About us
It started with one roaster in a shophouse
Kopi Lane began in 2016 with a 5 kg roaster, a borrowed shophouse kitchen and a lot of burnt beans. Ten years on, we roast for cafés, offices and kitchens across Malaysia.
Our story
Good coffee, without the fuss
Mei Ling grew up drinking her grandfather’s kopi in Air Itam, strong and sweet from a cloth sock. When she started roasting, she wanted coffee that tasted like it came from somewhere, without losing what made kopi good.
We buy green coffee from farmers we know by name, in Sabah, Johor and Sumatra, and pay them well above the market price. We roast in small batches twice a week, so nothing sits on a shelf.
The café on Lorong Kopi is where you can taste all of it, and where we test every new coffee before it goes in a bag.
Sourcing
How we buy coffee
Sofia visits every farm before we buy, and again at harvest. We agree a price before the season starts, so the farmers know what they will earn.
We buy direct, or through one trusted partner
We publish what we pay for every lot
We buy again from the same farms every year
Inside
The roastery and the café
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Sorting green coffee before roasting -
Tamping a double shot -
The café’s espresso machine -
A flat white for table four -
The kettle on our pour-over bar -
Lorong Kopi after dark
Our team
The people behind the roaster
Four of us, a roaster named Ah Kow, and a café full of regulars.
Lim Mei Ling
Founder and head roaster
Mei Ling learnt to roast on a borrowed machine in her uncle’s shophouse in 2016. She still roasts every batch herself on Tuesdays.
Luca Moretti
Café manager
Luca came to Penang from Turin in 2019 to run the café, and trains every barista we hire. Ask him about pour-over and you’ll be there a while.
Sofia Alvarez
Green coffee buyer
Sofia grew up on a coffee farm in Colombia. She visits the farms in Sabah, Johor and Sumatra we buy from, and tastes every sample before we commit.
Kwame Asante
Wholesale and operations
Kwame looks after our cafés, offices and hotels, and makes sure every order leaves the roastery on time.
Pouring our coffee
Come and taste it
The café is open six days a week. The first cup for anyone who mentions this page is on us.