Deandra Gauci founded COFFEE & strangers in 2016, and its espresso bar in Sliema was, by its own account, the first sensory experience espresso bar in Malta. The name comes from the line “Known to all, to all a stranger”. In 2024 and 2025 the bar won best specialty café in Malta at the European Coffee Trip Awards.
The coffee comes from roasters abroad and rotates. The monthly filter menu has carried Assembly’s Duwancho from Ethiopia, Five Elephant’s Rugori from Rwanda, Square Mile’s Lalesa Ephtah, a hop-fermented geisha from MOK’s Finca El Paseo in Colombia and Manhattan’s Shoondhisa. Each pour-over or single-origin espresso comes with a Sip & Read card naming the roaster, origin, process, aroma and tasting notes. On Friday evenings the bar hosts Coffee Into The Night, with places reserved by email.
The business is also a coffee institute accredited with the Specialty Coffee Association and the Coffee Quality Institute. Deandra is an SCA Authorised Trainer, a Q Arabica and Q Robusta Grader and a Q Instructor, and the team runs SCA courses from Barista Foundation to a full SCA Coffee Week, Q Grader courses, latte art workshops and team-building sessions. COFFEE & strangers distributes coffee wholesale as well, from Square Mile, Onyx Coffee Lab, Five Elephant, Schot, Fjord, Bonanza, Keen and Manhattan, with the roasters rotating every week.
The coffee on the bar comes from these guest roasters.
Coffee on the shelf
- Square Mile Coffee Roasters
- Five Elephant
- Manhattan Coffee Roasters
- Onyx Coffee Lab
- Bonanza Coffee Roasters
- Fjord Coffee Roasters
- Schot Coffee Roasters
- Keen Coffee
- MOK Coffee on the monthly filter menu
Photograph: COFFEE & strangers