The world of small roasters can be confusing. If you're not a dedicated enthusiast, it can be difficult to buy coffee or other small roaster products.
Here is a guide to make your December gift shopping easier. In this article you will find tips for both beginners and coffee connoisseurs, as well as tips for gourmets, tea lovers, those considering a coffee grinder, and those generally interested in quality coffee. This guide will also help you consider suitable options if you know that the recipient of the gift is a true coffee connoisseur, and you are wondering how to surprise them.
Case 1: Exploring the world of specialty coffee
We recommend a few options for you. A tasting pack , a selection of five popular filter coffees, is a guaranteed success. You can conveniently get about eight large cups of coffee per roast in a 100-gram bag. You can choose your favorite from these and continue with the coffee you have found to be good for the entire coming year.
The coffees range from light roasts (Myllysaari, Kanava) to really dark (Lauritsala), with Muukko (a medium-roasted favorite) and Pusupuisto (Lehmus Roastery's most popular coffee, a darker Guatemalan) wandering in between.
Lehmus' lighter or Lehmus' darker packages are also great ways to get to know different coffees. They overlap a bit with the Tasting Package, but both packages contain slightly different coffees. They are also 220g packages, which means they are enough for several coffee drinking sessions.
From the online store:
Case 2: Tell us what your most popular coffees are, because there is still a gift list left.
Well, our most popular coffees are the following:
1. Pusupuisto – our flagship coffee. A dark, sweet, smooth, full-bodied Guatemalan coffee produced by small farmers, with aromas of coffee, chocolate and toffee. Try it, you won't be disappointed.
2. Kettu coffees – winter favorites. These coffees, namely medium-roasted Kettu, Dark Kettu and the specialty product, Spice Kettu, i.e. coffee flavored with cardamom and cinnamon, are super favorites for the rest of the year. The aromas of the coffees have different nuttiness, chocolate and fruity freshness. Full-bodied, soft and wonderful coffees with beautiful illustrations directly from the Fazenda IP farm in Southeast Brazil.
From the online store:
Three foxes pack (Product sold out!)
Medium Roast Fox (Product sold out!)
Dark Roast Fox (Product sold out!)
Spice-Fox, cardamom & cinnamon (Product sold out!)
3. For lovers of particularly dark roasted coffee, we suggest Lauritsala and Sammonlahti – drinking these will shake you up and make you feel it, guaranteed stimulants. These coffees are darker than what you normally get in the supermarket. Lauritsala is a brass coffee that is roasted as dark as the logs of the Lauritsala manor. Sammonlahti, on the other hand, is a blend of Mexican arabica and Ugandan robusta, which was originally intended for dark espresso, but people also enjoy this really dark and downright strong taste as a filter coffee.
From the online store:
Case 3: Competition-level coffees and other specialties for the demanding coffee enthusiast
What would you buy for someone who can identify a coffee by its country of origin, knows what anaerobic fermentation is, and tastes coffee by sipping? Now let's talk about finesse, and we have it!
A sure gift is the Lesoilulaattoki. For the second year in a row, we have collected top-quality specialty coffees in one valuable package. Most of the coffees are not available from other roasters in continental Europe, so here is the opportunity to taste what special small-batch coffees from around the world taste like. Packaged in an impressive black box with a gold-plated logo. The products have QR codes that allow you to read about the coffees' backgrounds a little longer than usual.
Limited Negele Gorbitu, which was selected as the Filter Coffee of the Year in December but unfortunately has just sold out, is another option alongside Lesoilulaatiko. Our Limited coffees have gained a reputation as safe choices when you want a sweet, berry, fruity and especially full-bodied coffee. This is the case this time too, as the anaerobically fermented coffee from the Negele Gorbitu community in Ethiopia is a hit for lovers of good lighter coffee.
If you really want to surprise a coffee lover, get them a silver or gold plated cupping spoon engraved with Lehmus Roastery. At home, you can visit your local jeweler and ask to have their name engraved on the back of the spoon: a personalized cupping spoon is such a great gift that no one will ever surpass it!
A cupping spoon is a spoon-like tool designed specifically for coffee tasting, which is particularly good for sampling the aromas of different coffees.
If you're in the mood to buy, our selection also includes a cupping set, i.e. tasting cups, two silver-plated spoons, and a sample tray where you can pour coffee beans for closer inspection.
From the online store:
Reading box (Sold out!)
Cupping spoon, silver plated
Cupping spoon, golden
Cupping set
Case 4: The coffee grinder seeker, i.e. from filter grinding towards coffee ground from beans
Often, coffee lovers start with filter-ground coffee and then slowly move towards self-ground coffee. This is when purchasing a coffee grinder comes into play.
We have two suitable units for this. We currently only sell one grinder, the Wilfan Svart Aroma. We think it is the best value for money: the conical blades grind the coffee evenly, the motor is quiet and the grinder quickly grinds the beans into a wonderfully aromatic coffee powder. There are settings from espresso through a filter coffee maker to pan grinding, so you can get everything. The grinder is a good purchase if you want really good filter coffee: you can adjust the coffee to exactly the right coarseness, so you get exactly the kind of coffee you want.
In addition, the mill is a stylish combination of matte black and tinted transparent plastic.
We have two different grinder packages available this Christmas season. The cheaper set, priced at €99.90, includes both the grinder and a 220g coffee of your choice (choose your favorite from the drop-down menu).
The second, slightly more valuable set includes everything you need for a home coffee shop: a grinder, a scale, a 500g coffee package, a package of filter bags and a coffee machine cleaner. Price €129.90 (recommended €149.60).
Cheaper grinders can be pretty good, but they don't necessarily last very long. More expensive grinders can also be good, but at least the roastery employees have been happy with the features offered by Svart Aroma. PS. Not a paid advertisement. PPS. Here is our article about coffee grinders.
From the online store:
Wilfa Svart Aroma + 220g coffee package (Sold out!)
Wilfa Svart Aroma + scale + 500g coffee package + filter bags + cleaning agent
Case 5: Coffee beans for smooth espresso moments for the owner of an espresso machine
Many people have bought themselves an espresso machine, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. These automatic machines usually have an integrated coffee grinder, so it's worth buying coffee beans for this type of gift recipient.
Espresso itself is a short, concentrated coffee drink that enhances the flavors of the coffee in question, as if boosted. In other words, light, acidic coffees are particularly strong, really dark coffees bring out their own dark aromas, and so on.
If you are not sure about the taste preferences of the gift recipient, we recommend three coffees. We use a medium roast espresso, or Kimpi, in our café. The blend of Brassica coffee and Mexican coffee is creamy and full-bodied with a nutty, chocolatey taste.
For lovers of dark coffee, Sammonlahti will surely awaken your taste buds, as it contains robusta, another common coffee variety, which brings body and strength to the coffee's mouthfeel.
As a third espresso suggestion, we present Pusupuisto, whose chocolatey and caramelly sweetness is accentuated when consumed as an espresso.
Case 6: What else is there besides coffee?
Ah, we are not just a coffee roaster, because our selection also includes delicious Tuomela farm toffees! The handmade toffees are created on a dairy farm in Vainikkala, and our selection of Kermatoffee, Licorice toffee and Kahvitoffee are quality toffees that melt in your mouth. They are not the kind that sticks to your teeth at all, but they taste like quality.
The coffee aroma in the coffee toffee is brought by a dense blend extracted from Lehmus Roastery's Sammonlahti coffee.
Satamatie cocoa mix is a cocoa package made from our own cocoa blended in-house. The mix, which contains only raw cocoa powder and coconut sugar, is delicious for both children and adults. You get a very rich taste when you mix the powder with an oat drink.
NODA is located in Lappeenranta, and they make handmade soap using only Finnish oils. We joined forces and got a special batch of Kettu soap, the scent of which is inspired by our Spice Kettu. The soap is also decorated with Kettu coffee beans. A very beautiful and nice-smelling soap for lazy washing moments!
The lime tree is the namesake tree of Lappeenranta and we have managed to save some material from the lime trees that were felled in the city center. Some of these branches have been processed into coffee measures, which have been made for us by local carpenter Ville Naumanen from Luomus Woodworks. The coffee measure is a beautiful, unique and great product for every morning coffee measuring moments.
All in one package of three toffees
Unique coffee measure made of linden wood
Case 7: For tea and infusion lovers
Lehmus Roastery's teas are top-quality loose teas from all over the tea world. For green tea, we recommend Kuutosteetä, where green tea is charmingly blended with eucalyptus and ginger. Tykkiteetä is another favorite, a classic Earl Grey blend with lemon and orange.
Our most popular tea is Hyväntuulentee, aka raspberry oolong. Its wonderful aroma and soft, gentle taste are suitable for all types of tea lovers.
On the chai side, we have Repotee, a wonderful rooibos-based spicy drink for the cold winter months. For lovers of licorice and anise, we suggest Mars Tea, which is flavoured with real licorice root and star anise, among other things.
Tea Road is the name of our tea series. All the tea names are inspired by the names of roads found on maps of Lappeenranta. Hehheh.
Generally speaking, the home page of our online store can be found at lehmusroastery.com .