There's a great article in the New York Times this week about the tradition of buying a coffee for a stranger at the same time that you buy your own. They call it _ , the name for "suspended   coffee" in its birthplace. In some cafes, folks in need may claim a suspended coffee and drink it without cost. No doubt the free coffee will be welcomed by people who love coffee but for one reason or another don't have the money to buy one. But I also like the opportunity it offers customers to become philanthropists  . Every time they order a coffee, they can give one to somebody in need. This is a tradition that began some 100 years ago in Naples, Italy. In Naples, as reported by the Times, people love this kind of giving: "To me, the philosophy of the suspended coffee is that you are happy today, and you give a coffee to the world, as a present." -- Luigi Solito "It's a simple act of generosity: an act in which donors and recipients   never meet each other. The donor doesn't show off and the recipient doesn't have to show gratitude." --Laura Cozzolino "Coffee consumptions started earlier than the unification   of Italy by more than 200 years, so the traditions around it are very ancient. In Naples, coffee is a world in itself, both culturally and socially." -- Andrea Illy The practice of buying suspended coffees has grown in popularity -- with websites popping up and hundreds of cafes from Canada to Brazil to Hungary to the US offering the service. What does Laura Cozzolino think of buying suspended coffees?
She thinks it is a great way of charity. She thinks it is a cheap gift to strangers. She thinks it is an ancient Italian custom. She thinks it is spreading widely in the world.