Acme Megans gifting guide for the Home/Geeky Barista...
You love to hate on them but the home barista is a very particular type of barista and when purchasing coffee themed or related items you will get it wrong. Yes, you will get it wrong.
Having worked as a coffee professional for longer than I'd like to share, hi! Megan here, co-owner of Acme, President of the New Zealand Speciality Coffee Assn and of course a very professional coffee drinker. I've been given some pretty "interesting" coffee related items (sorry mum and dad). I'm here to help guide you through the process that is; buying for that loveable home barista/coffee lover in your life. So that you're not referred to as a bad gift-er, like i've just done to my parents...
I'm just going to start with the Classic, the range that started it all off for us, the OG, the Acme Espresso range. Available in a range of colours so there should be a colour that will match their espresso gear, kitchen or their eyes - hint; the Dolphin grey and Whale dark blue are our most popular colours. But the Weka brown is my personal fav, you really can't beat a classic.
If the coloured classic isn't their jam, then the espresso range we created with award winning Danish Coffee Roasters, Coffee Collective certainly will be! It would also earn you a bit of street cred, as they're one of the top roasterys in the world.
Are they short on space? Do they like small drinks with milk? Then the Taster range is the best option. You can impress them with facts like: The Canadian Barista champion placed in the top 6 using these cups for their milk course and these cups are used by coffee professionals to cup their coffees. They're also not limited to just coffee *wow* I know.
Our modern classic, the Roman range was designed for the modern barista. Questions to ask yourself; Do they like to talk about pulling long shots? Do they like to mention the tactile experience they like when using a vessel? Or are they a bit of an a**hole when you mention you prefer a large extra hot decaf flat white with chocolate sprinkles? (you do you, we won't judge) and finally do they like good functional design and the colour green? Then this is totally their cup (even if you weren't able to answer all those questions, this cup is beautiful! I'm using the cup in the above photos, the Kawakawa dark green is by far our most popular colour and cup for the home).
& finally, teaspoons. No no no not for stiring sugar, the coffee geek that you're purchasing for are will not be drinking coffee (that's designed for drinking) with sugar (you're thinking of espresso thats served at classic espresso bars in Italy that require so much sugar to make them palatable that the spoon stands up). A teaspoon is for stiring the espresso to break up the crema, just like a world barista judge does on stage.
If they're super fancy their teaspoons will have to match their cutlery, funny enough we can also help you with that *wink wink 
PS. if this has only made things harder for you, you can't go wrong with a mug. Mugs really are the big hug of the gifting world. Everyone loves them.
