Coffee&strangers Founder Deandra Gauci. All images courtesy of COFFEE&strangers.
When educator and Coffee&strangers founder Deandra Gauci opened her first espresso bar in Sliema, Malta, in 2022, many of her early guests were literally strangers to specialty coffee. Some came in simply asking for Coca-Cola, while others found the taste of espresso off-putting.
The shop has since gained international recognition while serving as the public-facing cafe for Gauci’s broader Coffee&strangers business, which she founded in 2016 and which now most recently includes The Coffee Institute & Lab in Attard.
In the beginning, the cafe was a family operation, with Gauci handling most of the day-to-day work. Gauci’s parents and siblings, along with the mother of her partner, Luke Micallef, rotated in to keep the business running.
“My mom was my glass washer, and my dad and siblings joined in,” Gauci said. “No one was getting paid. They were just helping me out.”
“I liked the sounds of cafes, the movement of them, and having people around,” she said.
For her first formal coffee training, long before launching the cafe, Gauci traveled to Amsterdam. She expected to learn how to make espresso, she said, but instead discovered a much broader world of coffee that eventually led her into education. Gauci has since accumulated a long list of credentials, including SCA Authorized Trainer, Q Arabica Grader, Q Robusta Grader, Q Processor Generalist and Q Instructor.
That experience helped shape a larger ambition around coffee education in Malta. The Coffee Institute & Lab in Attard represents the brand’s latest step in that direction, with classes inspired in part by wine tastings and other consumer-focused sensory experiences.
The institute’s current course listings include sessions on water composition, espresso science and coffee terminology.
At the espresso bar in Sliema, Gauci applies her vast expertise to a multiroaster program that includes fresh roasts from internationally renowned roasters such as Square Mile in the U.K., Schot in the Netherlands, Onyx Coffee Lab in the United States and Five Elephant in Germany.
“Every roaster has their own touch,” Gauci said. “You can tell which coffees are from what roaster. They have this distinctive taste. It belongs to them.”
Here’s more from DCN’s conversation with Deandra Gauci…
What about coffee excites you most?
The sensory part of it — the cupping, the tasting — that’s the most exciting part. I could do that every second of my life. It’s the complexity of it. There are so many aromas and so much to taste.
What about coffee troubles you most?
The lack of innovation. Everywhere you go, people aren’t thinking outside of the box. Everyone is doing the same things, so it can get really boring. There are a lot of specialty coffee houses opening and they’re not passionate. I think that customer service is one of the most important aspects of coffee.
What would you be doing if it weren’t for coffee?
I really love businesses. I’m not good at leading people, but I’m really good when it comes to driving a business, creating, and pushing it. I guess I would be doing something in business.
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Jen Roberts
Jen Roberts is a Paris, France-based writer and avid coffee drinker. She’s currently writing a book on women in coffee.
