Each year our staff and contributors round up their best gift ideas for cooks, eaters, and the kitchen-curious. Read on for the buzziest gifts for coffee lovers.
Putting together a list of best gifts for “coffee lovers,” is a tricky game because, while all sorts of people love coffee, the way they choose to make it, how much they want to spend on it, and their overall level of coffee nerdiness are all over the map. For those intensely discerning coffee drinkers, the ones who have notebooks filled with the outcomes of different coffee-to-water ratios, you can be sure this gift guide will have barista-grade espresso machines and pour-over coffee accessories. Of course, some coffee lovers are into efficiency over perfection. If you’re shopping for a Nespresso stan or a programmable drip machine enthusiast, there are things like coffee subscriptions, high-quality mugs, and worthwhile upgrades to their coffee bar that all make great gifts.
For the pour-over fiend
Stagg EKG Pro Electric Kettle
This electric kettle has been the gold standard since 2017, and that’s probably not changing anytime soon. It features an exacting temperature gauge you just can’t get with a stovetop kettle, a gooseneck shape for precise pouring, and thoughtful design details like fingerprint-resistant matte paint. You can even schedule a boil so your water is waiting for you in the morning.
When BA contributor Anna Rahmanan tested this glass pour-over kit, she learned that it takes 1.5 million trees to make the 275 billion coffee filters produced every year. She also learned that this borosilicate dripper setup could brew a particularly strong cup of coffee. The design allows for slow, even dripping, which means well-saturated beans and robust flavor.
Acaia’s Pearl S Coffee Scale
Acaia’s Pearl S scale has all the bells and whistles you could ask for and then some—it even has a digital brewing guide that walks you through every step of the pour-over brewing process. Get this for your friend who still uses a baking scale for their morning brew.
Barista Warrior Reusable Filter
BA contributor Sarah Jampel was onto something when she switched to this reusable stainless-steel coffee filter to avoid the 6 a.m. no-paper-filter panic. Besides guaranteeing you’ll always have a cup, this filter cuts down on paper waste and does away with that papery taste you sometimes detect in Chemex coffee.
Fellow Atmos Vacuum Canister
Whole bean coffee starts to go downhill as soon as its exposed to air, so to keep your favorite coffee lover’s beans fresh longer, get them a vacuum sealed coffee canister. Fellow’s newest Atmos canister has an automatic vacuum that seals with the push of a button, and it’s the easiest to use coffee can we’ve ever tried.
For the espresso lover
Breville Bambino Plus Espresso Machine
Gifting someone a first espresso machine is a bit like gifting them their first car (but uh, cheaper and less dangerous). You want to pick something that’s fairly easy to use, won’t break down, performs well, and isn’t too big to parallel park. That’s the Breville Bambino, our rec for most home espresso enthusiasts. At just 7.6 x 12.5″ wide, it takes up very little counter space, it’s easy to use and not fussy, and, even with that compact footprint, it has a system which ensures water is the perfect temperature for espresso—plus a milk frother for beginner latte art.
Baratza Encore ESP Burr Grinder
Friends don’t let friends use blade grinders. If you’re unfamiliar with the distinction between a blade coffee grinder and a burr grinder like the Baratza Encore ESP, it is simply this: A blade grinder is a glorified spice grinder that mauls your precious coffee beans into submission. A burr grinder evenly crushes them between its burrs, allowing for better extraction, which makes better tasting coffee. Baratza’s entry level grinders are some of the best in the business. The Encore ESP can be both an all-purpose option for drip or pour-over, but it also has a lot of dedicated settings for espresso and a dosing cup that makes loading up an espresso maker easy.
Lelit Flow Rate Control Kit
This is a gift for the true coffee nerd in your life. This flow rate control kit will let them mod out the luxe espresso maker that we presume is their pride and joy. It provides control over the pressure during brewing giving them one more way to tweak their shots precisely to their liking. It’s also a beautiful upgrade. (Note that this will only fit E61 espresso machines, so make sure you know what kind your giftee has before getting one of these. Although, if they’re the type of person who would be interested in a flow control kit, chances are good they have an E61.)
Sablo Ceramic Espresso Cups
These two-toned, 2.4-oz. ceramic espresso mugs are not only adorable, they’re also dishwasher- and microwave-safe. They come in a set of four, which makes them a perfect gift for someone who just got an espresso machine and always wants to make macchiatos when people come over.
Cups, cups, cups
Yeti Rambler 6-Ounce Stackable Mugs
These chunky little Yeti mugs are the perfect size for drinking a cappuccino on the back porch while wrapped in a giant blanket, but they’re equally great for hot toddies and cocoa by the campfire. They’re also stackable, so even your friend who owns way too many tumblers can find space for these.
Zojirushi Insulated Bottle
This is not your regular dinky travel mug. The Zojirushi is a completely leakproof, insulated bottle that can hold up to a lot of wear and tear, and it’s particularly good for long car rides and cold-weather hikes when a hot cup of coffee at the summit is a nice treat. More than one staffer here has left this thermos in a car overnight in the dead of winter, and the drink inside was still warm the next morning.
Ohom UI Artist Collection Mug and Warmer
When it first came out, the Ember mug changed the coffee mug game with its self-heating capabilities, but it’s not much of a looker. Ohom’s artist collection has the look of something that came from a local ceramics studio, but with its included warmer can keep coffee hot for hours.
For the everyday coffee drinker who could just use some upgrades
Want to be the first person your crush thinks of in the morning? We can’t make guarantees, but gift them a coffee subscription and see what happens. All the subscriptions we’ve tried and recommended allow for some customization of type of bean (whole or ground), roast level, flavor profile, and frequency of deliveries. Click through for the whole list of best coffee subscriptions, or consider these standout services below. Trade is focused on giving wider access to coffee roasters that don’t have much of a national footprint, while Atlas focuses on sourcing its own beans from around the world and offering a bit of biography around every bag.
Fellow Aiden Coffee Brewer
If there is someone in your life who bemoans the time and effort it takes to make a carafe of pour-over coffee in the morning, or honestly, someone in your life who has been using a crummy drip coffee maker “because it’s so easy,” Fellow’s first automatic coffee brewer may be nothing less than transformative to their morning routine. It can simulate the precision of a pour-over while giving your coffee aficionado precise temperature control over the water, control over bloom time, and all the rest. But, as Fellow’s founder said when introducing us to this machine in the test kitchen, it’s also easy enough for a total novice to use. Fill it with water and ground coffee, push the instant brew button. It can be as simple as that old Mr. Coffee machine, but can make much better coffee drinks.
The Aeropress is a fast, easy, inexpensive alternative to espresso brewing, but the one bummer about it is that the original only ever made enough coffee for one person. For the person who’s partner wants a good cup of coffee just as much they do, the Aeropress XL bumps up the output, letting you make up to six shots (or two cups) of rich coffee in just 90 seconds. It’s also great to take on the road if you’re trying to avoid bad hotel coffeemakers. Food director Chris Morocco never packs a suitcase without his Aeropress.
Blue Bottle Craft Instant Espresso
Most instant coffee is objectively bad, but Blue Bottle’s instant espresso is in its own league. Just add a tablespoon of instant coffee to an ounce of hot water, mix it with some steamed milk, and people will wonder whether you’ve been attending barista night school. This is a great gift option for anyone who travels a lot, or for yourself when you need a quick caffeine boost during the hectic holiday season.
Oxo Cold Brew Coffee Maker
For that person who has been shelling out for bad iced coffee on their commute every morning, Oxo’s cold brew coffeemaker is the perfect addition to their countertop. Its rain showerhead distributes water evenly across the coffee grounds and brews a delicious, strong concentrate that goes down smooth when it’s cut with some water or milk.
Yeti Rambler French Press
Yeti gear has that certain…Yeti look to it, and while aesthetically this French press might be more at home at a campsite, it also makes one hell of a good pot of press coffee. Its plunger keeps the grounds separated from the brewed coffee better than just about any other French press out there, which means your giftee can really take advantage of Yeti’s top of the line insulation. The problem with other insulated French presses is that some grounds slip through into the coffee and end up tasting gross and stale if you leave it in the carafe for too long. Also, you can probably drop this press off your roof and it would be just fine.
Grindz Professional Coffee Grinder Cleaning Tablets
They say the best gifts are the ones people won’t buy for themselves, and even the most devoted coffee people can sometimes skimp on deep-cleaning their equipment. Since burr grinders are notoriously difficult to clean, get them a pack of these professional-grade grinder cleaning tablets as a stocking stuffer.
For the luddite coffee lover in your life, there are simply no better manual coffee grinders than the ones from 1Zpresso. It produces ground coffee as fine and consistent as what a lot of more expensive burr grinders can with relatively little effort. Like the Aeropress, this is a killer addition to a travel coffee kit.
Hario Technica Siphon Coffee Maker
While the process of siphon coffee is time-consuming, it makes one of the smoothest cups of coffee you’ll ever have. If you have a coffee fanatic in your life who already has every kind of brewing method and coffee accessory covered, odds are they don’t have one of these.
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