Coffee Gifts with an Eye on Design

Coffee Gifts with an Eye on Design

My list of well designed coffee related paraphernalia is quite long, but here are a few items on that list that we either own or hope to at some point! This list includes a range of products from brewing equipment to coffee accessories, but they all make equally great gifts for coffee-loving friends (unfortunately, getting your hands on some of these items may be tough if you’re in India or if you’re on a budget, but the list still makes for good online eye candy).

 

ACAIA MINIMALIST COFFEE BREWING SCALE

 

 

 

Initially funded by a Kickstarter campaign, the company is now offering incredibly elegant coffee brewing scales for sale on it’s website. There are a number of elements, including its contemporary design, that I love about this scale but my personal favourites include the fact that the conscious lack of buttons prevents coffee grinds from getting stuck on the scale and that the auto timer is set to go on longer to ensure that the scale doesn’t go off while you’re weighing your coffee (something that always seems to happen to me). For the true pourover geek, the scale comes with an app that syncs to your phone or tablet which gives you the real time measurement of your water flow rate and the ability to save and share recipes. A big thanks to Matt’s mom for bringing this over during her last visit to India!

 

KEEPCUP

 

 

This reusable and eco friendly cup comes in a variety of colours and has been very consciously designed with detailed Sustainability and FAQ sections on its website which discuss the materials used to create the keepCups and how to recycle them. One amongst many facts on the KeepCup website that stood out about this product  – “Over one year, the KeepCup, when compared to disposable cups, reduces landfill by at least 99%”. An added bonus is that you can select your own colours for each element that comprises the KeepCup (something I spent way too much time doing).

 

HARIO V60 BUONO KETTLE + GLASS SERVER

 

 

We decided to sell these items on our website because we realised that we were waking up every morning feeling so grateful that we owned them. The design of the buono kettle (above right) is very elegant. Even though we use it atleast three times a day to brew ourselves our daily pour over coffees, the refined, controlled stream of water that flows from its narrow spout never stops being mesmerising. The glass server (above left) seemed superfluous at first, but it has really made brewing multiple cups of coffee so much easier (and less messy!)

 

CLEVER COFFEE DRIPPER

 

 

We would never have tried this aptly titled coffee dripper had a wonderful customer of ours not gifted it to us. Unlike normal pour over coffee drippers, the clever dripper is closed from the bottom. It’s only when you place the dripper over a cup that the levers on the bottom of the dripper open up, allowing the coffee that was brewing inside to start dripping into the container over which the dripper is placed. This design allows you to control the amount of time you’d like your coffee to brew. An added bonus is that you get a lid for the dripper so that the coffee remains hot while it’s brewing.

 

AEROPRESS METAL FILTERS

 

 

The aeropress is such a no-brainer-great-gift (for lack of a better term) – and we have written about it so often – that I thought I’d skip a detailed mention of one of our favourite brewing equipments. However, what I did want to mention are the metal Aeropress filters that you can use as an alternative to the paper filters that the Aeropress comes with. They are easy to rinse off and the holes in the filters allow for coffee oils and fines to enter your cup which adds some extra body and depth to the taste of the coffee. To learn more about these filters, you can read an earlier blog post that we wrote on how these metal filters change the taste of coffee.

 

JOCO CUP-TRAY

 

 

In addition to the KeepCups, the design of these Joco Cups is also very sleek, but what really caught my attention was their 6 cup carrier made from birch wood. The downside is that this carrier only fits Joco Cups but I thought this was a very useful and innovative idea and one that’s perfect for bringing back coffee for friends or work colleagues. I also thought it was very neat that the circular inserts double up as coasters for your coffee cups.

 

KAPU, THE FINNISH COFFEE CLIP

 

 

This coffee scoop, made from birch wood, isn’t just beautiful to look at for its workmanship and simple, clean design, but it’s also very useful (as an aside, I also loved the packaging that the clip comes in).  You can use it to scoop coffee out of your coffee pouch and then to clip the pouch to retain the freshness of your coffee. One thing we have mentioned in a number of our blog articles and will continue to emphasise is that no pouch clip or vacuum sealed packaging can change the fact that all coffee stales 2 – 3 weeks after it is roasted, but if you don’t store your coffee well (which is where the Kapu clip comes in), you run the risk of having your coffee go stale even sooner.

 

TAIKA CUPS

 

 

 

I fell for all of the items that were created under Taika’s collection (yet another product from Finland) years ago. And there is nothing better than drinking a delicious cup of coffee from a beautifully designed cup. Make sure to view the colourful plates that go with each mug in the Taika collection.

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