Today, considerations are made not just to the taste of coffee, but to its provenance and its contribution to sustainability - both social and environmental - for farmer communities. To substantiate a given company's claims, a myriad of certification schemes have been developed. Yet many appear without true understanding of what issues they seek to address, and how they do them.
We believe you should have as much information as possible. So in this section of the site, we provide the established, recognised definitions of those certification devises which apply to some of our coffees. And we further this by providing short commentaries on the merits of each in our considered view. We hope you feel it demystifies what can seem all to confusing, and helps you make the correct choice for you and your customers.
Union Hand-Roasted ethical sourcing policy summary and code of conduct
Downloadable PDFs:
Our ethical sourcing guidelines and code of conduct, which is the basis for all our relationships with coffee farmers and purchasing, can be opened in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Download Acrobat Reader
Union Hand-Roasted is a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative, an alliance of companies, non-governmental organisations and trade unions. ETI exists to promote and improve the implementation of corporate codes of practice which cover supply chain working conditions. Its ultimate goal is to ensure that the working conditions of workers producing for the UK market meet or exceed international labour standards.