本文发表于昨日《新晚报》“博士团”专版，略有删减，在此发布完整版。
“待用咖啡”？“待用咖啡”来自意大利的Naples，后传遍全世界，如今已流行100多年了。以前，人们在咖啡馆提前存下一杯咖啡的钱，让那些付不起咖啡款的人能够享受一杯温暖的咖啡。而如今，经济发达了，在大多数国家，“待用咖啡”不是给贫困的人，而是买给“下一个陌生人”，表达的是一种温暖的传递，一种不图回报的付出，让另一个陌生人捧着一杯热咖啡，温暖身心，感受到来自陌生人的温暖，从而心底生出爱。
对于“待用咖啡”之前的确没有听到过，但当这4个字映入眼帘的时候，着实觉得似曾相识，这种特有爱、人情味特浓的感觉就是我心中的理想社会。若是哈尔滨的咖啡店有加入，想必我会参与进去的。
对于“待用咖啡”被偷卖的问题，我觉得大家不必担心，咖啡店应该是一个注重精神层面满足的地方，也就好比在一个自给自足物质充盈的社会，不会有小偷和强盗。“待用咖啡”传递的不仅仅是一杯咖啡，而是温暖的情谊，彼此的肯定，以及真切的关怀。其实待用咖啡作为一个理念，还可以应用到更多的地方，比如：“待用车票”提供给身上没有零钱的乘客，“待用雨伞”提供给大雨中忘记带伞的路人，“待用出租”提供给遭遇打车难的赶考学生等等。
近年来随着经济的发展，人们变得比以前现实和冷漠了。听人讲20年前在火车站附近随便敲开一家门讨水喝是很简单的事，现在许多人有了钱却失去了信任感。但只是过去了20年，人没变，为什么原本的信任减少了呢？我认为需要环境和契机来唤醒人们心中的善良。例如2011年新晚报•爱心伞活动，规定3~5天内将雨伞还回即可，却有60%的市民1天内还伞，还有人专程打车回来送，因为市民感受到的是一种温暖，一种被帮助、被关怀的感动。只有被爱的人才会懂得爱别人，在我们的社会大家庭中，如果一味只是抱怨，只是看到那些不负责任、缺乏社会公德的现象，那永远都不会进步。正能量再小，只要能给人带来温暖，那么星星之火即可燎原，我们生活的环境和生存质量就可以提高，看起来只是一杯咖啡，但这也是关系到我们每个人幸福指数的大事。
做好我能做到的好事，就是社会责任感的体现。不要过多担心咖啡的“不良去向”，哪怕十杯待用咖啡中有一杯给人以温暖，那就是有意义的正能量，就会有温暖的再传递——凡是真善美的事物都容易被人接受——我们民族的文明已经在这个世界上存在了五千年，这点信心还是应该有的。
至于我自己，如果我得到了一杯待用咖啡，我会很高兴地享用。我接受的不只是一杯咖啡，更是一片爱心。任何人都不希望自己的爱心被拒绝，“流动”才是待用咖啡的真谛。我会在享用后，留下两杯待用咖啡，要让爱心以指数增长，要让温暖从我的心里传向四面八方。
中国传统“知恩图报”的慈善观，是一对一，人对人。而“待用咖啡”诞生于公民社会，是对中国传统慈善观的有益补充。一个人若有害于社会，反过来也会被社会中其他人所害，这就是一个互害型社会；反之，一个人若给社会温暖，反过来社会也会给其正面的回报，也许是一杯待用咖啡，也许是其他任何形式的帮助，这就是一个互利型社会。相信正常人都会喜欢互利型社会吧，而且一杯小小的待用咖啡就可以促进互利型社会的形成，不久的未来，我们和我们的后辈都会生活在这样一个互利型社会中，这是我的梦想，也是一个可以实现的梦想。
咖啡，不好喝，不喜欢
Tough economic times and growing poverty in much of Europe are reviving a humble tradition that began some one-hundred years ago in the Italian city of Naples. It’s called caffè sospeso — “suspended coffee”: A customer pays in advance for a person who cannot afford a cup of coffee.The Neapolitan writer Luciano de Crescenzo used the tradition as the title of one of his books, Caffè sospeso: Saggezza quotidiana in piccoli sorsi (“Suspended coffee: Daily wisdom in small sips”).”It was a beautiful custom,” he recalls. “When a person who had a break of good luck entered a cafe and ordered a cup of coffee, he didn’t pay just for one, but for two cups, allowing someone less fortunate who entered later to have a cup of coffee for free.”The barista would keep a log, and when someone popped his head in the doorway of the cafe and asked, “Is there anything suspended?” the barista would nod and serve him a cup of coffee … for free.It’s an elegant way to show generosity: an act of charity in which donors and recipients never meet each other, the donor doesn’t show off and the recipient doesn’t have to show gratitude.The writer says the tradition is part of the city’s philosophy of life. “In other words, it was a cup of coffee,” de Crescenzo says, “offered to the rest of humankind.” It was a time, he adds, when there were more customers who were poor than those who were well-off.It’s fitting that the tradition started in Naples, a city that prides itself on having the best coffee in Italy. And in a country where the first coffeehouse in Europe opened in 1683 (in Venice), that is no small claim.Before the likes of Gaggia and Cimbali started producing the modern commercial espresso machines, Italians made coffee at home on the stovetop with a coffee maker known as a Napoletana.Naples and coffee are inseparable, but the caffè sospeso tradition waned as Italy entered the boom years of postwar reconstruction and La Dolce Vita. For decades, the custom was confined mainly to the Christmas season.Now, it’s made a comeback. Two years ago, with the eurozone crisis already raging, unemployment rising and small businesses closing on a daily basis, more and more Italians could no longer afford the national beverage — an espresso or a cappuccino. (According to the International Coffee Organization, which represents 44 coffee exporting countries, Italian per capita annual consumption of coffee has dropped to 5.6 kilograms, the lowest level in the past six years.)Then someone remembered the old Neapolitan custom. So several nongovernmental organizations got together and — with the support of Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris — Dec.10 was formally declared “Suspended Coffee Day.”The practice is now spreading to other crisis-ravaged parts of Europe.In Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest country, where several desperate people have set themselves on fire in recent months, more than 150 cafes have joined an initiative modeled on the Neapolitan “suspended coffee” tradition.In crisis-wracked Spain, a young man from Barcelona, Gonzalo Sapina, in a few short weeks started a network called Cafes Pendientes (“pending coffees”) and promoted the initiative among numerous coffee shops.In France, several cafes now carry the logo “cafe en attente” (“waiting coffee”).And there is even a site that lists establishments that have joined the “suspended coffee” initiative — the countries range from the U.K. and Ireland and Hungary to Australia and Canada.The prepaid cup of coffee has become a symbol of grass-roots social solidarity at a time of mounting poverty in what, until recently, were affluent Western societies.But now, back to Naples, where coffee is not a luxury but is considered, more or less, a basic human right.And the variety is vast: You can order an espresso “ristretto” (“tightened,” i.e., stronger); or an espresso “macchiato” (“stained,” i.e., with a little milk); or an espresso “corretto” (“corrected,” i.e., with a shot of grappa, cognac or sambuca).There’s only one iron-clad rule: Cappuccino — which takes its name from the white and beige colors of the Capuchin friars’ habits — is exclusively a breakfast beverage, and must never, never be consumed after 11 a.m. (OK, let’s say noon).
原来你们早主关注此事了。