Every December, we tell ourselves we’ll give “simple, thoughtful gifts” to family and friends. And then somehow we end up panic-buying candles, socks, or something vaguely artisanal that no one actually asked for.
Last year, we did something different: we made a Christmas-inspired cold brew concentrate using our Toddy Cold Brew System, lightly infused it with cinnamon, bottled it, labeled it, and gave it away.
It was festive, useful, genuinely enjoyed. And crucially, it didn’t taste like a scented candle.
Here’s how we did it, why it worked, and how you can steal the idea to make Christmas cold brew without overthinking it.
Why cold brew makes a great Christmas gift
Cold brew checks a lot of holiday-gift boxes:
- It’s consumable (no clutter guilt).
- It feels personal without being precious.
- It works for both coffee nerds and casual drinkers.
- It’s easy to batch-make for multiple people.
Making it as a concentrate is an upgrade. Your recipient gets something flexible that they can dilute, mix with milk, add sugar to, or even heat up, depending on their preferences.
And when you add just a touch of holiday flavoring, it becomes seasonal without becoming novelty junk.
» Learn more: Our complete guide to cold brew
Our Christmas cold brew recipe
Our Christmas coffee recipes requires a handful of materials:
- Toddy Cold Brew System
- 12 oz (340 g) coarse-ground coffee
- 7 cups (56 oz / ~1.65 L) cold (or room temp, this doesn’t need to be finicky) water
- Cinnamon sticks
- Rubber stopper and glass decanter
1. Insert the stopper
Make sure the rubber stopper is firmly seated in the bottom of the Toddy.
2. Add coffee
Use a coarse grind, similar to French press. If you go finer, you’ll get sludge and bitterness, not “more flavor.”
3. Add cinnamon (carefully)
For our first test batch, we added 3 whole cinnamon sticks. It was… a lot. Drinkable, but flirting with “holiday potpourri.” (I honestly liked it, but I was overruled by our testers).
The winning version is 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half, added directly to the grounds. This gave the coffee a nice warmth and festive aroma without hijacking the flavor.
» Learn more: Cold brew vs. iced coffee (Yes, there is a difference)
4. Add water
Pour all 7 cups of water slowly over the grounds and cinnamon, making sure everything is evenly saturated.
5. Cover and steep
Let it steep at room temperature for 12-18 hours.
6. Drain
Place the Toddy on the decanter and pull the stopper. Let it drain fully without stirring.
That’s it. You probably can’t find a simpler Christmas coffee recipe, and you now have a lightly spiced, holiday-appropriate cold brew concentrate.
Bottling it up
This is where the project goes from “I made coffee” to “I gave a real gift.”
We used:
- Glass bottles: An 8-pack of 1 L (~33 ounce) Swing Top Bottles
- Custom printed labels: 3 1/3 x 4″ Shipping Labels from Avery
- Edible glitter: Brew Glitter in red and white
We bottled the concentrate, added edible glitter to each bottle (this is optional, but undeniably fun), sealed them up, and applied custom labels that we made with Canva.
Using the standard Toddy recipe (12 oz / 340 g of coffee), you should expect to brew approximately 36-38 ounces of cold brew concentrate per batch. We underfilled the one liter bottles to about 24 ounces each, so every two batches would fill 3 gift bottles.
The edible glitter we added doesn’t affect flavor—it just catches the light when you pour, which feels appropriately extra for December.
Use the amount of glitter that fits your style, I went more for “snow globe” than “festive shimmer,” because I too am extra.
Other easy Christmas coffee gift ideas
If you like this idea but want options, here are a few adjacent gifts that pair well or stand alone:
- Homemade coffee syrup (vanilla, cardamom, rosemary, or maple)
- A bag of reliable, crowd-pleasing beans from your favorite roaster
- A simple brewer upgrade (Clever Dripper, AeroPress, etc.)
- A “cold brew kit” bundle (beans + Toddy Cold Brew maker + printed recipe)
Final thoughts: A Christmas gift people actually use
If you’re looking for a homemade coffee Christmas gift that feels thoughtful without being fussy, and special without being overbearing, this is a hard one to beat. Make it once, bottle it up, add a small personal touch, and move on with your celebrations. :-)
Love this idea!!