When it’s gift giving season, I know how hard it can be to think of what to get for people. Here’s my list of favorite coffee items (in no particular order). They all would make the perfect gift for the coffee lover in your life.
Nespresso Vertuo Coffee/Espresso Machine
After getting my Nespresso machine, I enjoy my cup of coffee a lot more now. The Vertuo machine works with pods that make coffee or pods that make espresso. I love making Cinnamon Sugar Lattes, Raspberry Mochas and Caramel Macchiatos with my Nespresso machine.
The Nespresso machine I have came with this milk frother – the Aeroccino 3. It’s easy to use and makes hot or cold foam for your homemade coffee drinks. Press the button once for a hot foam and the button lights up red for a hot foam, hold it for 3 seconds and it lights up blue for a cold foam. Nespresso advises you to remove the “whisk” for a cold foam, but I find it makes a really nice fluffy foam with the whisk attached. If you have no more space on your counter top for another coffee machine, I suggest you get the milk frother. It’ll make your coffee drinks infinitely better.
As much as I enjoyed the convenience of the single cup brewers, I didn’t love what it meant for the environment or my wallet. Having a supply of pods on hand was always a struggle for me, and frankly, I found that I enjoyed the flavor of coffee from a pour over more. I passed my Keurig on to my mom and have been using the pour over method for awhile now. I find it makes a smoother cup of coffee that doesn’t have that “burnt” taste to it like single cup brewers have. I have a clear plastic dripper like the one pictured above and use a reusable mesh stainless steel filter but also used the brown paper cone filters for awhile.
This type of kettle is supposed to be used with pour over coffee. I do not own one because I have literally zero storage space left in my kitchen, but I think they are great and really pour the hot water out slowly like you need for a good cup of pour over coffee. I currently use a standard kettle and have to be very careful about pouring from the wide mouth spout.
If you’re going to great lengths to have a delicious cup of coffee, you should definitely have a coffee grinder. Although I do not have one myself, I’ve heard that freshly roasted beans that are freshly ground make for a truly spectacular cup of coffee.
Mugs are the perfect gift for any coffee lover. There are so many shapes, styles and colors available now. You can never have too many coffee mugs!
For awhile I was using the oxo brand coffee tumbler with the plunger lid. It was great for keeping coffee hot and for preventing spills in case I left it somewhere and had to slam the brakes on my car. There was nothing terribly wrong with it, except it was getting a bit old and I felt that I could never clean it as well as I wanted to. This Contigo tumbler is stainless steel, keeps my coffee HOT for a lot longer than the oxo plunger tumbler and only lets you drink the coffee if you press the button on the outside. It also has a lock feature and a feature that exposes all the parts from the lid so that you can clean it more easily. I have it in the color pictured above, but they have so many colors to choose from.
In full disclosure, I do not own a French Press, but they have always intrigued me. I hear it’s a bit similar to the pour over method, but it looks a lot cooler and I’m sure it produces less waste than using the paper cone filters.
These syrups are great for flavoring your coffee without using the store bought creamers. I love the vanilla and caramel syrups and have used these syrups in my Raspberry Mocha recipe and Starbucks Copycat Iced Caramel Macchiato recipe.
