Shopping For the Coffee Fan

This article may be like preaching to the choir since most of the visitors to this site know what they like about coffee. But in the event you are looking to shop for a coffee fan, this is just the primer you need to read for the holiday season. And for those of you that can’t articulate to your loved ones what constitutes a bad coffee present forward them this URL.

What To Buy?

Some coffee drinkers aren’t picky and will enjoy anything with a caffeine molecule. However, most of us know what we like and we know what we despise. There are a lot of coffee drinkers that hate Starbucks with a passion, and then there are a large number of drinkers that prefer a darker roasted coffee a la Charbucks. Buying coffee for a coffee drinker is like baking cookies for Emeril Lagasse. Without inside information, you’ll probably fail.

Things you Need to Know

Regular or decaf?
Flavored coffee or the real stuff?
What styles of roasts? What types of beans?
Do they grind their own beans?
If not, how do they want their beans ground? (drip, espresso, Turkish)

And countless other things. All this nonsense leads you to one conclusion: Buy gift certificates!

That’s No Fun

The problem with gift certificates is no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to brew up that piece of paper into a glorious pot of joe on the spot. But, trust me it is worth it. Try giving me flavored coffee from the mall and watch how hard I try to disguise a gag reflex. Not pretty. Those beans will be in the trash right beside the fruit cake before your car even leaves the driveway.

Coffee Gear

Now we are getting somewhere. True coffee fans usually will aspire to some new coffee gadget. It could be a better grinder or a new brewing system. The article Coffee Gear That Won’t Break The Bank gives several ideas. At the $25 price range, an Aeropress makes for an excellent coffee gift. It serves not only as a great brewer but it can also be taken into the office or even camping.

Summary

Unless you know EXACTLY what the coffee drinker on your Christmas list wants, don’t buy anything but a gift certificate or maybe coffee gear.

Author
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Michael Allen Smith

Michael Allen Smith is both a coffee fanatic and a web developer. In April 1999, he combined these two interests and started the coffee website INeedCoffee.com. His personal blog, which covers a wide range of topics, is Critical MAS.

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