Gifting Whole Bean Coffee? Let's Upgrade That.

A bag of whole beans used to be really cool to gift. Remember when Starbucks was opening 1,000 locations a day (we exaggerate, maybe), and premium coffee beans in really nice looking bags placed inside a holiday-themed tin can was just darn amazing?

If you don’t recall exactly what we’re talking about then you either weren’t born yet, and if you were we’d still guide you to this awesome Single Origin Pour Over Gift Box for your coffee lover friend this season and you’ll be set! If you know what we’re talking about, read on.

Back to a bag of whole beans. We’re not bagging on them (pun-intended, “bagging” is Australian slang for criticism btw); just commenting that they come from a different era; say one or two decades ago even. And that obviously changes things, because a cool gift is about novelty and delight.

So why less pizzazz than before? The answer is simple. There are literally thousands of different whole beans you could buy these days and the rule of scarcity says that if there are tons of something, it is likely to be less valuable, or in this case less delightful, unique, and novel as a holiday gift. In the 90s, whole beans were a new thing. Starbucks, Gloria Jean, Diedrich, Seattle’s Best and numerous other chains were competing for first place in most coffee shop locations because the hipster coffee shop had not yet been born. This meant your options for whole beans were much slimmer than today, and whole beans in a nice bag was still pretty novel.

Today there are about 35,000 coffee shops in the United States and almost half of those are all Starbucks. That means in the 90s, there were probably only something close to 10,000, although that’s an educated guess so don’t quote us on it. All this means we have at least tripled the number of places to buy coffee beans from in the last 30 years. Which in turn means, buying someone a bag of coffee beans as a gift today, feels like...buying them a Starbucks gift card? Even if there’s $100 on it, that gift giver isn’t winning any points for thoughtfulness right? If you disagree, then try it and let us know how it went? We’re at @kujucoffee on Instagram.

This brings us to the ultimate question: What to get the coffee loving friend or family member of yours this holiday season if not a bag of whole beans?

Well, now... you can buy them a box of pour overs. Not sure what that even means? Then novelty has arrived and you can see it here - the Kuju Starter Pack. The best part? The box comes with a free Kuju Enamel Mug, and enamel mugs have a lot of pizzazz these days.

We at Kuju are glad you asked. It’s what we’re here for.

Happy Holidays Coffee Lovers and All!