I found myself walking down one of those "special" aisles the other day- the ones that only appear during holidays, like some retail version of Brigadoon. This time it happened to be Christmas, but I'm beginning to realize only the bags have been changed to protect the gullible.
As I slowly made my way down the aisle, a row of boxes caught my eye. Gift sets of every size and description were stacked one against the other. Nuts, candies, chocolates, teas, spices- all brightly decorated and complete with proper side items. I'm especially impressed with those ubiquitous meat-and-cheese numbers, with 450 tiny meat logs and 1500 small blocks of cheese. Strangely enough, there always seems to be about 12 crackers included, along with a lethal plastic knife for spreading.
In the middle of all this consumer manipulation-induced revery, I realized why gourmet coffee makes such a great gift. It's like a present with an invisible invitation attached. Few of us could ever drink so much coffee by ourselves, especially when the manufacturers conveniently add at least two mugs to the package. It would be a shame to let such lovely porcelain go to waste. Why yes, I think I WILL try some of your wonderful French Vanilla Mocha Jamaican AA Supremo. Thank you so much for sharing.
Good coffee is one of the few "gourmet" items most of us can afford to give as gifts and still be assured of looking suave and sophisticated. That's the sort of thing one looks for in an office party gift for the big boss. Anything larger and he's going to start wondering if you're overpaid, anything less will fly under his radar. One can never go wrong with a pound or two of the best coffee beans available. Besides, you can always play with the box after Christmas.
