We haven’t even made it to Thanksgiving yet, but can you believe, it’s already time to begin preparing for one of the holiday season’s most hallowed (and fun!) traditions: the coffee advent calendar. The delights of gifting need not be relegated to just your chosen day(s) of celebration. Why not start each day leading up to the 25th with a little caffeinated surprise, curated for just such a moment by some of the world’s best roasters and compilers. We’ve rounded up six-ish of the best specialty coffee advent calendars to bring a little extra joy to your December.

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KaffeBox

When it comes to coffee surprises delivered by mail, KaffeBox has the market cornered. The Norway-based subscription service trading solely in Scandinavian-style coffee is a favorite here at Sprudge. (Debates about whether or not Nordic roasts are “cool” aside, the coffees from KaffeBox are consistently wonderful and just flat out good.) For their 24-day advent, KaffeBox has tapped 12 different roasters including Jacu, Tim Wendelboe, Koppi, and Morgon all providing two roasts each, and KaffeBox promising “each day [featuring] a unique single origin coffee.”

Coming whole bean in 50g increments, the KaffeBox advent will be split between two shipments to maximize freshness: the first 12 canisters on November 19th and the second 12 on November 26th. The entire set costs 1,595 NOK ($190 USD).

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19 Grams

Advent fun shouldn’t just be for filter coffee drinkers, and that’s why we love 19 Grams’ espresso advent calendar. The German roaster is compiled coffee from 24 different farms in 24 different origins, all roasted specifically for espresso. Each tin contains 50g of coffee, enough to dial in and pull a great shot. 19 Grams espresso advent calendar is available for €79.90 ($90 USD).

19 Grams also offers a few other advent options for just about any coffee drinker. There’s a filter advent for the pour-over buff, a pod advent for the convenience specialtist, even a “Sunday” advent for the cost-conscious. For €54.90 ($62 USD), you can week four 250g of single origin coffee; it’s all the fun of the advent but with a little extra time to explore each coffee.

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Bean Box

And what about blends? They can bring the excitement and deserve the same specialty treatment, don’t they? For a literal mixed bag, look no further than Bean Box. Like with all the offerings from the coffee subscription service, the 12 1.8oz (51g) bags in the Bean Box Twelve Mornings of Coffee advent are hand-selected by Cup of Excellence juror Maryna Gray.

But for this offerings, it’s all blends all the time. Limited edition holiday blends at that! It’s 12 days of shareable coffee for all to enjoy! The Bean Box Twelve Mornings of Coffee advent calendar is available for $68.

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The Danish Weekly Advent

In Denmark the advent is not daily but weekly, with gifts being exchanged between loved ones on the Sundays leading up to Christmas. And luckily for those celebrating in this fashion, there are a few world-class Danish roasters keeping the tradition alive. Both Copenhagen’s Coffee Collective and Aarhus’s La Cabra have put together four very special single origin lots for their 2021 advents.

La Cabra’s box set includes three 250g special lot coffees and one 100g rare lot. All of the offerings were selected specifically for the advent and won’t available online before or after the calendar. And Coffee Collective is taking things one step further. Each bag ranges between 120-250g, with some of the ultra-rare coffees having “never seen the light of day in a coffee shop before.” On each Sunday of the advent, Coffee Collective will then post a tasting video online for that week’s coffee.

Both available online, La Cabra’s coffee advent calendar runs a total of $85 and Coffee Collective coming in at 650 DKK ($99 USD). And while you are there, you can pre-order the English edition of Coffee Collective’s book The Fundamentals of Excellent Coffee.

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Onyx Coffee Lab

If you need a little more ‘Merica in your murky, Onyx Coffee Lab has you covered. Coming off Finals appearances in both the World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup, it’s safe to say that Onyx Coffee Lab is having a bit of a moment right now. And for those who haven’t yet tried coffee from the Arkansas roaster—and are willing to take on a near monthlong tour—the Onyx advent may be just the voyage you need.

Featuring 24 different coffees, the Onyx advent runs the gamut of the brand’s offerings, from blends to super-rare, high-end single origins. Not to spoil the surprise and tell you everything in the box set (which are listed here if you don’t like fun), but the 2021 selection from Onyx offers a wonderful spread of coffees and will give you a pretty succinct picture of what one of America’s biggest specialty coffee roasters is all about. The Onyx Coffee Lab 2021 Coffee Advent Calendar is available for $175.

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BONUS CHOCOLATE!

Did you know Onyx also does chocolate? Under the moniker Terroir, the brand offers bean-to-bar single-origin chocolate sourced from the same regions as they source coffee, often from the same farm! And if Onyx is going to do a coffee advent, you better believe Terroir is going to do a chocolate advent. 12 different bars in total, the Terroir advent ranges from bean-to-bar purism to wildly creative specialty chocolates (the full list can be found here, but again, that’s not fun). The Terroir 2021 Chocolate Advent Calendar is available from Onyx for $110.

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

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