The 1st of April is better known as April Fool's Day, the day on which it is entirely acceptable to play practical jokes on your nearest and dearest with total impunity.
Although not an officially recognised national day, April Fool's Day is bound by a couple of inflexible rules. The first is that the person playing the prank must expose their actions by yelling "April fool!" at the recipient once the deed has been done. The second is that all pranking must stop at noon; anyone playing a prank after midday is considered the April fool themself.
With a number of excellent coffee-centric April fool's pranks having been played over the years, we thought it was only right to present our favourites to you today. If you're reading this before 12:00, feel free to try them out on anyone in the vicinity - as long as you're sure they can take a joke!
The Not-so-sweet Tooth
It's not big and it's not clever but it is funny and it is effective. We're talking, of course, about the old sugar-for-salt switcheroo.
Yep, if you regularly make coffee for someone who likes a sugar or two in theirs, simply substitute the sugar for salt, then get out of the blast zone as they take a big, glorious gulp and try not to spray it back across the room when their taste buds realise what's going on.
An oldie but a goodie, this classic prank is a jokers dream as it requires no forward planning apart from ensuring you have some salt. Just be prepared to make your victim a fresh cup afterwards to make amends.
The Wet Shirt
Perfect if you're collecting a takeaway order from your local coffee shop for an office full of people, all the ‘Wet Shirt’ requires is a pen or pencil to make some holes in a disposable cup.
Simply select a victim out of those who have ordered an iced coffee, then make holes all the way around their cup, just above the fill line. As soon as they take a drink, the cold brew will spill out of the holes and into their lap, leaving them just stunned enough for you to make your escape before they realise what's happened
The Fake Spill
This sneaky prank involves making a fake coffee spill using paint and glue, then positioning it on your colleague's desk to make them think someone's knocked a fresh cup all over some of their treasured possessions, like their laptop or a stack of important paperwork.
Although this practical joke requires some forward-planning and additional materials to pull off, trust us, it's worth the effort. All you'll need is a coffee cup, some brown paint, PVA glue and greaseproof paper - check out this video tutorial to find out exactly how it's done.
The Prankless Prank
Sometimes the worst thing you can do to somebody is psychological, like making them believe you've played a trick on them when you actually haven't. In this case, all you have to do is wait for someone to take their first sip of coffee, then shout "April fool!" to convince them that their brew has been tampered with (which it hasn't).
If you're a particularly good actor, they'll refuse to touch another drop and spend the rest of the morning on edge wondering what you're going to do next. This fine line between anticipation and mild anxiety is what April 1st is all about!
The joke's not on you!
That's right - we may enjoy a joke at Cafe2U but we take our coffee extremely seriously, so we'll be out and about on April Fool's Day as normal, delivering our top quality coffee wherever it's needed most. Contact your nearest van here.