There are many ways you can approach gift-buying for coffee lovers, but there’s a strategy that doesn’t seem as well-explored as it should be: coffee gift baskets!
A coffee gift basket is an excellent way to add diversity and color to your gift. It allows you to personalize the gift experience and gives you the chance to turn a thoughtless gift into an intentional, thoughtful one.
I’ll show you how to put together the perfect gift basket, whether the recipient is a casual coffee lover or a super-enthusiast coffee connoisseur.
The key is to fill the basket with items that are diverse, yet all connected. Accomplishing this is just a matter of collecting a few different kinds of items. I’ll show you how to do that, along with some ways you can customize the basket to you and your recipient’s tastes.
1 A Coffee Brewer
A coffee brewer is always an excellent gift. Since you’re building a basket with multiple items, you probably want to keep the cost of this brewer on the low side.
Here are a few breweries that made great gifts, while not completely emptying your wallet. They’re simple and approachable for coffee newcomers, but refined and beloved enough for connoisseurs.
Read: How Manual Coffee Brewing Can Change Your Life
French Press
This classic, idyllic brewer is very easy to use and brews incredible coffee. It doesn’t really get any more picturesque than the french press, so this is a great brewer to gift to design-savvy folks.
Brewing is simple: you combine coffee and water, wait for about four minutes, press down the plunger, and pour the coffee out. The resulting coffee is full-bodied and full-flavored, thanks to the stainless steel filter that lets the natural coffee oils through to the final mug.
Aeropress
The Aeropress may be the best travel coffee brewer out there. It’s light, small, and insanely durable. It’s a little more hands-on than the french press though, and may be better suited for people who are familiar with manual coffee brewing. It’s extremely well suited for people who approach coffee with a craftsman mindset.
Read: 5 Reasons The Aeropress Is The Ultimate Brewer For Coffee Connoisseurs
To brew using the Aeropress, you combine coffee and water in the brewing cylinder, wait two to three minutes, then plunge the coffee into the mug below. It takes some force to press the coffee through the filter, but the results can be quite versatile.
With this brewer you can make hot coffee, iced coffee, and even something that’s close to - but not exactly - espresso. The main downside is the capacity: only 8 ounces.
Pour Over Cone
Pour over brewing is something many want to explore, but are afraid to. This kind of brewer takes the financial risk away from a hesitant coffee lover by giving them the main tool they need: the actual cone.
Brewing pour over coffee involves slowly pouring water over the coffee bed for 1-2 minutes in slow, concentric circles. The coffee brews and drains through the cone into a mug below. It’s meditative, entrancing, and actually has some emotional benefits.
Read: Is Pour Over Coffee Brewing Worth The Effort?
The resulting coffee is crisp, clean, and full-flavored. This one’s also hands-on, but that’s not a bad thing. It really draws you into the moment and causes you to feel a sense of fascination and appreciation for your daily brew.
One of these brewers won’t run you more than $20-30 and will make for a great coffee gift basket centerpiece.
2 A Brewing Accessory Or Tool
A great way to show you’ve really thought this through is to add an accessory or a relevant brewing tool.
One of the best things in this category is a manual coffee grinder. Since coffee beans are only at peak freshness for 2-3 weeks, it’s very important to wait to grind the beans until you’re ready to use them - otherwise the flavors decay quickly. Pre-ground coffee is basically stale as soon as you open the bag!
Read: Why The Grinder Is Your Most Import Coffee Tool
If your gift basket recipient doesn’t have a grinder, this is a must! Even if they have a grinder, gifting a small, light manual grinder still gives them the power to grind fresh coffee when they travel. Simply put, a manual grinder is an inexpensive, yet very empowering tool.
If the grinder’s not an issue, there are a couple other options.
If you choose a french press as the brewer, a bamboo paddle would be a great option. They’re inexpensive and give the recipient the ability to stir the grounds in the press without having to worry about accidentally breaking it with a metal spoon.
Reusable metal filters are the best Aeropress accessory. These 100% eco-friendly filters are easy to clean, last for years, and brew a fuller, more flavorful cup than the default paper filters.
To go alongside a pour over cone, I suggest looking into a glass coffee server that allows the recipient to brew more than one mug at a time into a carafe.
Other relevant tool ideas: a special mug, a thermometer, or a cool coffee scoop.
3 A Sideline Gift
The sideline gift shouldn’t be coffee-related, but it should still be relevant. For this one, ask yourself: “What do I enjoy with my coffee?”
Here are a few ideas;
Chocolate
Chocolate always goes great with coffee and is actually very similar in that it’s a complex agricultural product. Seek out chocolate that comes from “bean to bar” sellers if you can.
Biscotti
Biscotti are double-baked pastries that are long, thin, and sweet. They’re a great dipping companion to a rich mug of coffee and can be purchased pre-packaged without sacrificing quality since they’re designed to last for months.
Cake or Pastry Mix
If your coffee lover doesn’t mind getting their hands dirty to make good food, a DIY mix for scones, cake, or some other pastry may make a great sideline gift.
4 And, Of Course... Coffee Beans!
No coffee gift basket is complete without coffee beans.
But wait! Here’s where many people go wrong.
Coffee beans have a short shelf-life in terms of peak freshness. Whole beans only have 2-3 weeks in this super-flavorful time frame after being roasted. After that, the flavors fall apart and disappear very quickly.
Many coffee gift baskets are built weeks in advance, which means that bag of coffee beans isn’t going to be in peak freshness once the gift is actually given 10-20 days later. Sad!
Read: Why Fresh Coffee Is The Best Coffee
You don’t want to gift stale beans alongside the other thoughtful items. You want to give your coffee lover the best, freshest beans you can.
Enter the fresh coffee subscription.
Instead of buying a bag of coffee that goes stale quickly, a coffee subscription sends your coffee lover beans that are roasted and shipped the very next day. The bag then arrives at their doorstep a couple days later.
There’s no easier way to get uber-fresh coffee beans - unless you roast them yourself.
We source our beans from some of the best, most sustainability-minded farms in the world. Our farming partners are community empowerers and environmental protectors.
When you gift a JavaPresse Coffee Subscription, you’re not only getting freshly roasted coffee, you’re getting specialty-grade beans (the highest grade) that have been sourced ethically.
Our beans are roasted by our craftsmen in San Diego and feature tasting notes like blueberry, honey, rose, and rich baker’s chocolate. These aren’t your average beans and they aren’t flavored with artificial oils - these flavors are completely natural, created by great farming.
Give your coffee lover some of the best beans in the world.
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You now have all the elements needed to create a fantastic coffee gift basket. Lay down some old beans in the floor of the basket, pile in the gifts, and wrap it all up.
When gifting time comes, your coffee lover won’t believe how well-crafted your basket is.
Happy gifting!
