Main Lane was founded with the goal to challenge and overcome the common perception of sustainability, the so-called fair trade, and social responsibility.
We are aiming towards a more holistic approach by seeking best practices to implement a coffee supply chain which favors everyone in it while facing the challenges of climate change and by creating an ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable work environment.
Direct partnerships are therefore a key factor to reach that goal. During our journey in the specialty coffee sector, we already built solid relationships with origins and producers. It is important for us to work with farmers that share our vision and ideas of sustainability as well as social responsibility.
We are more than keen on giving them the credit and honors they deserve by not only putting their names on the packaging, but by also promoting them to our clients, as well as connecting them with other roasters. We are trying at the moment to build more relationships with several producers from Brazil and El Salvador as well as trying to build new partnerships at other origins.
As a sustainable business, not only do we try to do our best in terms of coffee sourcing, but also in the way we work at our coffee shop. We produce as little waste as possible and try to source the rest of our products as regional as it is available.
Furthermore, for our take away orders, we use only reusable cups as part of a Germany-wide system of reusable cups (Recup).
Sebastian and Marian originally founded Main Lane in February 2022.
Marian
Just before founding Main Lane, Marian had started with his own coffee bike company called Brühgruppe. His passion for coffee stems from his ten years at a very busy coffee shop in Berlin-Schöneberg. Since the beginning of Main Lane, Marian was the energetic power behind the counter. In October 2022, he got his long-desired chance to open his very own coffeeshop. The Brühgruppe Café is now reality and serving Main Lane coffee in the heart of Berlin-Moabit.
Sebastian
Sebastian has been working with coffees since 2013. While he was doing an internship in Brazil when he got in touch with the Almeida family from Paraisopolis. He visited their farm and worked with them during his vacation period. Soon he realized how much heart and soul they put into coffee production and fell in love not only with their coffee but “the coffee life”. At the end of his Masters, he wrote his thesis about the promotion of sustainable coffee production and did extensive research about coffee certifications and their impact on farmers as well as the environment.
After his studies, he worked with the Salvadorian Coffee Council for three months and learned about coffee production, quality control and roasting from scratch. Back in Germany, he worked for several roasteries as a production roaster and green coffee buyer as well as a barista and trainer.
With Marian, he is also making the podcast „Doppelshot“ (in German only), which aired for the first time in October 2020. Right now, the project is on a small break due to the Main Lane activities.
Fynn
Fynn formed part of Main Lane since the early days, and is now a full team member as a barista in our Pop-Up Café, as well as by organizing events and trainings. He is also our latte artist and man for good music vibes.