The Matty Macchiato 5th Annual Holiday Gift Guide – Part II

photo: iStock/Svetlana_nsk, via The Wirecutter/NY Times

Part I of this year’s guide focused on branded swag. Today we’ll try for most everything else.


Here are suggestions on what to get for the person who……..

Wants to make better coffee at home, by any method

I could wax poetically about coffee demigod James Hoffmann and his new book, How to Make the Best Coffee at Home, ($19.99 – available from all major book retailers, though it would be nice of you to support your local independent bookstore), but better to let the man himself tell you all about it.

If you are interested in coffee at all, Hoffmann’s YouTube channel is an absolute treasure ($FREE).

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new toy

So I splurged on something totally unnecessary, because it looks great and is high-level nerd tech. I treated myself to the Acaia Lunar scale, which I featured in 2018 as part of my original holiday gift guide. It’s still one of the most well-regarded coffee scales available. And as expected, it’s gorgeous.

the precioussssssss

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how did I get here

Nothing in this blog is presented as gospel or truth. Taste by definition is subjective. I don’t pretend to be an expert, and I don’t pretend to have a definitive palate.  In fact, it was made very clear to me recently that I am still very much a dilettante when it comes to a coffee palate, but that will be the subject of another post sometime soon.

Let me try to explain what I like, and hopefully why.

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