Faux baristas launch The Invisible Coffee Company
The Invisible Coffee Company launches today in King’s Cross to help homeless Londoners who feel invisible get back on their feet. With one Londoner forced into homelessness every 11 minutes and our daily living costs soaring, the timing couldn’t be better.
Nobody hesitates to spend £3 on a coffee in the King’s Cross area these days. But as we queue up at our favourite coffee place, how many of us really see the many people sleeping rough just moments away? Is it any surprise that so many people experiencing homelessness feel invisible? It’s this insight that led ad agency CPB London to create The Invisible Coffee Company, who today started ‘selling’ flat whites from their funky Tuk Tuk in King’s Cross.
Sophie Godwin, chef, food writer and Single Homeless Project ambassador served up Invisible Coffee this morning to customers in Kings Cross to help homeless Londoners. Passers-by pay £3 for a truly invisible coffee, or £5 for a reusable Invisible Coffee filled with steaming, delicious…. invisible coffee. Every penny from sales of Invisible Coffee is being donated to local charity Single Homeless Project, whose most recent report shows that one Londoner is forced into homelessness every 11 minutes.
From the Tuk Tuk’s design itself, to the ‘Barista’ T-shirts, branded coffee cups and sandwich boards dotted around, the Invisible Coffee Company plays with hipster-esque roaster coffee language to draw people in, before cheerfully revealing what people’s money is actually buying, and linking them to Single Homeless Project to find out more.
Helen James, Managing Director at CPB London commented, “When you’ve got no home, no money, no-one asks your name or how you’re doing, it’s easy to see how you could feel invisible. As though you don’t matter. When you buy a cup of Invisible Coffee this week from us, you’ll be helping homeless Londoners get back on their feet. Oh, and while the coffee won’t warm you up, it will warm your heart.”
CPB London partnered with Single Homeless Project as a key charity partner at the end of 2021, and decided that as well as making a standard corporate donation, they wanted to use some of their creative smarts to devise an awareness-raising campaign with a twist.
Liz Rutherfoord, Chief Executive at Single Homeless Project added, “Being invisible could be an amazing superpower. But feeling invisible is something very different and for Londoners living on our city’s streets, it’s a daily, grim reality. By buying a cup of invisible coffee, people can help a Londoner to leave homelessness behind, to be seen and to be heard and find a place to call home. Together, let’s end homelessness in our city.”
Simon Idio, 24 from Lewisham was forced out of his family home. With nowhere to go and his mental health at an all-time low, he had no option but to sleep on our city’s streets. He said, “It feels like when you live in London you are invisible. There are so many people just going about their daily lives that no one really sees you. When you’re homeless it’s just the same but this is a time when you need to be seen the most. I was on my own so I didn’t have anyone to help me out so I tried not to feel anything to just keep going. Being supported by Single Homeless Project has been completely different. People really care about me now.”
Single Homeless Project and ad agency CPB partnered to launch The Invisible Coffee Company. People can buy Invisible Coffee beans, cups, tshirts and tote bags at www.invisiblecoffee.co.uk to help Londoners experiencing homelessness get back on their feet.