By: Zandile Majavu
A healing tour in Rwanda inspired a legal and forensics expert to take a leap of faith to pursue her coffee farming business. Tami Loehrs, who originates from the United States, was gripped by the silverback gorillas when she travelled to Rwanda after losing her husband to cancer in 2021. The taste of raw coffee in Musanze brought her back the following year and led her to establish a wholesale coffee company using Silverbacks as her brand story to capture the rich Rwandan culture. “The coffee here is some of the best I’ve ever tasted, so I wanted to promote more coffee drinking here and sell it back in the US. I drove out to meet some of the coffee farmers, learn the entire process, and meet the people at the coffee cooperative,” Loehrs told Vutivi News.
Since Loehrs had no background in coffee and previously owned a digital forensics company, she immersed herself in the coffee business to learn everything she could, with help from some of the locals who do have coffee knowledge. Currently, three farms supply coffee beans to Silverbacks. Her coffee shop in Musanze is under construction and is expected to be completed in a few months. “I was so impressed with the dedication of the people here in providing a superior product that I want to give back to them by making sure the world knows how incredible coffee is. Also, I wanted to do business that was fun and simple and would allow me to get to know the locals and meet people from all over the world. What better way to do that than a coffee shop,” Loehrs said.
She has been on 12 gorilla treks since her first trip to Rwanda, and her coffee blends are inspired by a silverback and its family. “I have an unexplainable connection with them, and they touch me every time I go see them. I want to devote the remainder of my life to their preservation. Every coffee blend is associated with a silverback and his family. “I have met all of them and personally photographed the silverbacks on the packaging. Then my photographs were hand-drawn by a long-time family friend who is an artist in the US,” she said. With her proceeds, Loehrs sponsors athletes to pursue their dreams and the Kinigi Women’s Centre for local women to improve their livelihoods with basket weaving workshops and training, while also teaching children about the conservation of gorillas.
