?’
“It’s not complimentary, it’s by favour of someone else who’s thought about them.”
Ms Thannhauser said Fair’s Fair was serving soup in lieu of coffee.
“And the manager of Buffalo Girls, every person who buys a suspended coffee, he’s matching it, which is most incredible,”she said.
“Here in the shire it started about three weeks ago, in the past three weeks all this has been coming on board.
“But in several shire’s suspended coffee has been around for several months and internationally it is taking the world by storm.
“If you have a look at suspended coffee on Google you’ll see it everywhere.
“I’ve tried to facilitate it just as a program from the Food Bank so people can either give us a voucher for the coffee card or they can give it to a friend if they want to take a voucher, or if you leave it with the store someone might just walk in off the street and say ‘are there any suspended coffees’?”
Ms Thannhauser said the initiative had been well received by the public.
“There’s been an absolutely fantastic response,” she said.
“The good thing is people have used it, like they’ve maybe left their wallet at home, the day before pay, we’re talking about everyone in our community who can use it.
“You feel good knowing that you’ve helped someone else.”
Buffalo Girls manager Vigen Karibian said suspended coffee was a “wonderful idea”.
“It’s a gesture,” he said.
“It’s an act of kindness in the truest sense.”