Christmas is a time of giving, but sometimes it’s hard to find the perfect gift for your loved ones. If you have a coffee lover family member or friend, this gift guide is for you! Or, if you’re a big coffee lover looking to drop hints about gifts you want, then keep reading. We want to make your job easier and tell you about all of the coffee-related gifts you can buy (or ask for) this Christmas.
Coffee Sampler Packs
Every coffee lover has their favorite coffee bean blend, but it’s always fun to branch out and try something new. Christmas is a great time to push your coffee-drinking friends out of their comfort zones and show them some truly delicious coffee blends.
Here, at Coffee Bean Corral, we offer different coffee sampler packs. Each sampler pack consists of five half pound samples. You can try a little bit of everything with these, without overly committing to one blend or another.
Check out some of our most popular samplers below!
African Coffees Sample Pack – This sample contains the Ethiopia Organic Yirgacheffe FTO, the Kenya Kiandu AA, the Rwana Hingakawa Minazi Co-Op FT, the Tanzania Peaberry, and the Uganda Organic Bugisu RFA. The tasting notes range from chocolatey to fruity to citrusy and spicy. Each blend is well-balanced and complex with cupping notes that complement each other perfectly.
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CBC Blends Sample Pack – This sample contains CBC created blends: the Big Black Organic CBC Blend, the Ferdelance Espresso Blend, the Four Horsemen CBC Blend, the Kope Kapuna CBC Blend, and the Onobeano’s Latte CBC Blend. These blends range from bold and bright to light and creamy. While each boasts different, nuanced flavor, they’re all nicely balanced with great acidity.
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Central American Coffee Sample Kit – This sampler consists of the El Salvador El Borbollon, the Guatemalan HHT Finca Vallaure, the Honduras Kingdom Growers, and more. This sample kit is full of flavor surprises, This sample kit fully encompasses the flavor nuances that make Central American coffee beans so great.
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Home Coffee Roasters
If you are just starting your journey with roasting your coffee beans, here are some tips on how to roast your coffee well. Choosing a home coffee bean roaster can be an investment, so it’s important to do your research and know what type of home roaster you want.
There’s a huge range of coffee roasters, so here’s a guide that discusses the differences between each roaster option and the factors you should consider when buying one. Each roaster comes with a holiday bonus of a gift certificate to CBC, sample packs, and more, so make sure to check them out!
Here are some of our most popular home coffee roasters that span the different price ranges:
Fresh Roast SR540 Roaster – This roaster is one of the less expensive options, but it still makes a good, even roast. It roasts up to 120 grams at a time, with an improved control board, real-time temperature readout, and 9 levels of heat adjustment. If you’re just looking to get into home roasting, you should consider this option.
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Behmor 2000AB Plus – This roaster is around the middle of most price ranges, but it comes with great perks. The roaster has 5 pre-programmed roast settings and a manual control roast parameter with a higher multi-speed motor for better roast control. It also can roast up to 1 lb. of coffee beans and uses smoke suppression technology.
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Hottop B KN-8828B-2K+ - This roaster is more of an investment, but if you’re passionate about roasting beans and want to control the entire process, this home roaster is perfect for you. It’s a drum roaster with dual thermocouples that monitor bean temperature and environmental temperature in real-time. A USB port on the side allows computer logging, monitoring, and roast control. It includes 3 user profiles that can be saved in the non-volatile memory, where you can save your favorite roast parameters at the end of a roast cycle. This roaster can hold up to 300 grams of coffee beans.
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Coffee Grinders
There are two different types of coffee grinders, burr and blade grinders. While both are good options, burr grinders create a more consistent grind, which will help you get a more consistent roast. Burr grinders contain two revolving surfaces, called burrs, that can be adjusted to the grind size you want, based on your brewing method.
The Baratza Encore Conical Burr Grinder was rated by the New York Times as the best grinder for the money. It provides a great, even grind without being too flashy or too expensive. The Baratza Encore has an expansive grinding range from Turkish grinds (powder) to French Press (very coarse) with 40 different grinding settings. You can use either the auto grind feature or grind manually if you want.
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The holiday bonus for grinders includes free shipping and a box of GRINDZ Cleaner. If you are looking to buy a grinder, now is the time to take the leap and buy one!
Coffee Storage
How you store and package your coffee is integral to maintaining fresh coffee beans so you can still have a great cup of coffee every morning. Coffee beans produce CO2, which complicates storage because the CO2 can cause the beans to go bad sooner. At CBC, we carry multiple different coffee storage containers that allow the release of CO2 from the container, keeping the beans fresh, and looking cute while doing
it!
Here are our most popular coffee storage containers:
Airscape Ceramic Canister – This container has an airtight inner lid that releases CO2, as well. The container is made of glazed ceramic with a bamboo lid and can hold up to 1 lb. of whole beans.
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Valved Coffee Bags – These bags can stand on their own and are made with zip lock pouches that have a one-way valve to allow for the de-gassing of the beans. They come in packs of 4 with the large bag holding 1 lb. of coffee and the small bag holding ½ lb. of coffee. These are an inexpensive, easily stored, disposable solution for coffee storage.
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Coffee Brewers
Trying new methods of brewing coffee is always a fun and easy way to mix up your normal coffee routine. If you’ve had your eye on a certain coffee brewer for a while, or just want to mix things up, the holidays are a good time to invest in a new coffee brewer.
Check out our selection of coffee brewers, ranging in price:
Filtron Cold Brew System – This original cold brew coffee maker is a less expensive brewing method, as well. Made from polycarbonate, it’s virtually indestructible but doesn’t impart any taste to the coffee. This style of brewing reduces coffees’ natural acidity. You can make either hot, cold, or blended drinks from the concentrate produced with the Filtron.
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Behmore Brazen Plus 3.0 – This coffee brewer is a little more of an investment, but there is a holiday bonus happening right now! If you buy a Behmore Brazen, you’ll get free shipping and a free 12 oz. bag of roasted coffee. The temperature settings are easily adjustable and can recalibrate based on the altitude. Like an oversized showerhead, the water pulses over the grinds, completely saturating them to give you the most evenly extracted cup of coffee. Also noteworthy is the fact that this brewer is one of the few Home Brewers certified by the Specialty Coffee Association of America.
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While shopping for loved ones can seem daunting at the beginning of the holiday season, hopefully, this gift guide can give you peace of mind as you shop for your favorite coffee lover. If you’re looking for any coffee accessories, like a travel coffee mug or CBC shirt, or cupping journal, look at our list of specialty items. Happy Holidays! And happy shopping!