Christmas is coming, winter has just started, now it is the perfect opportunity to expose your dearest to the world of coffee. For some, coffee is just a fun hobby. For others, coffee is their profession and focus of life. Passionate coffee folks are as diverse as the coffee industry – there are so many types of coffee lovers, just as there are endless amounts of coffee beans types, equipment, literature, cups, posters, courses and what not.
Here I will try to suggest some of my best ideas for the ideal coffee gifts. I will do my best to keep a wide range of both prices and concepts, although each concept on its own is already a whole world.
COFFEE EQUIPMENT – THE SIMPLE STUFF
One of the first things I would gift a friend with, in case they are starting to show real interest in coffee making, is definitely a hand grinder. There are a few reasons to be intimidated by manual coffee grinders, some of them are the amount of time one would have to invest on the actual grinding or the coffee or the high prices they could reach. But both of these problems, in case you are not giving it to a coffee expert, are really not an issue.
Grinding fresh coffee beans at home is one of the most important factors of brewing delicious coffee. I would never recommend a basic hand grinder to someone who makes espresso at home, because grinding manually for espresso takes forever, and with a basic grinder it’s extremely hard to reach maximal precision. However, most of the people I know have a moka pot at home – especially in Italy – and grinding manually for this method is not such a big deal. To some, manual coffee grinders sound pretty lame, but in reality, the quality of these little machines could be very high. The top-notch grinders are super precise and efficient, but also expensive. Therefore I would suggest you to aim on brands like Hario or Porlex, which are more than decent for simple home brewing, or even timemore or aergrind if you really want to make your friend happy – but that’s a different budget we are talking about.
Another simple yet wonderful gift is a French press. So many people use a moka pot, but I feel like a French press is a better option and possibly even simpler. I believe the French press deserves a text on its own, so I won’t describe too profoundly on it’s advantages and possibilities. I will say that though: it’s convenient, elegant, clean and above all, can produce excellent results.
If you want to go big time, pair it with a manual grinder and your loved ones will thank you forever.
COFFEE EQUIPMENT – ADVANCED
My other two coffee gear suggestions are somewhat more “professional”, but trust me – they are absolutely stunning. I personally use both of them at home.
The first one is the well-known Acaia coffee scale. Acaia is considered a top-notch scale manufacturer and it is widely used in both the professional sector and households. Measuring the amount of coffee you grind, water you use, and total brew weight is crucial to your success and especially consistency. With a built-in timer and a simple and quick software, the Acaia scales are ideal for the perfect brew, although expensive. They have different models, in my opinion the small Acaia Lunar is the most convenient and elegant.
My second gift-proposal is much more “underground”. It is a Japanese filter dripper called Torch Mountain. It shares the price range of some other common coffee brewers, but this one is definitely the prettiest and most unique. It’s a flatbed brewer (like Kalita for instance), and you could use both cone or wave paper filters. Preparing filter coffee in front of your guests using the Torch Mountain will certainly raise compliments and wonderments. It comes in different colors, it has a wooden-ring to put underneath the ceramic dripper, and it’s hand-crafted. A truly special item to your coffee equipment collection.
COFFEE, BUT NOT COFFEE BREWING
No more coffee equipment. Here I will give you a quick list of ideas of great gifts you can give to your friends and family.
Coffee books
There are obviously thousands of great coffee books, but I would like to focus on two. The first one is the very famous “World Atlas Of Coffee” by James Hoffmann, considered by many an almost bible-like coffee book. Although this book doesn’t necessarily go too deep on many topics, it is still very comprehensive and holistic.
The other one is a rather new release, but published by an extremely well-known Danish coffee roasters called Coffee Collective. The English version of the book was released just a few days ago, and is called “The Fundamentals Of Excellent Coffee”. It’ll have everything you need to know about coffee and especially coffee making, guided by one of the best coffee roasteries in the world. Highly recommended!
Other ideas
Other simple gifts you could get for your family and friends could be a coffee subscription to a local specialty coffee roaster, or even just a package of 2-3 bags so they could try different flavors and aromas. Also, for those geeky friends you might have, a poster of the coffee aroma wheel might be a nice little present. The one by coffee company CoffeeMind is a lovely one I’d recommend.
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