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As a Neapolitan, born and proudly raised, I would like to explain that there is no charitable spirit behind this tradition. There is instead a strong celebrator
by Dansvidania 12y ago
As a Neapolitan, born and proudly raised, I would like to explain that there is no charitable spirit behind this tradition. There is instead a strong celebratory meaning to it, that seems to be understated in the article.
Originally the recipient of such act was not meant to be someone in need, but simply the customer right after the one 'suspending' the coffee.
It is very hard to really understand the meaning of it without understanding how socially ubiquitous coffee is in Naples. It is always good to start a pleasant evening out with a shared coffee where friends usually fight over who has the honor of paying the bill for everyone. Also, in the city lingo, "let's go have a coffee" can be a clear invite to an easygoing date.
Paying a coffee to a stranger, just a random person passing by, is a way to say "I'm happy and I wish you the same".
- carlob 12y agoMost of the stuff you say easily extends to a large part of Italy. I know coffee in Rome is often not as good as in Naples, but we also go on coffee dates and fight to be the one to pay for everyone. I would like to convey the pleasure of paying for 5 friends when I come back from abroad: 4.20 € and a a coffee that actually tastes like it should. Really makes you feel like some small generous deity!
- Dansvidania 12y agoI think coffee is an habit in most of south-western Europe, and people do drink a lot of it in northern Italy too (how they can manage to drink the stuff is beyond me, though) U.S. people have Starbucks and as long as they do not try anything else they also manage to enjoy it. In Naples it is a proper, religious, ritual :D
- L_Rahman 12y agoIt's increasingly a religious ritual in the United States as well but one that is restricted to the subset of people who are customers of roasters and coffee shops that are part of the Third Wave. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Wave_Coffee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Wave_Coffee
- carlob 12y agoDon't be too snarky about Starbucks: coffee before Starbucks was much worse than it is now. From the wikipedia article linked in the sibling comment you'll see that Starbucks pretty much sparked the good coffee revolution in the US.
- Dansvidania 12y agoI do understand the role of Starbucks in bringing coffee on the hip-train. I only tried the stuff they sell to our European cousins and now I no longer wonder why there is maybe just one or no Starbucks in Italy. I hope I will be able to try their brew in the US, hopefully it will be better.