Sunderland home that houses its own pop-up coffee shop and lifestyle brand RESINN

With its rich character, Victorian heritage and carefully-curated aesthetic, you could be sitting in a chic off-the-beaten track Parisian coffee shop at RESINN.

But the city's latest coffee hot spot is actually a family home that throws open its basement doors for customers.

Couple and business partners Kate Blower, from Easington, and Erik Ohrstrom, from Sweden, have travelled the world, living in London and Sweden.

But when they started their family they decided to move back to Kate's native North East - and they brought their passion for coffee, lifestyle and interiors with them to create their own multi-faceted brand, RESINN.

Their speciality coffee, which they produce at their own roastery using beans from countries such as Brazil and Colombia, is already available on their online store Resinnthestore.com with free shipping, and at a number of quality coffee shops in the area including Flamingo in Seaham, Ruhe at Roker, The Canny Goat in Newcastle and the newly-opened Cafeteria in Gosforth.

The couple had planned to open a RESINN coffee shop and store at the new Sheepfolds development, but decided to utilise their home in The Cloisters, Ashbrooke, instead, throwing open their doors for pop-up coffee mornings where coffee is sold alongside cakes from The Northern Bistro.

The concept has proved a hit, attracting scores of people - and their four-legged friends - to the leafy suburb, with the large four-storey terraced home housing 36 covers inside the basement and a further 25 outside in the couple's back garden.

Kate said: "We met in London 14 years ago when we both worked in retail and pretty soon afterwards we knew we wanted to start our own business based on our favourite things. We've both travelled a lot and we gathered our favourite experiences and things and brought them back to Sunderland with us.

"For the pop up, we took our inspiration from London, where it's more common, but there's nothing like this in Sunderland. At first people always ask 'is this your home?', but once they come in and order a coffee, they get it. We're just sharing what we absolutely love."

The mum-of-two added: "We have had such a lovely reaction. At first we thought it would maybe just be younger people who follow us on Instagram, but we've had such a wide range of people coming along.

"People like to sit here all day. People want more community-based businesses and we feel really passionately about adding to the community.

"And that's one of the reasons we moved back to the North East: community where people talk to each other. We missed that in London."

RESINN coffee is sourced directly from the producers who process the beans correctly and pay the farmers fairly for their work.

The coffee is seasonal and released in editions with three current editions for sale at the pop ups: PIN, CRUCERO and YOINER.

Being from Sweden, Erik is well used to the Fika way of life where coffee breaks with family and friends is entrenched in the culture of the country.

"In Sweden people love buying coffee, it's an essential part of life, and buying good quality stuff," said Erik. "Our coffee is speciality and is priced at £14 for a 250g bag, we're very transparent about the price and what it costs us to produce it."

As well as the coffee shop side of the business, people can buy lifestyle items from the RESINN store, from candles and prints to tableware and more, which Kate sources from vintage shops and from a Danish supplier.

The couple have already hosted four successful pop-ups and the next is on Saturday, September 16 from 10am to 2pm. All are welcome to just turn up. Access is via the back lane, which is just off the Stockton Road junction with Ryhope Road.

Moving forward, the space will also be used for workshops and for a supper club collaboration with Sonny's, the cafe at Pop Recs, who will be hosting an evening event at RESINN on Thursday, September 28.

Details on tickets for the night will be released soon.

RESINN pop-ups are held once a month at The Cloisters. Exact dates are announced on their Instagram page @resinn_the-store. You can also follow the restoration of their home as a whole @resinn_