Union Hand-Roasted Coffee was founded in 2001 by Jeremy Torz and Steven Macatonia, who had previously merged their first venture with Seattle Coffee Company in 1997 before it was acquired by Starbucks. The pair started again from scratch, installing their first Probat roaster in their East London roastery in October 2001 after shipping it over from Memphis. Today the team of over 75 employees roasts on both that original Probat and a Loring, hand roasting all coffee to order in small batches with every batch cupped post roast for quality approval. Their Union Direct Trade programme sources from over 40 producer partners worldwide, impacting more than 13,000 family farms. The company is a certified B Corporation and has won the Queen's Award twice, in 2017 and 2022, for its supply chain initiative. Union's coffee is stocked in Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Tesco, and other major UK supermarkets.