This is for the coffee lover in your life who is always in a hurry, or doesn’t have a full espresso setup at home, or just likes it easy sometimes. Cometeer’s capsules are super-chilled little pucks of frozen, high-quality coffee from some of the country’s best roasters—extracted beautifully, then preserved at the moment of conception. This is nothing like run-of-the-mill instant coffee or a K-cup. It’s aromatic, lightly and naturally sweet (possibly sweeter than your usual cup at home). It’s interesting. And it’s a lot of fun. Just add hot water to your frozen puck (I prefer to add five ounces, for ideal strength), and the coffee comes back to life like Encino Man.

My favorite collection from Cometeer is the curated box by high-faired coffee nerd James Hoffmann, which sort of takes you both around the world and around the palate: fruity, chocolatey, funky, and indescribable, but always balanced. If you like to make iced coffee out of these instead of hot coffee: Just take out a capsule, thaw it in some warm water for about five minutes, then pour it out into a cup with ice, top it with milk, and you’ve got an iced latte. —Matthew Korfhage

Whether you’re in an office or working from home, the endless dance of topping up your mug to add a hit of warmth can get real old real fast. The “smart”-ness of this mug warmer is derived from its ability to tell whether or not a mug is on top of it rather than some sort of overconnected dependence on Alexa or Siri dictating its lot in life, which was a major upside in our testing.

If a flat-bottomed mug is present, the heating element will activate and warm its contents to around 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the mug and it turns off. If you don’t need biometrics or an IFTT applet telling your coffee warmer what to do, then this is a great option that’s “smart,” but not Smart™. —Simon Hill

The Stagg EKG Pro is elegant. It is balanced. It is a thing of beauty and precision, priced for luxury but not out of reach. It is what a good gift is. The distinctive gooseneck shape offers a slow, thin-streamed pour that is satisfying always, but downright essential for pour-over. The temperature control is accurate to the degree. You can schedule your kettle to turn on, and hold the water at the ready—at your desired temperature for tea or coffee. This kettle has been the favorite gooseneck kettle of the WIRED coffee team since the previous generation Fellow Stagg EKG+ (8/10, WIRED Recommends) was released in 2021, and maybe even before that. This design is a decade old, and going strong, and still being improved. —Matthew Korfhage

This sturdy, thoughtfully crafted ceramic mug was a viral sensation a little while back. Now it’s graduated to “cult classic,” a standby for multiple WIRED reviewers. Why has this mug stood the test of time? It’s made from a robust ceramic that feels sturdy, with a gently sloping grip that’s big enough for most hands and feels smooth and balanced when you pick it up. Warmed by fresh coffee, the glaze kinda soothes your palm. It’s magical. East Fork has a page that details exactly how each one is made, so you can see how much work goes into these gorgeous little things. —Jaina Grey

Even before he moved to San Francisco, Golden State star Jimmy Butler was always kind of a basketball player for tech people—a design-forward entrepreneur who has turned his whole lifestyle into a startup. Anyway, this “Warp” line of wabi-sabi, melted-looking coffee and espresso cups was designed for Butler’s Bigface coffee and apparel brand by Costa Mesa’s Created Co.—and they’re a whole vibe, as they used to say. That vibe is moving to San Francisco with Butler, after a packed Bigface pop-up this year.

These mugs feel like they were made of clay, then squeezed by a hand before being fired, and so they meld beautifully to my own hand when I pick them up. They’re available in sizes from wee espresso shot to 11-ounce mug, though for me the 6-ounce size is the sweet spot for Americano, latte, cappuccino, and drip, with the perfect blend of style and utility. (Once we turn it up to 11 ounces, I want a handle, dammit.) All are distinctive, all indented subtly with Butler’s happy-but-dead-eyed Bigface logo. It’s a version of geek cool that doesn’t feel geeky. It still feels cool. —Matthew Korfhage

Driftaway Coffee, a Brooklyn-based roaster, has created virtual tasting parties that WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson vouches for as a fine source of edutainment. It’s clearly a brainstorm from the depths of the coronavirus pandemic, but it’s still kinda fun—and you get to train up your taste buds from the comfort of home rather than (shudder) leave home during winter.

For $100 per screen you can taste coffee live on Zoom with one of Driftaway’s coffee experts. It’s one of those gifts you get to enjoy alongside your partner for the price of one screen. Or if you buy two screens, you can share a tasting with a faraway family member. Before your tasting, Driftaway will send out a coffee kit with glasses, coffee in unmarked bags, a tasting wheel, and a form for noting your impressions, plus some extra coffee you can enjoy later. —Matthew Korfhage

Multiple times, my colleagues have asked me: What’s the espresso machine you’d give to a beginner—the li’l latte machine that’s priced to be giftable when it goes on sale, to give to someone you love enough to gift an espresso machine? The one that’s easy to pick up and use, with automatic milk frothing that actually works, and cold brew and cold frothing for those who want drinks cold? The perfect little machine geared to Zoomer tastes, for recent college graduates and couples embarking on a new life together, or new adults with an espresso habit and their first solo apartment? Lately, this Ninja Luxe Cafe Premier (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is my answer. It’s the easy-peasy first espresso machine, with the right mix of fun features, hand-holding, and actual good espresso. During holiday sales, it has begun dipping to $500. Not a small gift. But a quite nice one! —Matthew Korfhage

The coffee fanatics will tell you that keeping your beans fresh is one of the most important parts of making a good cup, and generally, they’re right. If your beans aren’t fresh, they aren’t going to taste as good. They’ll get bitter, and those delicate flavor compounds will break apart and vanish into the ether, leaving behind muddied, astringent flavors.

One way to keep your beans fresh as long as possible is to store them in a vacuum-sealed canister. The Atmos Vacuum Canister is the right size to hold an entire pound of coffee beans, and sealing it after each use will preserve the delicate and rich flavors you get from fresh-roast coffee for much longer. Plus, it’s matte black, so it’s light-sealed. Light is also the enemy of good, flavorful coffee beans. Keep them secret, keep them safe. —Jaina Grey

Japanese outfitter Snow Peak offers a dizzying array of high-end outdoor apparel that’s popular with bougie car campers and dirtbag climbers alike, but the titanium cookware that first propelled the brand’s popularity in the US remains the jewel in its proverbial crown. A lot of drinkware geared toward camping is either of the cheap enamel variety that offers no insulation whatsoever, or bulky riffs on the Stanley or Yeti formula that take up valuable space in your pack.

Enter the Snow Peak Ti-Double 450 mug, which packs timeless style and durability into a double-walled mug that weighs only 115 grams. A pair of foldable handles welded onto the exterior provide extra protection from scalding hot liquids, and a new selection of colors inspired by the bisexual lighting boom of the past decade will excite even the most dour oat milk matcha drinker in your life. —Pete Cottell

If a command + F search for “Stanley” led you to this entry, we’re sorry to disappoint you with a lack of recommendations for the Stanley Quencher, which is by most accounts the least interesting thing the venerable drinkware company has produced in its 111 years of doing business. French press geeks are saddened by the conundrum presented by the fragility of their preferred brew method, which is usually made of glass and therefore wholly incompatible with the great outdoors.

Stanley solves this problem with its Classic Travel French Press, a sleek and durable option for coffee drinkers who still prefer a rich brew laden with oils and sediment in the year 2024. The entire apparatus is self-contained within a classic Stanley tumbler, and the plunger presses down to fit under the lid for easy sipping once the extraction process is finished. No one at the union hall will know you French-pressed your coffee like a Nancy, and the spill-proof seal at the top contains most odors, like that shot of Wild Turkey you added before you carried this into your local sports stadium on a Friday night. —Pete Cottell

Your best friend may not tell you out loud that they prefer pour-over coffee, but there will be signs. If they own a high-end vinyl setup, a rotary dial app for their iPhone, or a pair of selvage denim jeans they store in their freezer to “sanitize” between wears, there’s a good chance this painstaking brew process is their go-to when both time and environment allow for such deliberate dithering. But what will they do when they’re out in the wild without their precious V60?

Here comes Miir with its Pourigami system, which is a foldable pour-over frame made of stainless steel that weighs only 4 ounces and collapses down into a 5.1 x 2.5-inch shape that’s about as thick as two credit cards. It uses 02 cone filters and holds about 20 grams of coffee, making it a great option to brew a single cup around the campfire before everyone else wakes up, or some quick pour-over action at a hotel that only provides a janky Mr. Coffee in your room. —Pete Cottell

The Flair Signature series espresso makers hark back to another era, like something you’d find on the counter of a tiny coffeehouse in prewar Italy. Its design feels timeless, and it produces the best extraction of any hand-powered espresso maker we’ve tested (read our full guide to the best espresso machines). If you want to class up your coffee lover’s kitchen, the Flair is the way to do it.

If you’re feeling generous, the Signature Pro 2 ($325) is the even nicer, solid stainless steel version. —Scott Gilbertson

There are two types of home baristas who use a countertop espresso machine on the reg: Those who’ve fished the filter basket of their portafilter out of the garbage after knocking out the spent espresso puck with just a tad too much oomph, and those who are liars. A knock box would solve this problem in a second, but it’s easy to explain away the need for one with concerns about counter space, style, or cost. Breville knocked (sorry!) it out of the park with its aptly named Knock Box, which is a sturdy and aesthetically pleasing must-have for anyone who makes espresso at home.

The rubberized arm that takes the hit from the portafilter is durable and just a little bouncy, and the rugged band of rubber circling the bottom keeps the box in place after several smacks from above. The stainless steel finish is inoffensive and easy to clean, and the box holds about 10 pucks before needing to be emptied. As unsexy as this thing is, owning proper tools is the mark of a true professional, and you’re bound to impress someone by having a knock box in your rig. —Pete Cottell

Electric kettles can be insanely complicated in regard to the simple, singular function they perform. The minimalist options force users to figure out how to dial in a temperature and other settings with just one of two buttons, while the more advanced entries in the market have way too many buttons for their own good.

Breville’s IQ Kettle is a happy in-between, with a straightforward selection of temp-specific buttons that are easy to view and understand, a simple on/off switch, a warm hold button that can be turned on at any time (shame on the countless others that require this to be pressed before you start heating), and a sturdy exterior that won’t melt your hand when you graze it while reaching for the handle. Gooseneck kettles are cool and all, but I want zero hassle from the tools I use to engage in a process that’s fussy for the sake of being fussy. —Pete Cottell

Pleasing pour-over people and impatient caffeine junkies with the same machine was once an impossible task, but a solution has finally landed in the form of the Fellow Aiden (8/10 WIRED Recommends). A unique dual-basket system couples with some advanced—but not too advanced—bloom and dosing options to provide a user-friendly brewing experience that’s perfect for 5 or 50 ounces of coffee with just a few turns of a dial.

This handsome 9 x 9 x 12-inch black cube can replace both your V60 and your Mr. Coffee, and it’s easy enough to use that even your boomer in-laws can figure it out quickly thanks to the intuitive Guided Brew feature. At $400 it’s certainly not the most budget-friendly option, but it brews an excellent cup of coffee with minimal fuss, so it’s definitely worth consideration if you’re in the market for the last coffee maker you or a loved one will ever need. —Pete Cottell

Not all steaming pitchers are created equal, and that piece of aluminum junk that came with your espresso machine is more useful as a flower pot than it is a steaming vessel. You need a sturdy steaming pitcher with thick walls for heat retention and a precision tip for expert pours, and the Brewista Precision Frothing Pitcher is a strong candidate for best-in-class.

The easy-to-read measurement lines inside the pitcher are a nice touch, and the built-in thermometer sticker on the side provides a nice general guideline for interior temperature if you’re in a pinch and can’t find a proper thermometer. This pitcher excels in both personal and commercial use, as its tough exterior can take a serious beating without warping or chipping excessively. —Pete Cottell

For those who’d rather not futz with a wand—or who are making espresso with a machine that doesn’t have a wand you’d like to use—what you need is a nice milk frother. This one from Subminimal is quite simply the best milk frother WIRED reviewer Pete Cottell has found, sleek in aesthetic with advanced engineering that’ll make latte-art ready froth straight out of the pitcher.

The NanoFoamer Pro’s secret is a unique frothing system that utilizes a lid-mounted impeller instead of one that’s mounted on the base of the pitcher, leading to better circulation. You can control flow and aeration with color-coded rubber “flow controls,” and you can change aeration time with a button-press. It’s a beauty, and your lattes will also be beauties. —Matthew Korfhage

The Ninja DualBrew Pro is a versatile coffee maker. It can brew many different sizes of cups (using Keurig K-Cups), or carafes of drip coffee using coffee grounds. The water reservoir can be repositioned to the back of the machine if needed based on your gift recipient’s countertop configurations. There’s also a built-in milk frother to whisk up barista-worthy drinks like lattes or iced cold-foam concoctions. Yes, the machine can brew over ice as easily as it can a hot cup of coffee. There is a bit of a learning curve, but the jack-of-all-trades machine would make a great gift for anyone who likes to switch up their coffee routine very frequently, or for couples who have different tastes. —Louryn Strampe

With the exception of the mighty Aeropress, most options for coffee in a mobile or outdoors setting involves some sort of percolator, pour over, or French press system that yields a fairly standard cup of drip. The idea of schlepping even the tiniest countertop espresso machine on a car camping trip is silly, and it’s basically guaranteed to trip the breaker on whatever power converter you’ll need to hack to power the thing. The OutIn Nano solves all of these issues for true espresso addicts by offering a product that pumps rich, creamy espresso out of a sturdy metal tube that’s about the same size as a typical leak-proof tumbler.

The unit charges quickly between uses with a standard USB-C cable, and we pulled an average of four double shots of espresso on a single charge. It also only weighs about a pound and a half. Fill the top with water and screw on the lid, fill the mini-portafilter at the bottom with fine grounds, stand the Nano on top of your favorite camp mug (or the add-on stand), and press the button until it does its thing. It’s clean, compact, and relatively foolproof, making it an excellent gift for an outdoor enthusiast, a techy coffee nerd, or an unabashed espresso junkie who needs to pull shots anywhere and everywhere. Keep an eye out for OutIn’s portable grinder as well, which solves the most annoying task of making fresh coffee on the go with the same durable, portable USB-C-powered format. —Pete Cottell