Secret Santa gift idea for a colleague or your child's teacher: tea for under €20

How do you choose a Secret Santa gift for a colleague you barely know?

The safest choice is an object or a treat that anyone can use, and that stays within a professional setting. At the office, Secret Santa relies on an anonymous draw and a shared budget set in advance by the group: the gift must fit within that budget, without exceeding it. Some guides devoted to the exercise advise leaving aside anything too personal, such as perfume, clothing or jewellery.

Tea ticks these boxes: it can be shared, it keeps for several months, it fits in a desk drawer. For someone whose habits you do not know, three pointers help you choose. A tea in cotton muslin tea sachets needs no accessory. A travel accessory suits someone who already drinks loose leaf tea. A tea-based treat also pleases those who do not drink it. The ideas below are arranged by budget, at the current price shown on each product page.

Under €10: tea jelly, the tea clip and the Christmas rooibos

The Gelée de thé Marco Polo by Mariage Frères is an extra jelly cooked in a copper pan, in a 240 g jar, to spread on toast, a brioche or a scone. It also comes with Christmas tea, the Gelée de thé Noël, and with Éros tea, a black tea with floral notes, the Gelée de thé Éros. It is the most neutral gift on this page: it suits a coffee drinker as well as a tea lover.

For someone who steeps their tea in a filter or an infuser, the metal Pince à Thé grips the hot filter and presses it without burning your fingers; it comes in 50 and 65 mm. For a caffeine-free gesture, Ombelle's Rooibos de Noël Pomme Cannelle Bio brings together rooibos, roasted buckwheat, cinnamon, cocoa and apple: it steeps at 100 °C, for 7 to 10 minutes. An individually wrapped brown rock sugar stick completes the parcel.

From €10 to €20: shortbread, the tea tube and Esprit de Noël in cotton muslin tea sachets

Mariage Frères' Esprit de Noël, a black tea with apple, cinnamon and almond, comes in a box of 30 cotton muslin tea sachets: each sachet steeps on its own in the cup, 5 minutes at 95 °C, with no teapot or filter. It is a very simple Secret Santa idea for an office, and Mariage Frères points out that it can be enjoyed all year round. The same tea is also sold as loose leaf and in a tea tin.

The Sablés Thé Noir Earl Grey Impérial, buttery and flavoured with bergamot, come in sachets inside a 150 g pouch: a treat to set on the table for the team's afternoon snack. For a colleague who already drinks loose leaf tea, the stainless steel Tube à Thé Napoli is filled with leaves and dipped into the cup; its micro-filter holds back even finely cut teas. The Tube à Thé Pisa, with a 0.6 mm micro-filter, does the same job.

For lovers of beautiful objects, Mariage Frères' Doseur à Thé Ginkgo Argenté scoops just the right measure of leaves, in the shape of a ginkgo leaf; the house also offers it as the Doseur à Thé Rond Argenté and the Doseur à Thé Art Déco 1930 Argenté. The Boîte Illustrée Traditionnelle by Esprit Céladon, in lacquered tinplate and decorated in France, keeps about 100 g of loose leaf tea away from air and light. Finally, the book Tea, From A to Z, published by Mariage Frères, is an A to Z of tea in English, for an English-speaking or curious colleague.

What to give a schoolteacher or a nanny?

A treat to share or a caffeine-free gesture, which the person can keep for themselves or leave in the staff room. These ideas also suit the adult who helps the teacher in a nursery class. The Gelée de thé Marco Polo and the Sablés Thé Noir Earl Grey Impérial suit every taste. The Rooibos de Noël Pomme Cannelle Bio is for the afternoon, naturally caffeine-free. Boxes of Esprit de Noël cotton muslin tea sachets need no equipment, at home or at school.

When the child gives the gift themselves, a note written or drawn in their own hand counts as much as the object. Think about allergies too, which you often do not know about for someone you barely know: the table below sets out what the product pages state.

A joint gift from the class or department: the gift card

When the parents of a class or the members of a department club together, the gift card leaves the recipient free to choose their tea. It is digital, sent by email on the date of your choice, valid for twelve months from activation, and can be spent in one or several goes, online or in our shops in Nice and Bordeaux. For a more generous joint gift, our guide Which tea to give at Christmas presents gift sets and Christmas teas in tins.

Ordering a small gift: Click & Collect or delivery

Click & Collect, in Nice or Bordeaux, is free with no minimum purchase: an email lets you know when your order is ready. Delivery, on the other hand, requires a minimum number of items, which a single small gift does not always reach; grouping several colleagues' gifts in one order solves the problem. Shipping methods and lead times are detailed on our Delivery page, and all our other ideas can be found in the Gift ideas section.