Best Coffee Gifts UK 2024 Selected By Our Baristas
Find the best coffee gifts online from coffee beans to coffee art to coffee plants.
As we all know, there are endless gift-giving occasions.
Christmas, birthdays, congratulations, commiserations and adulations all present opportunities to present well... presents.
But when the target recipient be they a friend, family member, colleague or client is a coffee-lover, these occasions might present challenges too.
| Rank | Gift | Best... |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coffee Subscription | Best Overall |
| 2 | Ceramic Coffee Mugs | Best For #morningcoffee Instagrammers |
| 3 | Handmade Coffee Coaster Set | Best For Coffee Stylistas |
| 4 | Manual Coffee Grinder | Best For Coffee Adventurers |
| 5 | Coffee Flavour Wheel | Best For Coffee Snobs |
| 6 | Coffee Scales | Best For Coffee Enthusiasts |
| 7 | Coffee Plant | Best Unique Coffee Gift |
| 8 | Espresso Machine | Best For A Splurge |
| 9 | Latte Art Stencil | Best Personalised Coffee Gift |
At Batch we spend our time tasting new coffees to feature in our coffee club subscription, tinkering with coffee equipment and generally geeking out over coffee.
We live and breath coffee and have been lucky enough to sample many different coffee themed products.
So we thought we would compile a bunch of our favourite coffee gifts that we have either sent received, or want to receive as a gift.
Why Trust Me?
What are the Challenges of Buying Gifts for Coffee Lovers?
The first challenge is finding out what kind of coffee-drinker, the target recipient is.
There’s the early-morning padel tennis player who likes a post-workout coconut latte to start the day in less-than blah way.
There’s the espresso or macchiato pounding fiend who needs the caffeine coursing round the veins to feel alive and get some stuff done.
The pour over or cafetiere connoisseur who wants to carefully and cleanly sample the delicate flavour notes of a complex but delicate Arabica.
Or even the sweet-toothed mocha drinker who treats every cup like it’s another chance for desert.
Regardless of who they are, the goal is usually the same.
Get the coffee-drinker a gift that will give them a little bit of joy, whether it’s by making their day a little bit easier, or providing them with a hopefully unforgettable experience.
The second challenge is finding out what they already have, what they need and what they might like.
Unfortunately, we can’t help you there much – whether you’ll be recreating that Mission: Impossible scene with the wire suspending you from their kitchen ceiling, or bribing their family or housemate to give you some tips, or just politely asking them, finding out what they would benefit the most from is up to you.
23 Best Coffee Gifts For Coffee Lovers
Find below the Batch Coffee Clubs team’s favourite coffee gifts. If you think one is missing please leave a comment in the box at the bottom of the page.
What to get somebody who loves coffee?
... Well, how about some bloody good coffee!
There is no better coffee gift for a coffee lover than buying them some of the best coffee they will ever drink.
The rise of the subscription box a few years ago saw brands sprout up in all sorts of wonderful sectors offering monthly deliveries of goodness.
Coffee subscription services have always managed to stick around though and seem to have stood the test of time while other more fleeting sub boxes have disappeared.
If you are looking for a unique coffee gift then a coffee subscription could certainly be your ticket.
Batch coffee showcase the very best independent coffee roasters throughout the UK in each subscription box.
Use code “COFFEEGIFT” for 50% off your first gift subscription coffee box.
Enjoy coffee in a handmade ceramic mug.
There are hundreds and thousands of coffee mugs out there in pretty much any shape and size you can imagine and actually the chalice in which you consume your coffee is - much like specialty coffee, is down to preference.
However, for us, I don’t think you can get better than a hand-thrown ceramic cup.
If the coffee you are brewing is of high quality then the vessel surely has to match (you wouldn’t drink a good scotch out of a plastic glass).
Checkout some of our favourite ceramic coffee cups at Woven Rosa.
Otherwise see what were our favourites in our article 10 Instagrammable Ceramic Coffee Cups.
These colourful handmade mats make the perfect coffee table accessory for the stylista.
Avoid marking your grandmothers antique coffee table with coffee rings with a set of stylish coffee coasters.
Rather than opting for the classic wooden or plastic style coaster why not adventure into the world of handmade coffee coasters.
Inspired by the local and colourful landscapes of the region, these unique pieces have been handmade in Oaxaca, Mexico and sourced directly by Woven Rosa.
The coaster sets come in pairs but you can mix and match with lots of different colours to choose from.
Learn More about coffee coasters at Woven Rosa.
4. Manual Coffee Grinder
A handheld grinder is one of the most unique coffee gifts for the coffee lover.
If your recipient loves their morning coffee and enjoys the process of making the brew, then freshly ground coffee is going to blow their mind.
A great start to freshly ground coffee is purchasing a handheld grinder.
You can pick up a basic electric grinder for the same price, however the majority of electric grinders at this price point are blade grinders which essentially blend the coffee beans.
This isn’t great for speciality coffee as the fragments of ground coffee are of various different sizes and results in a cup of coffee that can be over and under-extracted.
Handheld grinders use burrs, typically ceramic that grind the coffee to a consistent coarseness so the coffee can brew to perfection.
They are also great for travelling with and fit inside backpacks.
Visualise the flavours of coffee... It also makes a great piece of art.
The iconic coffee flavour wheel was invented to aid anybody who wanted to categorise the delicious flavour notes in their cup of speciality coffee.
It was invented in 1995 and has become the industry standard, coffee tasting resource.
Besides the fact that it makes a great piece of coffee artwork it has become the cornerstone of assistance for anyone that wants to talk about the many flavours in specialty coffee.
We taste new coffee everyday to review and potentially showcase in our subscription box.
Our coffee flavour wheel is used to help us better define the complex and subtle notes of certain coffees.
If your coffee loving recipient is interested in speciality coffee then check out Our Free Coffee Flavour Wheel. They work great alongside a subscription coffee box gift.
6. Coffee Scales
Let them know precisly how you feel.
If your recipient is beyond just lobbing a couple of heaped teaspoons into a cafetiere and wants to nail their morning brew, coffee scales make a great coffee present.
Coffee scales are a necessity in any speciality coffee shop, whether it’s espresso, stovetop, Aeropress, V60, Chemex or Cafetiere they brew.
To really create the best cup of coffee the brew ratio needs to be consistent.
A few features that coffee scales have that are different from normal kitchen scales is they are normally accurate to 0.1 gram which is super accurate and can really make a difference with certain brew methods.
There is also usually a timer for pour over methods so you don’t have to keep getting your phone out.
Or check the price of our favourite coffee scales on Amazon.
Coffee, you may be shocked to learn is a fruit.
The coffee beans that we know and love are actually seeds that sit side by side encased in a couple of fruity outer layers called the cascara or coffee cherry.
Now I’m not saying it is possible to start your own coffee farm and produce your own coffee as these little seeds are fairly picky when it comes to climate and take a while to produce fruit.
However you can still purchase a coffee plant as a novelty and they do make fantastic house plants with their shiny green leaves.
They’re not as easy to come by as nipping down to your local BnQ however you can find some online.
They are a great talking point and who knows, one day you may be able to pick, process, roast and brew your own coffee.
8. Espresso Machine
If you are really splashing out this year.
Up until a few years ago these majestic metallic beasts would only be seen gracing city espresso bars or on the back bar of Italian restaurants.
The nature of an espresso machine meant not only were they expensive to buy but also not feasible to operate on a domestic basis because of the time to heat up the boiler and the amount of coffee that you would use to dial in the shot (adjust variables to pull a perfect shot of espresso).
There has always been a domestic version of espresso machines but the results were nowhere near the real thing.
This was then, however today home espresso machines have seriously upped their game and the results are getting dangerously close to what you would expect in a speciality coffee shop.
There’s no beating around the bush, Espresso machines can be expensive. They make great coffee gifts for Weddings or big occasions.
Take latte art to the next level.
If your recipient is a latte or cappuccino drinker they may enjoy a personalised latte art stencil so they can dust their own cheesy smile on top of their latte every morning or when they have their mother in law around.
I was gifted one of these as a secret santa a few years ago and I must admit it is hilarious to see peoples faces when they realise that your face is on top of their cappuccino.
Simply make your favourite milky coffee and place the stencil over the top of the cup (make sure that there is a small gap between the top of the cup and the stencil).
Then shake a small amount of chocolate powder over the top and pow, your face is on the coffee!
They make fantastic personalised coffee gifts in the UK, check out Stencils R Us
Not just any coffee pods.
Coffee pods have had their fare share of stigma in the coffee industry over the last few years, whether it’s environment, sustainability or quality.
Grind was founded in 2011 when David Abrahamovitch took over his father’s Shoreditch mobile phone shop and decided to turn it into a café-bar.
In the decade since, Grind has grown to become a cult east London coffee brand.
It now comprises of eleven locations, including espresso bars, cocktail bars, restaurants, an international-grade recording studio, and a state-of-the-art coffee roastery.
Grind are still based in Shoreditch and now employ around two-hundred people with most of their investors over the years becoming Grind regulars and friends across the world.
Grind at Home lets you bring Grind coffee home - all the way from their state-of-the-art London coffee roastery and now serving in the UK’s very first completely compostable coffee pods.
11. Burr Coffee Grinder
Upgrade those blades.
Potentially the most important piece of coffee equipment that a coffee aficionado owns is a coffee grinder.
Burr Grinders work by coffee passing through two mechanical burrs (either conical or flat, see below) that essentially crushes the coffee into small enough pieces to pass through and into a chamber where the grounds either collected in a box or caught in a portafilter.
A burr grinder is the industry standard for coffee grinders.
The consistent size of the coffee grounds alongside the ease in which you can adjust the coarseness makes it the only choice for anyone who wants to experience the delightful flavours speciality coffee offers.
Check out our article The Importance Of Burr Coffee Grinders.
Two favourites combined.
Many artisanal shops now sell chocolate covered coffee beans as a snack or a treat.
They are very popular Christmas coffee gifts.
The smooth and sweet chocolate outer layer complements the coarse and bitter coffee in the middle.
You will see coffee beans available to eat in various forms like as a topping on an ice cream.
They usually pair well with sweet foods to balance out the bitterness.
Chocolate covered coffee beans will make the perfect gift for any coffee loving chocolate lovers at a resonable price point.
Coffee table coffee mags.
Another quite unique coffee gift that your coffee loving loved one may love is a coffee magazine subscription.
Two of our favourites are Caffeine and Standart.
If you feel that the recipient is appreciative of beautiful design and a well put together magazine that will be used as a coffee table mag then Standart is the one for you.
If they are more of a coffee snob and love tinkering with grind size and water temperature of their pour over recipe then caffeine mag is a good choice.
A gift card is a perfect way to send the unique gift of speciality coffee when you’re not quite sure how they brew their coffee or how often they would like their coffee delivered.
If you’re racking your brain in what to buy the coffee lover in your life then why not a coffee gift card?
Although gift cards do have a bit of a stigma around them being unthoughtful. Gifting a niche specific gift card is both thoughtful and lets the recipient choose what they want.
A Batch Coffee Club gift card is a great way to prolong the gift by selecting 3 or 6 box gift card so your recipient will receive coffee for months to come.
The Batch coffee gift card is sent via email so you can leave it right up until the last minute too, perfect for a Valentines Day coffee gift.
Learn about Batch Coffee Club Gift Cards
Coffee tins are coming back around.
They are the OG of coffee storing containers and date way back before coffee bags were even invented.
They make a great coffee present for coffee lovers especially if they get through quite a lot of coffee.
Many roasters are now opting for bags that can be easily recycled or composted, this means that they typically sacrifice the valve on the bag.
This is fine as long as the coffee is consumed within a month or so.
Coffee tins are a great way to store the coffee and enable roasters to use more environmentally friendly bags.
Check out our article on The Best Coffee Storage Containers Online.
For those that are prone to leave it until the last minute.
The undoubted convenience of coffee filter bags alongside the use of coffee grounds rather than instant coffee make it a pretty attractive coffee gift.
Although coffee bags up until a few years ago were only really seen in hotel rooms and corporate events, there has been a significant increase in quality products recently.
Many new coffee brands have sprung up recently showcasing a coffee bag of their own.
Learn more about this interesting way to make you morning coffee in our article Coffee Tea Bags - Find Your Easy Caffeine Fix
17. Moka Pot
The coffee gift equivalent of a trip to Italy.
Well, at least the aroma of an Italy.
The stovetop or Italian stovetop is a kitchen staple across Italy and has been the Italians' go-to brew-at-home coffee maker for decades.
The original Bailetti moka pot was invented in Italy in 1933 and hasn’t changed a great deal since.
Simply fill the lower chamber with water, the middle brew brackets with pre-ground coffee and screw together.
Place the Mokapot on the hob and wait for the sensory overload of delicious espresso flavours permeating around your kitchen.
A perfect way to wake up on any day.
For the real connoisseurs.
Coffee cupping is the name given to the event when coffee is tasted.
This happens at origin when coffee is picked and processed and in coffee consuming countries when the coffee is roasted for sale.
There are many coffee cupping events in larger cities at speciality coffee roasters that want to showcase their latest coffee menu or introduce people to speciality coffee.
The ‘proper way’ to taste coffee is by lining up the cups of coffee and using a cupping spoon slurp and taste the coffee.
Cupping spoons make a great gift for the coffee snob that enjoys trying to pick out flavour notes in his morning pour over coffee.
If your are in the market for a personalised coffee gift then checkout custom cupping spoons.
Otherwise this Hario cupping spoon on Amazon is our favourite.
Save 230 disposable coffee cups per year.
Five-morning coffees a week, around 46 working weeks a year, that’s 230 disposable coffee cups you could save If you gave the gift of a reusable coffee cup.
A great coffee gift for coffee lovers who usually grab a coffee on the way into work is a reusable cup.
Now, there are many on the market at the moment and I’m sure you haven’t just come across the idea of a reusable coffee cup, however, there are only a few brands that I think have nailed the reusable cup in terms of practicality and style.
There’s nothing worse than spilling half your flat white down your coat because your cup doesn’t seal or your latte just tasting like plastic.
You also want to this thing you’re carrying round to look half decent, after all, you never know who you will meet on that Tuesday morning coffee run.
The best reusable coffee cup that we have come across are KeepCup, Kambukka and Frank Green. They have seemingly nailed each aspect.
The lids screw or clip on, so you can put your coffee in your bag and drink it when you get to the office. There is no plastic taste when you drink the coffee and it looks bloody cool coming in various sizes and colours.
If you think that a reusable cup is the coffee gift you’re looking for Check prices on Amazon.
20. Coffee Tamper
If you're looking to Im"press"
Does the coffee lover in your life have a home espresso machine?
If so then a brand new coffee tamper could be a brilliant unique coffee present.
The coffee tamper is used to press the ground coffee into the portafilter basket and make a compact puck so the water can extract the coffee evenly.
Although the majority of home espresso machines come with a coffee tamper, they are usually pretty basic and lightweight.
There is a huge range of coffee tampers online at all sorts of price points, functionality and sizes (the diameter of the basket varies between each machine). So don’t just buy the first one you see.
Checkout our Coffee Tamper Buying Guide to find the best one for your coffee lover.
21. Gooseneck Coffee Kettle
Take filter coffee to the next level.
If you are looking for filter coffee gifts then a gooseneck coffee kettle could be exactly what your coffee lover is missing in their set up.
The neck of the kettle allows the water to be poured at a more controlled rate, which is needed in most filter coffee methods.
If your recipient is into pour over filter coffee then this could be the best coffee gift they have ever received.
Choose between a number of functionalities like electric or stovetop or different designs and materials.
22. Home Coffee Roaster
For the experimental gift buyer.
Coffee roasting is as much of an art as it is a science.
Green coffee is exported into the country before professional coffee roasters both commercial and independent transform the raw coffee beans into deliciously balanced roasted coffee that we purchase from shops and cafes.
If your recipient is a DIYer you can now purchase a home coffee roaster so that they can experience and create roasted coffee from the raw product.
There is a huge range in price and functionality in the home coffee roaster sector. Starting fairly cheap at a ceramic pan that you roast coffee on the hob through to industry standard sample roasters that connect to an app.
It all depends on how far you want to take it!
The gift of coffee education...
Or a cool coffee table book.
Of all the coffee books on the market The World Altlas of Coffee by James Hoffman is a great coffee christmas gift for any coffee lover.
James was the world barista champion back in 2007 and is the cofounder of Square Mile Coffee roasters.
The book highlights the fundamentals of coffee and gives a detailed insight into where coffee comes from.
It also comes as a hardback book which makes a great coffee table coffee book.
Photo: Prima Coffee
Colin Harmon also has a fantastic books called What I Know About Running Coffee Shops if you are looking to buy a gift for a barista or coffee professional.
24. French Press
The gateway brew method into speciality coffee.
A cafetiere makes a perfect coffee gift as it’s pretty straight forward to use and you can pretty much extract a decent cup first time.
Just pick up a bag of cafetiere ground coffee from your local coffee roaster (check out our Coffee Roasters Map UK) and you have your perfect coffee gift set UK.
The cafetiere uses a mesh filter to plunge the coffee into the bottom of the beaker so you can pour the brew directly into your cup.
They make perfect gifts for people that enjoy full bodied brews that want to experience the world of speciality coffee.
We have complied a list of the Top 21 Cafetieres Online for you to select your favourite.
▻ What to Buy For a Person Who Loves Coffee?
If you’re stuck with either of these challenges, it’s best to look at consumption patterns.
These patterns will help you choose great coffee gifts for those coffee lovers.
Coffee-consumption patterns will largely depend on the imbiber’s lifestyle.
Those who are on the go all day may not get a chance to have a drink of the good stuff in their home very often.
A gift card for their go-to coffee shop might do the trick.
Or perhaps a roastery experience might be a fun day out which broadens the busy person’s knowledge and helps them to appreciate intricacies and provide passion for the process of brewing.
They might also stand to have a great coffee flask or reusable cup to cut down unnecessary spends at high street cafes.
On the other hand, many of us in the post-COVID era (or at least we sure hope it’s post-COVID!) still spend the majority of our time working from home and there are all manner of gadgets and trinkets to make our own preparation experience easier or more fun.
Shiny new coffee machines, coffee grinders, cafetieres, gooseneck kettles, moka pots, unique espresso cups and mugs will range in price and quality.
Alternatively, you could just get us a big bag of banging beans to brew our beverage with.
▻ What is a Coffee Connoisseur?
Connoisseur sometimes feels like one of those pretentious words you could throw at anything, but when it comes to coffee, it generally refers to the more discerning drinker.
A coffee connoisseur might know their difference between light, medium and dark roasts and have a good understanding of the different flavour profiles arabica and robusta beans tend to provide.
They are also likely to know how the different brewing methods will bring different flavour profiles to the tongue and which variety of beans suit each method.
More experienced connoisseurs may even be familiar with the growing styles of different countries and like a wine-snob, be quick to guess where a single-origin bean is from.
A few could probably tell you all about their favourite farmers, or roasters!
▻ What Should I Get For a Coffee Snob?
Coffee snobs tend to do most of their real coffee enjoyment in the comfort of their own homes.
There are a huge amount of different gifts which might suit, so in some regards this would depend on your budget.
For instance, syphon coffee makers which use two chambers and some kind of magic vapour pressure and gravity combination to make coffee in the style of 1830s Germany.
Other mad scientists might like cold brew coffee makers which steep ground coffee beans in room-temperature water for 12 or even 24 hours.
The chilled end product can be an incredibly refreshing way to have a caffeinated drink on a warm day.
If they’re happy with their Chemex pour over coffee maker, or whichever brewing device they have, they might be a fan of a coffee scale.
Coffee scales are used to measure the grinds of the beans, or of the water used to brew a pot.
Some snobs are obsessed with the consistency of their brews, or they want to recreate what they think is a perfect one.
If the snob is on the fly, they might want to be super impressed by a hand-powered portable espresso maker.
These devices only require ground coffee, hot water and a gentle pump from its owners hands (we’re still talking about an espresso device, here!) making it perfect for weekend getaways, business trips, backpacking or perhaps even camping.
If they’re all gadgeted-out and you’re afraid to buy them beans, why not give them an Arabica coffee bean plant?
It might take about 5 years to get a handful of beans from a single plant, but given as a gift, a coffee plant has an undeniable level of cuteness to it.
Can you imagine them enjoying that annual cup of their own, home-grown coffee?
Coffee snobs tend to drink their coffee very clean. Adding milk, whether it is frothed, or cold might be frowned upon. Like whiskey snobs, even adding too much water can be a serious no-no!
▻ Is a Coffee Grinder a Good Gift?
Most coffee-lovers will probably have their own coffee grinder.
Simple electric ones cost around £10, and are easy to pick up online. Even the cheaper ones are pretty durable for machines that’s are daily function is to spin sharp blades at high velocity for brief periods of time.
That being said, if the coffee-drinker is new to home brewing, this might be a very welcome gift as it will mean they can graduate from pre-ground coffee which is often stale by the time it is consumed, compared to bagged beans which conserve the flavour longer.
If you are looking to splash out and spoil your gift-recipient, various high-end conical burr machines might set you back, but will elevate the flavour of the brew enormously.
The defining features of these grinders tends to be centred around utilising conical burrs, which are metal pieces fitted together in a complementary fashion.
The burr pieces are cut so that their ridges are teeth-like, which then grind your coffee. The clear chamber on top, known as the hopper can hold up around 200g of coffee dispenses grounds into a smaller container which can be pulled out to get the ingredients for your coffee brewer.
The conical burrs ensure that coffee is ground evenly, whilst cheaper blade grinders might chop the coffee in a much rougher fashion, so that the grounds taste acrimonious – simultaneously strong and weak, whilst also hollow and heavy. This even grind really brings the flavour of beans out
A more rustic option would be a hand grinder. Manual coffee grinders are a fairly old-school way to do things, but can be great for those coffee drinkers who enjoy their camping trips. Simple to use, they produce a surprisingly even grind size for an electric-free gadget.
▻ What Are Good Gifts For The Coffee Casual?
Coffee casuals tend to be those who drink coffee and enjoy it, but don’t make a big deal about it.
They might be those of us who like a lot of sweetness and creaminess in their coffee, making it more akin to a desert or even an ice cream.
They might like a standalone milk-frother which they can use to make their home lattes and mochas more rich.
Or, should the casual be partial to an alcoholic refreshment, an espresso martini set might be right up their alley.
Getting them some nice beans or a day trip to a roastery might help them educate and develop their understanding and interest in the good drink itself.
▻ Personalised Coffee Drinks?
It will probably come as no surprised to you that there all manner of engravings or embossments that can be printed or carved into mugs, bean tins, glasses or travel mugs.
Some of these may have cute or funny captions “Don’t disturb ‘insert person here’ until they’ve had their coffee..” might work pretty well. Gifts like these might take a bit of initiative, but show the lucky gift receiver that you’ve put some time and effort into your purchase.
