Strangers’ coffee story reaches beyond the takeaway cup: at its Dove Street roastery, the Norwich business turns coffees grown elsewhere into beans for local drinkers and home brewers.

One blend provides a useful glimpse of that work, combining two Ethiopian coffees processed in different ways.

A business rooted in Norwich

Alex Sargeant and Samuel Maddocks founded Strangers in 2009, with William Maddocks joining in 2014.

The company roasts its coffee on site and sells beans both through its shops and online, alongside supplying other businesses.

For Norwich customers, the three locations offer different ways to use it.

Dove Street is the roastery and takeaway stop at number 10, while 21 Pottergate offers indoor and outdoor seating as well as takeaway.

The All Saints Green site, at number 14, is another takeaway option.

A blend that began behind the scenes

Strangers describes Twin Peaks as a blend it originally made at the roastery without formally releasing it in the business’s early days.

It combines two Ethiopian coffees: one washed and one naturally processed.

The company says it wanted the blend to bring together fruit and floral characteristics, rather than simply offer another single coffee.

That is the maker’s account of its intentions, rather than a Norwich Pulse tasting verdict.

The example makes the choices behind a bag of beans easier to see: a blend can be built from coffees with different processing histories.

Selection before roasting

The work begins before the beans reach the roaster.

Strangers says it samples coffee before buying the raw green beans, develops a roast profile and checks each roasted batch before release.

Its range changes through the year with crop cycles, alongside coffees it keeps as staples.

Those are the company’s descriptions of its process; they do not establish a particular taste experience for every customer.

Bringing the coffee home

A home-brewing choice involves more than picking a name from the shelf.

The Twin Peaks ordering options distinguish whole beans from grinds for espresso, moka pot, filter and cafetière brewing.

Knowing how you plan to make the coffee gives staff a practical starting point for advice.

Strangers says its team can help with brewing questions and explaining coffee processes.

Check the current range and opening times with the business before a special trip, and ask about the grind for your equipment when ordering.

The Twin Peaks example is a look at how a blend is put together, rather than a promise that a particular bag is available.

For a Norwich coffee drinker, that offers a useful next question at the counter: which beans, and which grind, suit the way you make your cup?