The microroasting boom that’s taken global coffee to new heights has, in New York, also gone hyperlocal. With a proliferation of specialty coffee crafters across the boroughs has come a burst of creativity, too—from roast styles to packaging to preparation—that’s perfectly timed for the gift-giving season. Here are five of New York coffee’s most giftable, brewable treats.
Driftaway Coffee Custom Subscription $39
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Bespoke subscriptions to this Brooklyn-based coffee roaster start at just $39 for a three-month gift to your coffee-loving pals. Each subscription starts with a tasting kit, to help determine what coffees the drinker would like best, and follows with two (or) more customized deliveries, with coffees from origins like Brazil, Mexico, and Kenya.
Parlor Coffee Instant Blend Duo $28
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Headed to your in-laws’ house in a coffee “blackout” zone? Can’t bear the plane or train ride without the finest specialty coffee to make that holiday trek less miserable? Gift yourself this new release from Parlor Coffee, a twinset of their mainstay blends—Prospect and Wallabout—in new, artisanal instant coffee format! Best of all, it works in hot or cold water, so if you’re going somewhere tropical, all the better.
City of Saints “The Nondenominational Holiday Party” coffee blend $22
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This small, two-shop chain’s vibrant packaging makes its coffees great for gifting year-round, but they’ve done one better for the festive season with their unique Nondenominational Holiday Party blend. And it’s not just a crowd-pleasing medium roast in seasonal packaging: this issue from the roaster’s new “Party Series” is meant to be “a little wilder and crazier” than their everyday roasts, and features a pairing of a natural processed, fruity Ethiopian coffee and a washed coffee from the seldom-seen origin of Myanmar.
Cafe Grumpy Malacara B Yellow and Red Bourbon Gift Set $42
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Though it’s easy to get distracted by Cafe Grumpy’s plush coffee bean stuffies and rotating array of cute tote bags, the Greenpoint-based chain has a special holiday offering for your gift-getter’s “serious” coffee side, too. Their El Salvador Malcara B—a coffee built on a long-term sourcing relationship between Cafe Grumpy and the farm—is available for a limited time as a side-by-side comparison between two of its varieties, Red Bourbon and the much rarer Yellow Bourbon bean. (Sorry—it’s pronounced burrb-own; nothing alcoholic.)
Coptic Light Worka Cheleche coffee in letterpressed box $22
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This micro-roaster’s exquisitely selected coffees are on par with their truly unique packaging—which comes in boxes you’ll want to keep, illustrated by artist David V. D’Andrea and letterpressed on vintage machinery. This selection from Ethiopia promises balanced, candied-citrus notes in the cup—and put together with its work-of-art box, will be just the niche gift you’re looking for for the coffee drinker you’ve never yet impressed.
