The advent is nearly upon us and we've rounded up our pick of the best independent food and drink calendars advent for 2024. Go on, treat yourself!
The Advent Calendar for Gin Lovers
Ooh gin fans, is there anything more fun than revealing a new craft gin daily and pouring yourself a delightful G&T in front of the fire every evening as you gear up for the big day? Craft Gin Club’s festive Craft Gin Advent Calendar seems incredibly reasonably priced at £85 and will bag you a medley of 25 different 5cl miniature gins, to be revealed behind the windows and doors of a snow-covered townhouse. Each gin comes from a different small and independent craft distiller from the UK and you’ll get to taste your way through London Dry gins, citrus gins and seasonal spiced varieties. Look away now if you don't want spoilers but Sibling Distillery's Festive Dry Gin and Tarquin's Christmas Cake both come very close to delivering Christmas in a glass.
£85
Bird & Blend Tea Advent Calendar
I’ve been firmly hooked on Bird & Blend ever since I attended a winter press showcase at their shop in Borough many years ago and got to select and create my own tea blends to take home. After that, it was love at first brew! Their loose teas are absolutely top-notch, and their varieties lead the way in creativity. Bird & Blend’s tea advent calendars have been going strong since 2016. Working through seasonal picks like Snowball, Mince Pie, Candlelit Library, Mulled Cider really will get you in the mood for Christmas. Each day reveals a double teabag so you can share your festive scented cuppa with another tea lover daily. Tea bags are 100% plastic free, biodegradable and one tree is planted for every calendar sold.
£38
Bird & Blend Tea Co. Matcha Advent Calendar
Got a matcha lover at home? Get them this Matcha Advent Calendar from Bird & Blend to pep them up through the busiest month of the year. Bird & Blend are masters at creating flavoured matcha and they'll get to try 24 different flavours in this ultimate matcha advent, including new seasonal sips like Mince Pie, Eggnog, Candy Cane. Each door reveals a double tea bag so they can share their matcha with you too!
£52, (worth £80)
Laithwaites Wine - Editor's Pick
Look at this wine calendar! Behind each door daily you can reveal a bijou bottle of vino, to enable you to sip your way to the big day. This year’s Laithwaites wine calendar has a classy wintery scene, complete with snowy-topped houses and snow-covered vines somewhere near Tuscany according to the hand-drawn sign. Open each door daily to sip your way to the big day with a mix of red and white wines from Laithwaites top-selling suppliers in the new and old world. Spoiler alert: the last door reveals a full-sized bottle of Alessandro Gallici Prosecco as only bubbles will do on Christmas Eve right?
Mixed Wine Advent Calendar - Delivery from 7th Nov
£99.99
The Cartwright & Butler Advent Calendar 2024
You can countdown to Christmas in delicious style with Cartwright & Butler this year. Open 24 drawers in their stand-up advent calendar, each one filled Cartwright & Butler’s own range of artisan treats from sea salt fudge to stem ginger shortbread, hot chocolate stirrers, peanut brittle, cheese biscuits, marmalade and more. Your pantry will be filled to the brim by Christmas Day.
£200
Pierre Marcolini Advent Calendar
This sleek, chic chocolate advent calendar aimed at chocolate-loving adults, (hands-off kids), offers 24 little treats behind the doors of the leafy, sparkly winter scene. These fancy Pierre Marcolini choccies will get you in the mood for festivities as you work your way through the range of delicate hearts to crunchy dragées, soft truffles and crunchy pralines. The Brussels chocolatier is now sold globally and you can pick up your advent calendar from the Marylebone Boutique, Harrods and Selfridges or on their website.
£ 54
Cox & Co. Luxury Advent Calendar
Here's a lovely natural-look advent calendar from Cox & Co. which has been hand-designed and made in recycled card. The single-origin dark chocolate brand uses 60% Columbian Cacao dark chocolate, offering a slightly bitter, rich caramel flavour note chocolate. This one's strictly for the grown-ups too. Cox & Co. source their chocolate from Luker Chocolate estate in Columbia, creating what they consider to be the best cacao in the world. The company works closely with local farmers to ensure traceability.
£15
Montezuma's Organic Milk Chocolate Advent Calendar
For those with a slightly sweeter tooth, Montezuma's organic milk chocolate advent calendar is festively red and green fronted and features 25 organic choccies to brighten the dark December days. The British chocolatier uses only natural ingredients and each chocolate is hand-made.
£12.99
The Welsh Cheese Company’s Giant Welsh Cheese Advent Calendar
If cheese is more your penchant, then this giant cheese calendar is the one for you. Celebrating all the best Welsh cheesemakers, you'll reveal some of the best cheesemakers from across Wales; Caws Cenarth, Caws Teifi, Pant Mawr Cheeses, The Snowdonia Cheese Company, Brooke’s Dairy and Y Cwt Caws. This one's a whopper too made up of 4.2 kilograms of cheese, the extravagant calendar comes in triangles. Each individual is designed to be placed in a fridge separatelyand when it's time to deck the halls, they can be assembled into a Christmas-tree-shape.
£189
Features Editor, Chatting Food: Jo Aspin
Jo Aspin is a freelance writer specialising in UK restaurants, travel, food and drink. She is also a Director at hospitality PR agency Amy Williams Consultancy, based in London.
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Instagram: @welovechilli
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