If you’re looking for the best gifts for tea lovers, you’ve come to the right place! We’re going to show you how to pick out the best gift for the tea lover in your family, regardless of the occasion.
We’ll also give you a list of the best gifts for tea lovers.
Let’s wrap this up nice and put a bow on it!
What Makes the Best Gifts for Tea Lovers?
What should you look for when searching for the best gifts for tea lovers? It’s just the same as getting a gift for any other type of person. You want something that shows you care, you’ve been listening and something they wouldn’t normally get for themselves.
Here are a few things you may want to consider when finding the best gift for tea lovers, or anyone else for that matter.
Personal
The best gifts for tea lovers are specific to that person - something they are uniquely interested in. This is an opportunity to show your friend or family member that you’ve been listening to what they’ve been saying.
Did they mention a particular type of tea they like? Or perhaps a curiosity to try another. Or maybe they’ve said they can never find a good Japanese oolong. All of these are opportunities to get a gift they will truly appreciate.
Irreplaceable
Just like you want to get gifts for tea lovers that are personal to their own interests, you also want to find unique pieces that are hard to find. You don’t want mass produced tea packs that can be bought at any shopping mall, but rather a selection of small batch teas and teaware that would be hard to find elsewhere.
Generous
Another marker of a good gift is something someone wouldn’t normally get for themselves. If you’re getting them something they could’ve just as easily gotten themselves, you might as well just give them cash.
What makes a good gift is something someone wouldn’t normally get for themselves. Maybe they’ve been using the same cracked teapot for years, but haven’t been able to justify purchasing a shiny new one. You don’t want to be too practical and just do someone's shopping for them, you also want to get something that elevates their experience.
Quality
This should go without saying, but you also want to get something that will be high quality. This is particularly important for tea lovers, because if the tea is bad it’s almost a chore to drink it.
If you’re looking for gifts for tea lovers, you’ll want to go for premium, loose leaf tea without other ingredients blended in. The dried fruit, flowers and flavorings added into other blends may make the tea more interesting for beginners, but true tea lovers will avoid these. And please, if you’re getting a strainer or infuser, please make sure it has enough space in it for the leaves to unfurl!
10 Best Gifts for Tea Lovers
So now that we’ve reviewed the guidelines for best gifts for tea lovers, let’s go through a list of our favorites. Here are 10 of the best gifts for tea lovers:
Matcha Advent Calendar
This was selected as one of the best gifts for matcha lovers by the Food Network, and is our most popular product to date! This sampler includes 24 different types of matcha from different regions, farms and plant varieties (cultivars).
Not only do you get to wake up to a new matcha every morning, but you also get a small holiday-themed matcha poem to get you into the holiday spirit. The reason this is one of the best gifts for tea lovers is because it’s hard to get variety and transparency from matcha companies, and this way you can explore many different matcha in one place and learn where they came from.
Teapots
The reason why teapots are some of the best gifts for tea lovers is they are something a lot of tea lovers will put off buying for themselves. While they are a good price range for a gift, they are a bit expensive to buy for yourself.
Many tea lovers try to get by with the same teapot everyday (or even with a simple tea strainer) so this gift will really mean a lot. Ideally, a tea lover will be stocked with multiple teapots that can be switched out depending on the type of tea. For example, if your tea lovers is a fan of Japanese green tea, the kyusu teapot made from Tokoname clay is the perfect tool.
Matcha Bowls
This is basically a matcha lovers version of the teapot. Sure you can whisk matcha in a cereal bowl, but if you really want to take your tea to the next level, you will want a dedicated matcha bowl or chawan. These have steeper sides and a wider base which makes whisking easier.
They also come with unique, aesthetic patterns and glazing styles to match everyone's individual taste. This is your chance to prove you know your tea lover and select the perfect bowl for them. If you want, you can browse multiple different styles on our website.
Ceremonial grade matcha
Ceremonial grade matcha is more or less a marketing term, but it generally refers to matcha that is good enough to drink plain. The matcha listed as “ceremonial grade” on our website, for example, comes from the first harvest. This matcha is higher in nutrients, smoother in flavor and it has a beautiful green color to it.
It’s hard to find a decent ceremonial matcha for under $1 per gram, so this is something that makes a good gift. Some of these prized matcha come in these beautiful tins like they are just waiting to be wrapped up as a gift.
Gyokuro
The most prized tea in all of Japan is Gyokuro, a long shaded green tea carefully rolled into these needle shapes. This tea is loved for its trademark sweet and savory flavor and it tastes unlike any other tea.
This next-level flavor comes at a price, and gyokuro is not a daily drinker but rather a tea for celebrations. These gyokuro could be the crown jewel of any tea lovers collection and for that reason they are some of the best gifts for tea lovers.
Matcha Sampler
A less seasonal version of the matcha advent calendar is the matcha sampler. This still allows you to try many different matcha at once, but without the holiday themed matcha poems.
With the ongoing matcha shortage, matcha lovers are always on the look out for new varieties to try so this is the perfect set. This is the perfect gift for tea lovers because it allows you to try matcha from different farmers, regions and cultivars all in one place.
Japanese Oolong
This is something we hinted at before, but it is quite rare to find a good Japanese oolong. 99% of the tea produced in Japan is green tea, and only 20% of the remainder is oolong, making this an incredibly rare tea.
If your tea lover is a fan of green Taiwanese oolongs like Jin Xuan, they will love this. It’s light, creamy, floral and it is an incredibly rare find!
Fermented Tea
While 0.2% of the tea produced in Japan is oolong, 0.1% of the tea is post fermented. The Nadeshiko rose is truly a special tea, fermented using Koji, the same cultures used to make soy sauce, sake and miso.
This is one of the best gifts for tea lovers because it tastes like a shou puerh or ripe puerh, but it is more citrusy and fruity. It has notes of strawberry and a hint of cinnamon, and it makes a great addition to any tea lovers collection.
Kamairicha
Everyone loves a gift that comes with a story, and this tea really has a good one! In China, green teas are pan-fired, while in Japan they are normally steamed. These is one region in Southern Japan that still makes green tea in the traditional Chinese style and it is called Kamairicha.
This pan-fired green tea from Miyazaki prefecture makes for a fantastic gift for tea lovers. It balances these roasted nutty notes with more vegetal notes of nori and edamame. It’s a rare and delicious tea that everyone should try at least once!
Tea Advent Calendar
In addition to a matcha advent, there is also a tea advent calendar. This contains 24 different types of loose leaf teas from Japan. If you have a Chinese tea lover that is looking to get into Japanese tea, this makes the perfect introduction.
You can try sencha, gyokuro, hojicha, genmaicha kamairicha and more in this one sampler. You also get short, tea-themed poems to get you into the holiday spirit. This truly is one of the best gifts for tea lovers!
