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This Is the Poshest AND Most Practical Gift You Can Buy a Coffee Lover for Under $200
Win the season, hands down, with this slam dunk for caffeine fans.
Know someone who loves coffee? Right, duh. Let us rephrase that: Know someone for whom caffeine is their very lifeblood? Someone so devoted to the stuff that they're bleeding their paycheck straight into Starbucks' profits in $5 increments each morning on the way to work? Yes, you know those people. (And if you are those people — well, definitely no judgement here.)
Here's how to become that person's very favorite friend this holiday season: Buy them the most luxurious-feeling home coffee contraption you can at a reasonable budget. Think under $200 for a home latte and cappuccino maker — when some of the high-end professional ones range into the thousands of dollars.
Just out last month, Keurig is offering its Special Edition K-Café Single Serve Coffee, Latte & Cappuccino Maker, which has a pro-looking nickel finish that actually adds to my countertop look (and registers "gracious!" and "fancy!" when guests see it).
Yes, it does make regular morning coffee using those ubiquitous K-cup pods. But it also has a frothing feature that allows you to whip up creamy lattes or cappuccinos using whatever's your poison — I'm a one percent milk gal, my husband is about the whole milk (and our friends all range from almond to soy to hemp because we live in LA). This removes any real need for anyone to blow a Lincoln every morning on the way to work on a coffee house drink, and it's just frankly way more convenient and time-saving to boot.
It also just feels like a splurge of a gift when you really need to give something that feels substantial — perhaps you were naughty this year? — and that will endure. But right now it's on sale for $169.99 — that's 15 percent off the regular price of $199.99 — and it's like a warm, caffeinated hug from you every time the recipient brews up a cup.
Coordinating feel-good stocking stuffer idea: some starter pods from Laughing Man Coffee ($11.99 for 16), which was co-founded by Hugh Jackman. A portion of all sales go to Laughing Man Foundation, which supports coffee farming communities and programs that ensure fair wages and facilitate sustainable health and success for coffee farmers and their families — now in recyclable packaging.
