The Best Gifts for Coffee Lovers, ’Cause the Grind Never Stops

Tea drinkers are cool, but also: How dare you? How are your parched veins even pumping without a firehose-strong flow of robust coffee every morning? (Fine, because you have a healthy relationship with caffeine that we’re totally not jealous of at all.) But damn, if we don’t live for that sweet ambrosia; grinding a fresh arabica blend is our only motivation to rise from the crypt, knowing that a nose bouquet of chocolaty, earthy legal stimulant awaits us. Forgive us our millennial sins as we tattoo this on our chests, but coffee is life. And if someone you’re shopping for this holiday season feels the same way, you’ve come to the right place. 

This is a guide for folks searching for the best gifts for coffee lovers—people who love coffee more than we love Michael Shannon (which is saying a lot), and definitely more than pictures of their coworker’s baby (IDK, it has a weird head). We weigh our beans here, sip on Illy (pinkies out), and keep all our burrs conical. We’re narrowing down the best grinders, coffee gift baskets, French presses, and coffee accessories so you can keep your Beanie Baby brain caffeinated and well-frothed this holiday season. 

If your giftee really loves the good stuff, get them a subscription from Onyx Coffee Lab, who produces some of the best beans in the game; we also love Intelligentsia, especially for our espresso. Or, to mix it up a bit, pick a subscription bean package from Trade (ranging from two to nine bags of beans), and your pal will be able to specify when they receive them (all in one week, spaced out over a few months, etc.).

Why is this milk frother so horny?? It’s lowkey seggsy to gift your boo a rod that bubbles their oat milk and gives their latte that ultra-creamy top. 

The AeroPress is the kind of coffee apparatus that probably knows how to climb rock walls and tie your shoelaces into complicated boating knots when you’re not looking. The AeroPress is just that beloved by outdoorsy folks who want a strong brew when they’re slithering up Half Dome, or whatever y’all do [coughs in Marlboro]; it’s also a fave of Very Serious coffee pros. It’s lightweight, streamlined, and should probably be on a NASA rocket—but it’s a great gift pick for outdoorsy types, road trippers, brew competitors, and anyone else who needs an on-the-go espresso fix.

They’ll dig Vietnamese coffee if they like a bold flavor profile, low acidity, and a splash of condensed milk. The people at Nguyen Coffee Supply are experts in the craft, and make a superb coffee gift in the phin kit that comes complete with their beans. “It feels elegant and special,” writes one reviewer, “in a world of mid-level mass produced grocery store blends.” You go, Mike.

We’ve all seen this 1966 Italian movie scene: A mod babe awakes to a Mediterranean sunrise, in a house that was once owned by Pierre Cardin, and sips their coffee from an Illy espresso machine while plotting how to kill the nosy neighbor. Naturally, we’re on their side. (Or, if they’re in a Paolo Sorrentino film, they might have this amazing, editor-approved Breville.)

Listen, we get it: You’re already awakened to great coffee and you know alllll the tricks. But your dad, who started every day for the last 30 years with a cup of shitty, stale coffee down at the plant, might not. Maybe he’s wide-eyed and stoked after trying your Chemex when he came to visit, or maybe he just had a cup of mind-blowing java when he finally stopped through that new “weird coffee shop” down the street. Either way, the dad (or any reinvigorated coffee lover) in your life—whoever they may be—deserves to get to that next level, and it’s your job to help them.

So your giftee has been hitting up the third-wave coffee shop (aka the place they go where they rave about the $7 single origin Colombian pour-over brews) and you want to help them do the same thing at home. Good luck! Real talk: It’s not as hard as it seems (though it definitely takes work). We’d recommend starting with a plastic Hario V60 pour-over and a glass carafe.

For a coffee maker that says both “I understand the cultural trajectory of Bauhaus,” and “My bedroom is a massive McDonald's ball pen,” no one can outdo Bodum when it comes to high-quality bean pressers. 

Some of us like to sip, and some like to chug. We don’t judge. If your homie is a cold brew freak, give ‘em the gift of making their own (mostly so you don’t have to endure their buzzed insanity at the cafe anymore). This bad boy has over 65,000 reviews (you read that right) on Amazon for a 4.6-star average rating. There’s really an army of people out there who are getting totally jacked on their own supply every day, and your giftee can be one of them.

If your giftee is doing pour-over but isn’t using a gooseneck kettle, they may as well be drinking some Mr. Coffee (no disrespect). An electric gooseneck kettle can help them reach the right temps and pour that H2O in perfect, concentric circles.

Despite what your (un)friendly neighborhood barista thinks, not everything about coffee has to be super serious. Case in point: This coffee mug lets you (literally) build out your own vibe. You might not be very creative before you’ve had coffee, but at least this will be on hand as the caffeine starts kicking in.

They have the French presses. They have the moka pots, the drip kits—but do they have the “Big Bertha” of bean grinding, otherwise known as the Barazta? This grinder could power 34 lumberjacks, but your giftee will do. This baby is engineered with commercial-grade conical burrs, meaning you can adjust settings for grinding beans for a Chemex, French press, AeroPress, espresso machine, an automatic brewer, and more.

A huge part of making killer java is fine-tuning your brew and making the little adjustments that can take it from slightly bitter to transcendent masterpiece with notes of caramel, apple, and orange peel. With a nice coffee scale, you can get it right every time (and save yourself from having to do annoying math in your head before you’ve even had a cup).

We totally stan East Fork’s pottery, and its coffee mug—simply titled The Mug—is a masterpiece of coffee mug technology. And by that, we mean it feels great in the hand, looks beautiful and rustic, and will keep your java hot. If you’re looking for a cute little espresso mug (and by cute, we mean something handsome and rustic that says you have incredible taste and style), East Fork has some amazing ones, as does Le Creuset. Like, what’s the point of having a creamy, eye-opening shot if you aren’t drinking it out of a hella cool receptacle?

The Yeti Rambler is the workhorse travel mug of our dreams. And it’s not only for mountain climbers and characters in Bruce Springsteen songs, either… unless the 10,000 reviewers on Amazon were posting from Mount Everest or Asbury Park, New Jersey. The gift of taking your own coffee anywhere you go isn’t priceless; it’s the price of this mug.

Jessica Easto’s book, How to Taste Coffee: Develop Your Sensory Skills and Get the Most Out of Every Cup, is, well, pretty self-explanatory. This book will teach you how to make sense of the coffee you’re tasting, and learn to recognize the notes, know whether it was brewed properly, and, most importantly, sound like you actually know what you’re talking about. It’s a perfect gift for your nerdy dad, or the friend who knows a lot about wine but wants to delve deeper into coffee. Or, if you’re simply trying to beef up your knowledge about coffee and all its beans/regions/brewing methods, try James Hoffmann’s book, The World Atlas of Coffee—he’s a pretty legendary figure whose YouTube channel is one of the absolute best places to learn about all things coffee on the internet.

For some, loving coffee goes hand in hand with appreciating Twin Peaks. Why? Not only is coffee arguably a side character in that show, but co-creator David Lynch is obsessed with coffee and even sells his own beans from time to time. If your giftee loves entering that Black Lodge of flavor every morning, give them this sweatshirt to commemorate their two true loves.

Sound the horns, because a De’Longhi espresso machine on promo is a unicorn-like event not to be missed. This is the kind of legendary appliance you buy once in a lifetime—or on a Tuesday if you’re Bill Gates—and right now, it’s marked down a few hundred bucks. It’s an investment piece, for sure, but can you imagine a lifetime of perfect at-home lattes? This isn’t just a gift, it’s a treasure.

Stay juiced, friends. 

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals? Sign up for our newsletter.