The 16 Best Colorado Gifts for Foodies

From local teas to a beer advent calendar, here are our picks for the best eats-inspired gifts of 2022.

The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. For locals, by locals. Sign up today!

If you, too, believe that yummy gifts are the best gifts, then you’ve come to the right gift guide. Featuring 16 Colorado makers, bakers, shops, and sips, we’ve got something for everyone on your nice list, from paint-your-own sugar cookies and beer advent calendars, to bonbon boxes and even something called lebkuchen. (And if you pick up something tasty for yourself, too, well that's just efficient shopping.)

The brand-new Spade & Spoon is like a Blue Apron–style meal delivery kit, but instead of sad lettuce and blah sauces, you cook with Front Range–focused ingredients like Sfoglina pasta, River Bear meats, and Five Freedoms Dairy milk, yogurts, and ricotta. For the busy families on your list, make life easier (and sweeter) with a trio of delivered meal kits or an á la carte chocolate set. Order online starting November 26

What do you get when you combine a couple of big-city-popcorn lovers with the wild West? Something way tastier than those generic mega popcorn tins. Sterling-based Too Haute Cowgirls popcorn bags (from $25) come in out-of-the-tin flavors like Have Bacon Will Travel and Srira-Cha-Cha. Available online

For those on your list whose love language is cheese, hit this Sunnyside cheese shop for the best in artisan dairy. From meats to charcuterie extras to unique cheesy offerings, you won't want to walk out empty handed. 2432 W. 44th Ave.; 303-455-2221

Carnivores will love tearing into the jerky (from $10) from this Breckenridge-based, woman-owned company. Using whole-muscle cuts and all-natural flavors in their Red Hot Beef, Smoked Teriyaki Buffalo, and Peppered Elk varieties, Climax Jerky has been making meat eaters happy since 1999. 100 S. Main St., Breckenridge; 970-389-2085; or buy online

Stuff their stockings with the gift of eating out. With buy-one-get-one entrées and drink offers from 200 local restaurants, wineries, tap houses, and more, your friends and family are sure to find deals at current favorite spots and discover new neighborhood haunts. Order online; $20 with code FALL50

Whether you’re buying for a longtime married couple looking for new culinary adventures, someone who just had a baby and could stand to get out more, or a BFF always up for hitting the latest hotspots, a gift card to a local restaurant is your catch-all gifting answer. Because a meal at, say, Safta or ice cream at Smith & Canon is way more memorable than a sweater they’ll never wear.

The craft knife company just opened its first Colorado store in Cherry Creek, and the beautiful, splurge-worthy blades are sharp gifts for home cooks on your list. From custom knives to sets to blocks, all the tools are made to last a lifetime of holiday cooking seasons. 185 Fillmore St.; 877-258-0100; from $189

Using discarded woods from local tree trimmers, Lakewood resident Pat Scott transforms cottonwoods, black walnut, and silver maple trees into culinary works of art. The handmade bowls, cutting boards, and utensils make perfect gifts for the dinner party throwers and kitchen adventurers on your list. Order online; from $30

Part spiced gingerbread cake, part nutty cookie, lebkuchen is an all-delicious German treat. While living in Berlin, Leckerlee founder Sandy Lee fell in love with the traditional holiday treats at Germany's famed Christmas markets. After perfecting her recipe and starting Leckerlee in New York City, Lee moved to Colorado and now crafts the small-batch lebkuchen from Longmont. Order online; tins from $28

For budding artists, Phresh Baked Goods’ paint-your-own sugar cookie kit ($12) is sure to produce the prettiest cookies on the block. The watercolor-esque Christmas designs are almost too pretty to eat, but nothing is too pretty when butter and sugar is involved. Order online

Can you think of a better gift than carbs regularly arriving at your doorstep? Bread Club delivers pastries and bread from some of the city's best small bakeries, like Rebel Bread, Moon Raccoon Baking Co., Pandemic Donuts, and Mile High Pie Co. You can choose from an annual monthly subscription (from $22) or just a one-time delicious drop. 675 S. Broadway, Ste. 200; buy online

For hostess gifts, teacher gifts, aunt gifts, the-guy-who-found-your-lost-ferret-gifts—chocolate is always the answer. Denver Central Market's resident chocolatier Temper sells 12-piece bonbon boxes ($36) sure to please, with flavors like Smashing Pumpkins with pumpkin cheesecake ganache and the caramel macadamia nut-studded Mac Daddy. 2669 Larimer St.; 303-562-1966; Buy at Temper's Denver Central Market counter or order online

Coffee and whiskey may not yet be a power duo á la chocolate and peanut butter, but the trio of coffee-inspired whiskeys from Denver-based Barista Spirits ($52) may change that. Created in partnership with Copper Door Coffee Roasters, the Americano, Aztec, and Mocha Whiskies are must-tries for whiskey aficionados. Available at Deviation Distilling's Denver taproom as well as liquor stores around the state

On the list of solid gifts, beer definitely ranks in the top 10. Give the brew-lover in your life a dozen craft beers in the form of Fort Collins–based Horse & Dragon's advent calendar ($68). They can drink one a day leading up to Christmas, the new year, or down them all on one very interesting Wednesday. Order online for pick up at the taproom

To make it into the cups, blends, pouches, and tubes sold at Tea with Tae's downtown shop, the tea must be whole leaf (not just fannings that skimp on the flavor) and sourced from high-quality, fair-trade farms. Pick up the Apple Cinnamon blend ($7) for the perfect tea latte, or book the tea lover in your life a Tea 101 class ($75). 700 16th St.; 303-534-9920

This Lakewood roaster is all about the sourcing of its beans—not only personally visiting the coffee farms the team buys from, but then inviting the growers to Colorado to taste the finished cup. Give the gift of a good morning with their coffee subscription program ($22 per shipment). Visit one of three Denver Metro cafes or order online; bags from $16