eher???

[fritzad]

In a recent lesson I came upon the following sentence. Ist man bei Freunden zum Kaffee eingeladen, bringt man doch eher selten einen ganzen Kuchen vom Backer mit und auch Brot ist dann eher unpassend. I don't quite understand the meaning of the word "eher" which is used twice in this sentence. Also the beginning of this sentence seems strange to me. I would have probably said Wenn man bei Freunden zum Kaffee eingeladen ist,......because the english translation says it means "When a friend invites you over for coffee." Would this be wrong in this instance?