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A new Ethiopian-owned roasting company called Theo’s Roast is bringing fresh roasts of high-quality greens to the north Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs.
After starting off with roasted coffee sales at farmers markets beginning last year, married partners Daniel and Meg Tamre opened a full-fledged industrial roastery in Old Town Lewisville in October. Guests can now visit the roastery to buy beans, pick up online orders and sample coffees that recently made their way through Theo’s custom-branded Diedrich IR-12 roaster.
Meg Tamre told Daily Coffee News that before the Diedrich, Daniel Tamre had been roasting for family and friends using an electric home roaster, and before that, a stovetop skillet — not unlike how he witnessed coffee roasted daily through his childhood.
“Daniel is considered Habesha and witnessed coffee ceremonies and brewing on a daily basis, first tasting coffee around the age of eight,” Meg Tamre told Daily Coffee News. “All family gatherings include coffee ceremonies that my daughter has been witnessing since she was an infant.”
Daniel Tamre grew up in Addis Ababa, where his father worked at the United States embassy. He moved to the U.S. at the age of 13, and today maintains a profession as an electrical engineer alongside the coffee business. Meg Tamre, meanwhile, works for the hospitality software company Avero.
“We have not traveled back regularly; however, we do maintain shared ownership of his childhood home,” Meg Tamre said. “A goal of the coffee business is to allow us frequent travel to Ethiopia and to meet the producers.”
For current Theo’s Roast offerings, the Tamres seek high quality single-origin coffees, purchased to this point from James Combs at Combs Coffee.
“We want to know the farm origin and provide fair pricing to the producers,” Meg Tamre said. “We love that [Combs] has a nonprofit dedicated to helping farmers all over the world.”
Theo’s Roast offers multiple Ethiopian-grown coffees, as well as beans grown in Honduras, China, Colombia and more.
The brand name references the 19th century Ethiopian emperor Tewodros, a symbol of Ethiopian identity and unity. The horse logo is sentimental for both founders, as it pays tribute to a lost loved one who was also their inspiration to sponsor a horse named Legacy in the stables of the nonprofit Victory Therapy Center.
Another charmingly personal offering from Theo’s is Slothee Wants Coffee, a children’s book that takes readers along Slothee the sloth’s journey through various coffee-producing landscapes.
“We have a 6-year-old daughter who was getting tired of hearing about coffee,” Meg Tamre said. “I did a random search and found this book which my daughter loved. It is very cute, very informative on cultures and coffee facts, even for adults, and the illustrations are great.”
Slothee Wants Coffee co-authors Nikki Pezzopane and her son Cameron happen to hail from Meg Tamre’s hometown in Michigan. Said Tamre, “I reached out on Facebook, and after talking, agreed to sell the book and sloth for fun, and to support their startup.”
With the brick-and-mortar facility now open in Lewisville, the Tamres look forward to sharing more about these offerings with guests in person, while also developing a wholesale roasting business.
“We will offer tastings, cuppings, educational events, and private tours,” Meg Tamre said of the facility that’s also open during downtown events when streets are closed to cars.
“We are looking to grow in the coffee community. Educating coffee consumers, traveling to farms and meeting/helping coffee producers. We enjoy hearing everyone’s story and want to support other coffee businesses.”
Theo’s Roast is located at 189 Elm St. 108 in Lewisville, Texas. Tell DCN’s editors about your new coffee shop or roastery here.
Howard Bryman Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
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