25 Piping Hot Gift Ideas for Coffee Lovers
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I didn’t consume my first cup of coffee until the ripe age of 24, when I was forced by a former employer to attend an ad hoc cupping session. At first I found the taste of black coffee repulsive, but my small-chain coffee shop employer did not comp the cost of more palatable options like the Minty Mocha Freeze, so my taste buds were forced to adapt. I slowly learned to enjoy the ritual of brewing a fresh pot of coffee in the morning, and I soon began to relish the opportunity to hang with my dad and chug coffee all day when I visited my parents around the holidays. Just two guys drinking Folgers from a crusty Mr. Coffee while reruns of NCIS and Law & Order: SVU air in perpetuity on the television.
I eventually moved to Portland, Oregon, during the height of coffee’s so-called “third wave,” and landed a job at a high-volume café and bakery. At this point my coffee consumption escalated from a physiological necessity to a more considered, bespoke experience. Roasters like Stumptown and Coava taught me about the principles of extraction, Black Rabbit taught me how to clean and maintain my shop’s La Marzocco, and a since-shuttered Seattle Coffee Gear outpost stoked my interest in the ever-expanding universe of grinders, brewers, boilers, and doodads that promise exquisite cups of coffee in all manner of scenarios.
Whether your budget is $4 or $400, there’s no shortage of thoughtful gadgets that make excellent gifts for family, friends, or total strangers in a hotly contested white elephant exchange. We've included only products and accessories our team has personally tested, vetted, and used to brew their own coffee at home.
Be sure to check out our many other buying guides. We have a few coffee-related guides, including our favorite cold-brew coffee makers, espresso machines, portable espresso makers, and cappuccino machines.
Updated December 2024: We've added a scale, thermometer, mug, pitcher, scale, kettle, and knock box, plus refreshed links and prices throughout.
Former WIRED reviewer Jaina Grey contributed to this guide.
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- Photograph: Trade Coffee
A Coffee Subscription
Trade Coffee SubscriptionNothing makes a coffee lover happier than good, fresh beans. Which ones? Well, that's tricky. If there's a good local roaster near you, give them a call and ask for recommendations. If you want to give your coffee lover some variety, a subscription services make a wonderful gift. These services deliver fresh, delicious coffee right to your door. There are a lot of options, each with its own twist. Be sure to read our guide to the best coffee subscription boxes.
Several of us on staff have enjoyed Trade Coffee, which works with small roasters. Trade offers gift subscriptions ($60 for three bags of coffee). Another fun one is Angels' Cup, which sends samples in unmarked bags for unbiased, blind taste testing.
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A Sampler of Super-Chilled Near-Instant Coffee
Cometeer Coffee PodsThis is for the coffee lover in your life who is always in a hurry, or doesn't have a full espresso setup at home. Cometeer's Coffee Pods are super-chilled little pucks of frozen, high-quality coffee. I was very skeptical before I tried them, but one sip convinced me. This isn't instant coffee or a K-cup. This is rich, full-flavored coffee from some of the best roasters in the United States. You can buy the sampler set or sign up for a recurring subscription from the buy link below.
For hot coffee, take a pod out of the freezer, open it up, plop the frozen puck into your mug, pour near-boiling water over it, and you have a fresh cup of hot coffee. If you like iced coffee like me, just take out a Coffee Pod, thaw it in some warm water for about five minutes, then pour it out into a cup with ice, top it with milk and you've got a café-quality iced latte.
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Virtual Tasting Party
Driftaway Virtual Tasting PartyDriftaway Coffee, a Brooklyn-based roaster, has created virtual tasting parties. For $100 per screen you can taste coffee live on Zoom with your friends and family. The tastings are hosted by one of Driftaway's coffee experts.
Before your tasting, Driftaway will send out a very fun coffee kit with glasses, coffee in unmarked bags, a tasting wheel, and a form for noting your impressions, plus some extra coffee you can enjoy later. The kit alone should make any coffee lover happy. Throw in the virtual tasting and you can't go wrong.
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A Classic (Viral) Ceramic Mug
East Fork The MugThis sturdy, thoughtfully crafted ceramic mug has been my morning companion for a couple years now, and I couldn't love it any more than I already do. It went through a phase of viral popularity a while back, but they're easier to find now. You might have to hop between the available colors, though, because they still do sell out.
The mug is made from a robust ceramic that feels sturdy, with a gently sloping grip that's big enough for most hands and feels smooth and balanced when you pick it up. Warmed by fresh coffee, the glaze kinda soothes your palm. It's magical.
Plus, East Fork even has a page that details exactly how each one is made, so you can see how much work goes into these gorgeous little things.
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A Cute Set of Cups and Saucers
Origami 8-ounce Latte Cup and Saucer SetThese are some of my favorite dishes to serve or drink coffee out of. The Origami Latte cups are 10-ounce cups that come in a variety of vibrant colors, all with a brilliant white interior to contrast your espresso against. They're heavy-duty, too. These are cups that restaurants and cafés buy wholesale, so they're designed to take a beating and stand the test of time.
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A Smart Coffee Warmer
Bestinnkits Auto On/Off Gravity-Induction Mug WarmerWhether you’re in an office or working from home, the endless dance of topping up your mug to add a hit of warmth can get real old real fast. The “smart”-ness of this mug warmer is derived from its ability to tell whether or not a mug is on top of it rather than some sort of overconnected dependence on Alexa or Siri dictating its lot in life, which was a major upside in our testing.
If a flat-bottomed mug is present the heating element will activate and warm its contents to around 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the mug and it turns off. If you don’t need biometrics or an IFTT applet telling your coffee warmer what to do, then this is a great option that’s “smart,” but not Smart™.
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- Photograph: Kat Merck
A High-End Travel Mug
Ember Travel Mug 2+Your fancy new car already has heated seats and its own app, so why not extend that level of convenience to your coffee mug? In our testing, the Ember Travel Mug 2+ kept a cup of coffee right at 135 degrees Fahrenheit on battery power for 2.5 hours while we hiked and bopped around the boho Midwestern town Dave Chappelle sort of took over during the pandemic, eliminating the need to stop at the local hippy-dippy second-wave café for a cup of caramel pecan pie coffee before heading out.
The mug charges with a desktop or to-go coaster, the latter of which plugs into your car's 12-volt outlet and fits snugly in most cup holders. You can add the mug to your Find My devices on iOS, which is essential considering this thing costs way too much to end up in the lost and found bin at your local cafe.
- Photograph: Pete Cottell
A Vibey Titanium Camping Mug
Snow Peak Ti-Double 450 Anodized MugJapanese outfitter Snow Peak offers a dizzying array of high-end outdoor apparel that’s popular with bougie car campers and dirtbag climbers alike, but the titanium cookware that first propelled the brand's popularity in the US remains the jewel in its proverbial crown. A lot of drinkware geared toward camping is either of the cheap enamel variety that offers no insulation whatsoever, or bulky riffs on the Stanley or Yeti formula that take up valuable space in your pack.
Enter the Snow Peak Ti-Double 450 mug, which packs timeless style and durability into a double-walled mug that weighs only 115 grams. A pair of foldable handles welded onto the exterior provide extra protection from scalding hot liquids, and a new selection of colors inspired by the bisexual lighting boom of the past decade will excite even the most dour oat milk matcha drinker in your life.
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- Photograph: Pete Cottell
A Travel-Friendly French Press
Stanley Classic Travel French PressIf a command + F search for “Stanley” led you to this entry, we’re sorry to disappoint you with a lack of recommendations for the Stanley Quencher, which is by most accounts the least interesting thing the venerable drinkware company has produced in its 111 years of doing business. French press geeks are saddened by the conundrum presented by the fragility of their preferred brew method, which is usually made of glass and therefore wholly incompatible with the great outdoors.
Stanley solves this problem with its Classic Travel French Press, a sleek and durable option for coffee drinkers who still prefer a rich brew laden with oils and sediment in the year 2024. The entire apparatus is self-contained within a classic Stanley tumbler, and the plunger presses down to fit under the lid for easy sipping once the extraction process is finished. No one at the union hall will know you French-pressed your coffee like a Nancy, and the spill-proof seal at the top contains most odors that shot of Wild Turkey you added before you carried this into your local sports stadium on a Friday night.
- Photograph: Pete Cottell
A Portable Pour-Over Coffee Dripper
MiiR PourigamiYour best friend may not tell you out loud that they prefer pour-over coffee, but there will be signs. If they own a high-end vinyl setup, a rotary dial app for their iPhone, or a pair of selvage denim jeans they store in their freezer to “sanitize” between wears, there’s a good chance this painstaking brew process is their go-to when both time and environment allow for such deliberate dithering. But what will they do when they’re out in the wild without their precious V60?
Here comes Miir with its Pourigami system, which is a foldable pour-over frame made of stainless steel that weighs only 4 ounces and collapses down into a 5.1 x 2.5-inch shape that’s about as thick as two credit cards. It uses 02 cone filters and holds about 20 grams of coffee, making it a great option to brew a single cup around the campfire before everyone else wakes up, or some quick pour-over action at a hotel that only provides a janky Mr. Coffee in your room.
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- Photograph: Pete Cottell
A Single-Cup Immersion Brewer
BrewSpoon Portable Coffee InfuserA campsite-approved coffee rig doesn’t get any more minimalist than BrewSpoon. A pair of mesh scoops twist together to seal in about 2 tablespoons of grounds, then you dunk it in hot water in your preferred coffee vessel, stir it around to fully submerge the grounds, then wait about five minutes for the grounds to extract. Pull the spoon out, knock out the grounds, stash it in your bag, and you’re good to go. Heck, you can even sneak one of these on a plane and brew your own cup with the hot water they usually offer to old ladies who bring their own sliced lemon. It’s a weirdo move we probably won’t recommend, but it’s a tad less weird then using the Miir Pourigami to make your own pour-over.
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Keep Your Coffee Fresher
Fellow Atmos Vacuum Sealed CanisterThe coffee fanatics will tell you that keeping your beans fresh is one of the most important parts of making a good cup, and generally, they're right. If your beans aren’t fresh, they aren’t going to taste as good. They’ll get bitter, and those delicate flavor compounds will break apart and vanish into the ether, leaving behind muddied, astringent flavors.
One way to keep your beans fresh as long as possible is to store them in a vacuum-sealed canister. The Atmos Vacuum Canister is the right size to hold an entire pound of coffee beans, and sealing it after each use will preserve the delicate and rich flavors you get from fresh-roast coffee for much longer. Plus, it’s matte black so it’s light-sealed. Light is also the enemy of good, flavorful coffee beans. Keep them secret, keep them safe.
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A Kitchen Scale
Renpho Digital Kitchen ScaleUnless you’re the type of bro who’s so allergic to kitchen-related activities that you store your jeans in the oven, you really don’t have an excuse to not own a kitchen scale. There’s a thousand of them on the market for under $30, and the paltry price of $19 will nab you this handy item from Amazon that includes a touch-free tare option that uses a proximity sensor to zero out the weight.
It doesn’t include decimal measurements in grams, but it was very accurate otherwise and is perfectly acceptable for dosing grounds for pour over and larger batches of coffee brewed in auto-drip machines. Most consumer-grade espresso machines can forgive a half-gram margin of error while pulling shots at home, so the lack of more finite measurements is acceptable given the low cost of this scale. It’s also easy to clean, and the 6 x 8-inch footprint is fine for all coffee-related applications and most others as well.
- Photograph: Pete Cottell
A Life-Simplifying Dosing Cup With a Scale
Subminimal Subscale Digital Coffee Dosing CupI’ve kept this little combination dosing cup and scale on my kitchen counter ever since I got it. Why? It solved a problem I didn’t even know I had. No longer do I have to plop a dosing cup atop a scale and hit the tare button before weighing my coffee beans. This lightweight and elegant cup is already a scale, accurate to a tenth of a gram with pretty much no lag in measurement.
Just turn on the Subscale using its only button, drop in your beans, and read the fancy LED display inside the cup. Then pour your beans into the grinder. That’s it. That’s all it does, and all it tries to do. The Subscale is a pretty little indulgence that simplifies your life without also complicating it, and makes you a little happier in the morning. Definition of a good gift. —Matthew Korfhage
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- Photograph: Decent Espresso
A Thermometer for Coffee Geeks
Decent Espresso Digital Milk ThermometerIt should go without saying that the thermometer you use to get a read on that brisket you’ve been smoking for an entire day should not go anywhere near a beverage. Frothing milk is a delicate art, and you need high-tech tools to pull it off like a pro. Lucky for you the fine folks at Decent Espresso crafted the perfect device for the task. Straight out of the box the thermometer is set to beep when your milk is right at 140 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the universally agreed-upon temperature for silky, steamy perfection.
The refresh rate on the thermometer is lightning-fast, meaning the normal guesswork around when to shut off the steam wand is a thing of the past. Throw in a few subtle quality-of-life upgrades, like an auto-off feature that’s disabled when the stem is over 50 degrees Fahrenheit or a sturdy adjustable clip that keeps the thermometer out of the way while you’re steaming, and you have a near-perfect improvement upon a vital piece of coffee tech that’s been stuck in the past for far too long.
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A Manual Burr Grinder
Hario Skerton ProYou know those swirling blade grinders you can get at any home store for less than 10 bucks? Those are fine for grinding spices, but they're terrible at grinding coffee. Getting the kind of even grind you need to brew a good cup of coffee is much easier with a burr grinder. If your coffee lover doesn't have one of these, you're about to change their life.
We have an entire guide to the best coffee grinders, but an electric model will cost $100-plus. The Hario Skerton Pro ($51) is a small hand-cranked burr grinder, but it can handle everything from espresso to pour-overs. The only thing it's bad at are courser grinds like what you need for French press brewing.
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Our Favorite Cold Brewer
Primula Burke Cold Brew Coffee MakerEven seasoned coffee lovers don't always think of cold-brewing coffee, which is a shame because a good cold brew is a great, refreshing afternoon pick-me-up. Try it with some macadamia nut milk, either store-bought or homemade.
Our favorite cold brewer is the Primula Burke, which topped our guide to the best cold brew coffee makers. It's simple to use and brews 32 ounces of smooth, flavorful coffee. The mesh basket filter is fine enough that you won't get the heavy sediment that taints some cold brewers. When you're done, cleanup is a breeze. The bottom of the Burke's filter screws off, allowing you to easily eject used grounds.
- Photograph: JEFFREY MICHAEL WALCOTT/Flair
Artful Espresso
Flair Classic Espresso MakerThe Flair Signature series espresso makers hark back to another era, like something you'd find on the counter of a tiny coffeehouse in prewar Italy. Its design feels timeless, and it produces the best extraction of any hand-powered espresso maker we've tested (read our full guide to the best espresso machines). If you want to class up your coffee lover's kitchen, the Flair is the way to do it.
If you're feeling generous, the Signature Pro 2 ($325) is the even nicer, solid stainless steel version.
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Espresso Anywhere
Wacaco Nanopresso Portable Espresso MakerIf your coffee lover is suffering through drip coffee at the office, hook them up with one of these. The Nanopresso tops our guide to the best portable espresso makers. It strikes a great balance between ease of use, portability, and taste. It extracts a nice espresso from almost any beans, and the compact, all-in-one design also means you can shove it in the smallest of bags and have excellent espresso anywhere you go. There's also an expansion kit called the Barista Kit with a larger water tank and grounds basket for making a double espresso. Not every coffee fanatic loves espresso, so it's worth asking before you buy.
- Photograph: Pete Cottell
An Espresso Knock Box
Breville Knock BoxThere are two types of home baristas who use a countertop espresso machine on the reg: Those who’ve fished the filter basket of their portafilter out of the garbage after knocking out the spent espresso puck with just a tad too much oomph, and those who are liars. A knock box would solve this problem in a second, but it’s easy to explain away the need for one with concerns about counter space, style, or cost. Breville knocked (sorry!) it out of the park with its aptly named Knock Box, which is a sturdy and aesthetically pleasing must-have for anyone who makes espresso at home.
The rubberized arm that takes the hit from the portafilter is durable and just a little bouncy, and the rugged band of rubber circling the bottom keeps the box in place after several smacks from above. The stainless steel finish is inoffensive and easy to clean, and the box holds about 10 pucks before needing to be emptied. As unsexy as this thing is, owning proper tools is the mark of a true professional, and you’re bound to impress someone by having a knock box in your rig.
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A Gooseneck Kettle for Pour-Over
Fellow Stagg EKG Electric KettleThis one’s on the expensive side, but it’s a great pick for any coffee enthusiast. It’s the pour-over kettle you’re likely to see your local barista using, and for good reason. It’s gorgeous, heats up quickly, and the long, narrow gooseneck allows you to carefully pour a thin stream of hot water around your coffee grounds, ensuring an even saturation.
It’s one of those appliances, like a KitchenAid mixer, that ends up becoming equal parts decoration and functional kitchen tool. It looks great on any countertop.
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An Electric Kettle
Breville IQ KettleElectric kettles can be insanely complicated in regard to the simple, singular function they perform. The minimalist options force users to figure out how to dial in a temperature and other settings with just one of two buttons, while the more advanced entries in the market have way too many buttons for their own good.
Breville’s IQ Kettle is a happy in-between, with a straightforward selection of temp-specific buttons that are easy to view and understand, a simple on/off switch, a warm hold button that can be turned on at any time (shame on the countless others that require this to be pressed before you start heating), and a sturdy exterior that won’t melt your hand when you graze it while reaching for the handle. Gooseneck kettles are cool and all, but when I’m forced to brew a pour-over I want zero hassle from the tools I use to engage in a process that’s fussy for the sake of being fussy.
- Photograph: Pete Cottell
An Automated Pour-Over Machine
Fellow Aiden Precision Coffee MakerPleasing pour-over people and impatient caffeine junkies with the same machine was once an impossible task, but a solution has finally landed in the form of the Fellow Aiden (8/10 WIRED Recommends). A unique dual-basket system couples with some advanced–but not too advanced–bloom and dosing options to provide a user-friendly brewing experience that’s perfect for 5 or 50 ounces of coffee with just a few turns of a dial.
This handsome 9 x 9 x 12-inch black cube can replace both your V60 and your Mr. Coffee, and it’s easy enough to use that even your Boomer in-laws can figure it out quickly thanks to the intuitive Guided Brew feature. At $365 it’s certainly not the most budget-friendly option, but it brews an excellent cup of coffee with minimal fuss, so it’s definitely worth consideration if you’re in the market for the last coffee maker you or a loved one will ever need.
- Photograph: Pete Cottell
A Sturdy Frothing Pitcher
Brewista Frothing PitcherNot all steaming pitchers are created equal, and that piece of aluminum junk that came with your espresso machine is more useful as a flower pot than it is a steaming vessel. You need a sturdy steaming pitcher with thick walls for heat retention and a precision tip for expert pours, and the Brewista Precision Frothing Pitcher is a strong candidate for best in class.
The easy-to-read measurement lines inside the pitcher are a nice touch, and the built-in thermometer sticker on the side provides a nice general guideline for interior temperature if you’re in a pinch and can’t find a proper thermometer. This pitcher excels in both personal and commercial use, as its tough exterior can take a serious beating without warping or chipping excessively.
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