Food and drink gifts

Although this site is about gift memberships, there are times when you want gift ideas for foodie lovers which will just give them the occasional treat to experience. So here are a few ideas - and a few special offers, too! Bon appetit!

For coffee lovers, how about a Rise Coffee Gift Box?

Recipients receive key facts on the roasters, beans and farmers, and tasting notes and brew tips. There's also a free treat from Rise's food and drink partners, and the gift comes in a box that's eco friendly, you can recycle it and it's sustainably sourced. Choose the bean too - e.g. whole bean, ground coarse, fine, ground medium, decaf ground, decaf or whole bean. And choose how many months to give the subscription for, too - and yes, there's a one-off purchase, as well as on-going, three month, six month and 12 months. There are exclusive invitations to 'Meet the Roaster' and 'Cupping Events' and the fchance to join the test panel! Visit Rise Coffee to find out more!

If you're looking for novelty chocolates, try the Chocolate Trading Company. They've got Christmas Santas, Christmas Reindeers, Teddy Bears, Chocolate Christmas Bells Tree Decorations, One Pound Chocolate Coins, mini-snowmen, mini-angels, Christmas Elves, Christmas nutcracker soldiers..... well, dive in and see for yourself here!

(Actually, if you're also looking for a gift for a chocoholiday who loves to try new chocolate, have a good browse around their site. They have lots of very difficult chocolate from all over the world!) Visit the Chocolate Trading Company's website here.

This is the Twinings Matcha Starter Kit Gift Box

If you've got someone who loves trying new teas, you could give them Twinnings' Matcha Starter Kit Gift Box for £35.00. It's got everything you need to begin crafting Matcha drinks. It features a Matcha bowl, bamboo whisk and bamboo spoon - a great way to get your green tea fix for the day! If someone you know has always wanted to dive into Matcha tea, this could be a great way to start them off.

For cheese lovers, you could take a look at Pong Cheese. They have an amazing range of cheeses, including one called the Stinking Bishop - yes honestly, that's it's name! The one pictured right is the Pong Cheese Explorer Box for £22.95. It's a great introduction to artisan cheeses from the UK and France. Bon appetit!

Pong Cheese have The Pong Cheese Explorer Box for £22.95.

You could give the nature lover in your life a bar of Gola Rainforest Chocolate 70g - Milk

If you've want to buy a gift for a nature lover, you could look at the RSPB (that's the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). They have this Gola Rainforest Chocolate 70g - Milk for £4.50. This chocolate is palm oil free, much kinder to the rainforest and all the animals there as it doesn't mean the rainforest gets cut down to make way for palm oil plantations... It's made in Cornwall, and you can find out more about it here.

They've also got RSPB Gola dark drinking chocolate for £13.00.

How about a bottle of something from English Heritage?

These could be a great gift for history lovers who enjoy a tipple, perhaps whilst they are reading a historic novel to delve into the past!

The wines include Elderflower, of course, plus a Nettle wine (yes, really), a Strawberry wine, a Ginger wine, a Blackberry and a Cherry. And the meads include the Traditional (pictured right), as well as Ginger, Heritage, Banquet, Chilli, Stonehenge, and Celtic. There are miniature gift sets of both wines and meads, too. Mead has been around for 4,000 years, believe it or not, and mead is wine fermented with honey. It was believed to improve health and prolong life, and there's a theory that mead was given to newlyweds, creating the term "honeymoon". The one pictured right is an English Heritage Chilli Mead for £15.00.

For history lovers, English Heritage have a range of wines, meads, spirits and liqueurs.

For those who love having a go and spending time in the kitchen trying something new, you could look at Not on the High Street. They have a big range of "Make your own" kits, including the one pictured left, a Beer Bread Making Kit, for £25.95. You never know, your gift could spark a passion for a new hobby! Explore the range here.

WOOF!!!! What about the dog in your family?

How about some bedtime treats for your loving canine member of the family? There's no reason for them to lose out on a bedtime snackette, with Lily's Kitchen's bedtime biscuits. Traditionally oven baked, made with the finest organic ingredients - nothing less - they've got honey for the immune system (your dog's, not yours) and yoghurt to give their gut good bacteria. The biscuits have also got chamomile which is known for its calming properties (my other half has chamomile tea every night to help him sleep) to soothe your dog before bedtime. For £3.50 from Lily's Kitchen. Woof, woof! Wag that tail (sleepily...)!

(And yes, for all your felines out there - they've got treats for you, too.... pounce to find out more here.)