THE suspended coffee movement has arrived in Healesville offering people the chance to shout a stranger a coffee or a chai!
The concept of suspended coffees started in Italy around a decade ago and has gathered international momentum.
Valley Xpresso in Woori Yallock started the ball rolling in the Yarra Valley and Wombat’s Chai Cafe in Healesville joined the Melbourne arm of the Suspended Coffee Society a couple of months ago.
The idea is a simple and accessible act of kindness. People purchasing a coffee at a participating café also pay for another coffee.
Anyone who can’t afford the luxury that some people indulge in daily can walk into that café and receive a suspended coffee, courtesy of a stranger.
Wombat’s Chai owners Monica McAteer and Iggy Amrein say their customers have enthusiastically embraced the idea and as winter has set in, have added suspended soups.
“It was just friends originally, but I think it’s such a valuable community cycle of giving and taking, not just for marginalised people, unemployed or homeless, but it can be someone who has just forgotten their wallet, or someone feeling a bit alone,” Monica said.
“It really is a beautiful thing, and the only problem we have at the moment is that while we have a lot of people paying for them, very few are collecting them,” she said.
Collecting a suspended coffee is unconditionally removed from any obligation to buy anything else.
“There are no questions asked, no judgements made,” Monica said.
“It is an act of kindness from one person to another.”
Wombat’s Chai is at 194 Maroondah Highway in Healesville – the little café in the west-end!
The Melbourne website for the Suspended Coffee Society is www.suspendedcoffeemelbourne.com.
