If you’re thinking ahead to the holiday season, and looking for fresh inspiration for your tea drinking friends and family, we are here for you! All year long, we tuck away our favorite tea-themed gifts to share with you in Destination Tea’s Holiday Tea Gift Guide. We include items for all budgets, as well as stocking stuffer ideas. And we keep our former tea gift guides and tea gift suggestions online so that you can revisit those for even more unique gifts for your tea friends. We also always recommend giving the gift of your presence, by inviting someone to a holiday tea, either one you host, or one at a local tearoom. We wish you a tea-filled holiday that warms your heart and creates memories to smile over in the years to come.
1. Folding Cake Stand
Why This: At our recent visit to Serenity Garden Tea House, we were reminded of how much we love the elegance and cleverness of a folding tiered tray. These are perfect for plating an afternoon tea for two, and then fold to take up very little storage space. Though you can find new modern designs for a couple hundred dollars, we much prefer the decorative look of vintage pieces. We suggest an eBay or Etsy search, where you can find them for $25 to $50. They go by many names: folding/foldable cake stand/dessert server/3-tier tray.
Find it: $35 vintage folding dessert server here
2. Travel Tea Supplies
Why This: Especially during the holidays, but whenever we leave home, tea people want good tea at all times! Our first recommendation is an insulated, plastic-free travel tea tumbler that allows you to: a. cold brew tea overnight for a grab-and-go chilled tea, or b. remove tea leaves after a hot steep for a perfectly brewed hot tea, or c. fill with takeout tea, instead of using plastic-lined, disposable cups. Jesse of Jesse’s Teahouse explains below how you can cold brew a flavorful second infusion from your used tea leaves that still have “tea energy” in them. You can cold brew directly in this tea tumbler and use its inset strainer to filter tea leaves when you sip. We also love the compact travel tins Jesse’s Teahouse provides with their tea resin, which is akin to a bouillon cube: you reconstitute a full cup of tea by pouring hot water over one tablet (see an example in our video below). We’ve tried the sampler of the four tea types offered, and our personal recommendation is to go with the Rose Red Tea Resin. All you need is your tea resin tablet, your tumbler, and hot water to have a delicious tea wherever you are. Tea lovers will also appreciate the ethical, direct sourcing and education components of Jesse’s tea business.
Find it: $29.95 The Pathfinder All-Brew Insulated Glass Tea Tumbler by Teabloom here;
$22.80 Rose Red Tea Resin, 20 tablets by Jesse’s Teahouse here
3. Seletti Teacups
Why This: Made in Italy, these porcelain teacups reflect Seletti’s design objective: to incorporate pop art into traditional design. It’s a mini art field trip browsing their collection of teaware, but this baroque-inspired cup is one of our favorites. Not only because you can choose handles in blue, fuschia, green, orange, yellow and gold, but because there is definitely crossover between Wicked fans and tea drinkers. Would the green and pink cups not be perfect for a Wicked themed afternoon tea?
Find It: $82 I-Wares I-Tea here
4. Designer Tea Kettle
Why This: We like the country/vintage/cottage vibes this MacKenzie-Childs hand-painted checked tea kettle gives, with its wooden handle and decorative lid handle. It comes in six colors to match any kitchen (cobalt blue, emerald green, mocha, grey, black and pink), in either a 2 or 3 quart size. Having a decorative tea kettle gives the tea hostess the option of bringing it to the table in place of a teapot. After the water boils, she might use a large infuser basket to steep and remove the tea leaves, then set this kettle on a trivet or teapot warmer, ready to pour. It also enables easy reheating of tea that has cooled.
Find it: $169.95 – $199.95 Check Tea Kettle by MacKenzie-Childs here
5. Tea Perfumes
Why This: What tea lover wouldn’t want to be reminded of their favorite beverage by wearing its fragrance? We love that as tea has become more popular, perfumers are taking inspiration from a variety of teas. Our recommendations are known for their true-to-life aromas. These are just a few of the dozen or so tea perfumes on the market today. Each of our suggestions approximates a different tea: Monsoon Tea – green tea; Chai Fleur – chai spices (cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg); Oolong Tea – oolong tea leaf; London Fog – Earl Grey black tea with lavendar and milk.
Find it: 1. $160 d’Annam’s Monsoon Tea, 1.7 fl. oz. here;
2. $170 Belnu’s Chai Fleur, 1.7 fl. oz. here;
3. $175 One Day’s Oolong Tea, 2.0 fl. oz. here;
4. $230 House of Brandt’s London Fog 3.4 fl. oz. here
6. Miniature Tea Scapes
Why This: Miniatures are all the rage, often placed amidst books to decorate a bookshelf. This is only for recipients with loads of patience and a decent bit of free time, because they will entirely assemble this miniature teahouse on their own. But once finished, what better way to dream of their next afternoon tea, than to gaze upon their mini teahouse or backyard afternoon tea?
Find it: $37.79 (with coupon) Rolife DIY Leisure Time Tea Room here;
$22.99 Rolife Garden Afternoon Tea here
7. Afternoon Tea T-Shirt
Why This: We can see by our demographics that zoomer and millennial adults have caught on to the afternoon tea trend. So we love seeing this young model sporting an oversized t-shirt with an invitation to meet at afternoon tea. Designed in London and made in Turkey, this gift lets you let everyone else know how much you love going to tea, and may even help you connect with a new tea friend.
Find it: $65 Afternoon Tea Boyfriend Tee by Damson Madder here
8. Tea Puzzles
Why This: It’s been years since we shared tea puzzle suggestions, and as puzzling is a favorite pastime of many tea drinkers, we collected some of the latest tea puzzle designs for our gift guide. This is an especially fitting gift if you have a friend or family member who puzzles with you (after tea has been poured, of course). This is the kind of gift with legs — it leads to time spent together, chatting and catching up, maybe listening to holiday music by a toasty fire. Happy puzzling!
Find it: $19.45 Teapots puzzle here;
$24.99 Winter Afternoon Tea puzzle here;
$16.25 Teacups puzzle here;
$23.99 Rabbit’s Teapot puzzle here
9. Teatime Ornaments
Why This: Tea people do not only collect delicious teas and beautiful teaware, we love all things tea. These teatime ornaments will be a happy addition to a tea-themed Christmas tree or wreath. They would also make for great stocking stuffers.
Find it: $29.95 Holiday Tea Set Ornament here;
$12 Delft Teaset Ornament here
10. Great Teas from American Tea Companies
Why This: One of our most read posts is one we released in January, recommending 7 great American tea companies. If you are looking to support an American business while treating your tea-drinking friends and family to high quality teas they cannot find in their local stores, these teas fit the bill. Our post includes two teas we love from each tea purveyor to get your shopping started.
Find it: $15 – $120 range, depending on what quantity you purchase, options here
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