Aromatic Zimbabwean coffee, elephants, buffalo, hippos, warthogs and the legendary Victoria Falls flavour Loretta Gomwe’s coffee success story.
Imagine. You park your vehicle along the narrow village road, follow the coffee-to-go sign through the open gate to the green caravan, order your latte, share morning pleasantries with the smiling barista busy at her hissing espresso machine. You take your brew and settle under “Solomon’s Wisdom Tree”.
As you savor the aroma and delight in the first sip, you hear a dull rumble. A trumpet call. And — did the earth just gently shudder? Aha! Through the gate you watch as a herd of elephants file by.
Welcome to Loretta Gomwe’s Victoria Falls coffee oasis.
A heady blend of complex flavors, percolated with well-brewed shots of enterprise, resilience, hard work, luck, risk-taking and love are the story of this young Zimbabwen woman.
Her Loretta’s Coffee and Smoothie caravan is in the suburbs of the town of Vic Falls, Zimbabwe, access point to The Victoria Falls — Mosi-Oa-Tunya (the smoke that thunders) — a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized as one of the seven natural wonders of the world and one of Africa’s most-visited landmarks.
Her Victoria Falls coffee journey — with the love element as the crema on the top — has her living her best life in one of Africa’s most famous, iconic and magical destinations.
It has been ten years since Lauratter Gomwe met the man who would become her husband and business partner, Takunda “TK” Musungwa. She switched to using the simpler “Loretta” five years ago and asked that we call them Loretta and TK, as they are known and what she prefers.
The ebullient 33-year-old was running a small coffee trailer located at a primary school when she and TK met in Zimbabwe’s (Zim’s) capital city, Harare. The back story to this is as extraordinary as she is.
Click through to read the full article Loretta’s Coffee in Victoria Falls Roasts Beans of Flavor and Wisdom in Cuisine Noir magazine.
