Best Food and Drink Advent Calendars 2025: The Complete Guide
This is a 2025 retrospective. These are last year’s calendars: the ones that delivered, the ones that surprised us, and the ones worth keeping in mind as the 2026 season begins to take shape. Prices reflect the 2025 retail market – see the note at the bottom for what that means in practice.
The food and drink advent calendar market in 2025 was the most varied it has ever been. Chocolate, obviously. But also: gin and tonic pairing sets, world whisky explorations, artisan cheese delivered chilled to your door, wine discovery collections, loose-leaf teas in twenty-four different varieties, twenty-five Nespresso-compatible coffee pods, award-winning gourmet popcorn in twelve flavours, and jam in tiny perfect jars. The category has grown up considerably. Here is the full picture.
Chocolate
Hotel Chocolat Grand Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £80-£150 | Products: 24 days
Hotel Chocolat’s Grand Calendar is the benchmark for premium chocolate calendars, and the 2025 edition confirmed why. The contents shift slightly year to year (Hotel Chocolat refreshes them annually), but the 2025 version included truffles, pralines, 50ml Velvetised Cream liqueurs, and festive chocolate shapes including the now-famous chocolate penguins. The Velvetised Cream inclusion is worth noting specifically: this is a chocolate-and-cream liqueur that puts the calendar firmly in adult territory, and it is one of the better reasons to choose the Grand over a more straightforward chocolate selection.
The range of £80-£150 reflects the different tiers within the Grand format that year. At any price point within that range, the quality and portion size are generous. A reliable gift for anyone who takes their chocolate seriously. Shop at Hotel Chocolat
Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser Drinking Chocolate Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £50 | Products: 24 sachets, 16 different flavours
The hot chocolate companion to the Grand Calendar, and in some ways the more interesting product for a different kind of person. Twenty-four sachets across sixteen flavours: Classic Milky 50%, Salted Caramel, Clementine, Pumpkin Spice, and others. Each sachet is a different blend, making this a genuine hot chocolate discovery across December rather than the same drink twenty-four times.
The right choice for anyone who comes home in December and wants something warm and slightly indulgent before bed. No liqueurs, no truffles – just very good hot chocolate. Shop at Hotel Chocolat
Lindt Advent Calendars 2025
Price: £8-£28 | Various formats
Lindt offered several formats at different price points in 2025. The classic Lindt Teddy calendar sat around £15 and is exactly what it sounds like: a well-designed, reliably good chocolate calendar that requires no introduction. The premium LINDOR versions and larger chocolate assortment calendars reached up to £28.
Lindt occupies the mid-range between the supermarket basics and Hotel Chocolat’s premium tier, and it does so comfortably. The Teddy at around £15 is one of the better value options in the chocolate category for a gift that lands well without requiring any explanation.
Retailers: major supermarkets, John Lewis, Amazon. Shop on Amazon
Cadbury Dairy Milk Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £2.50-£5 | Supermarkets nationwide
The entry point for the entire category and proud of it. Cadbury’s classic Dairy Milk calendar was available in every supermarket throughout the season at £2.50-£5. If you need an advent calendar for a child who simply wants chocolate behind every door and has no further opinions about the matter, this is the honest answer. It does exactly what it says, it costs almost nothing, and nobody is ever disappointed by Cadbury’s Dairy Milk.
It is also worth including here for perspective: at one end of the food calendar market you have Paxton and Whitfield’s artisan cheese journey at £150. At the other, Cadbury Dairy Milk at £3. Both are entirely valid depending on who you are buying for.
Retailers: Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda, Waitrose. Shop on Amazon
Tea and Coffee
Fortnum and Mason Tea Lovers Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £35 | Products: 24 premium blends
Fortnum and Mason have been selling tea since 1707, which means by now they have had reasonable practice. The Tea Lovers Calendar contained twenty-four premium blends: Royal Blend (the house signature), Moroccan Mint, Strawberry and Rose, and twenty-one others. At £35 this is one of the best-value premium gift options in the food category. The packaging is, inevitably, beautiful.
Fortnum and Mason Tea and Biscuits Sharing Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £95 | Products: 24 tea and biscuit pairings
The upgraded version: twenty-four doors, each pairing a specific Fortnum tea with a matching biscuit. Designed as a sharing calendar (each door serves two), which makes it excellent for couples or households that take their morning ritual seriously. At £95 the biscuit pairings earn their keep – this is not just the Tea Lovers Calendar with biscuits stapled on. The pairings are considered.
Whittard of Chelsea Tea Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £60 | Products: 23 different loose-leaf teas
A tea education in twenty-three parts: Jasmine Dragon Pearls, 1st Flush Darjeeling, Silver Needle white tea, and twenty others from growing regions across the world. If the person you are buying for considers themselves serious about tea, the Whittard calendar is the one that takes them seriously in return. £60 for this range of variety is genuinely reasonable.
Retailers: Whittard stores and website, John Lewis. Shop at Whittard
Bird and Blend Tea Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £39.50 | Products: 48 tea bags (2 per day), 24 hand-blended flavours | Plastic-free
Bird and Blend is the independent British tea blender known for unusual, inventive combinations: think Matcha Coconut, Magic Potion, and Cream Earl Grey alongside more grounded options. The 2025 advent calendar contained two bags of each of twenty-four hand-blended flavours – enough to try each one and come back for a second cup of the ones that worked.
At £39.50 it sits between the Fortnum entry-level and the Whittard, and the plastic-free credential is worth noting for environmentally-minded buyers. A strong alternative to the better-known tea brands. Shop at Bird and Blend
Grind Coffee Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £30-£40 | Products: 25 Nespresso-compatible pods, 16 speciality coffees
Grind are the London-based coffee house known for their speciality roasts and their distinctive pink branding (the pods are, famously, pink). The 2025 advent calendar contained twenty-five home-compostable Nespresso-compatible pods across sixteen speciality-grade coffees – one more pod than the calendar has doors, which is either a nice bonus or a small mathematical anomaly depending on how you look at it.
For anyone who runs a Nespresso machine and wants to spend December working through genuinely good coffee rather than the same capsule every day, this is the calendar. The compostable pods are a meaningful differentiator in a category where single-use plastic is still common.
Retailers: Grind website, Grind stores. Shop at Grind
The Non-Chocolate Alternatives
There is consistent search demand for advent calendars that are not sweet. The following two are worth grouping together as the strongest options for anyone who wants something different.
Popcorn Shed Gourmet Popcorn Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £20-£25 | Products: 12 uniquely indulgent flavours, handmade
Popcorn Shed has won awards for good reason. The 2025 advent calendar featured twelve gourmet popcorn flavours – including Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter – produced in small batches. This is not cinema popcorn. This is considered, quality-controlled, properly seasoned popcorn that holds its own against any other snack calendar in the market.
At £20-£25, it is also one of the best-value non-chocolate calendars available and genuinely works as a gift for adults who do not want sweets, people avoiding sugar, or anyone who simply loves popcorn and would rather not pretend otherwise.
Retailers: Popcorn Shed website, various independent delis and gift retailers. Shop at Popcorn Shed
Bonne Maman Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £26.99-£33 | Products: 24 exclusive mini jars
Bonne Maman’s calendar is one of those annual releases that earns genuine affection year after year, and the 2025 edition maintained that reputation. Twenty-four mini jars, all in exclusive seasonal flavours not available separately: Caramel with Vanilla, Wild Blueberry with Maple Syrup, and others. The gingham lids are immediately recognisable and the jars are genuinely beautiful lined up on a windowsill.
More practically: the products have an obvious use beyond December. Mini jars on toast, in yoghurt, with cheese. Very few advent calendars are simultaneously decorative and functional.
Costco UK stocked the calendar at £26.99 – best value if you have membership. John Lewis and Waitrose carried it at the higher end of the range. Shop at John Lewis | Shop at Waitrose
Cheese
Paxton and Whitfield Artisan Cheese Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £150 | Products: 24 individually portioned artisan cheeses (75g each)
Paxton and Whitfield have been selling cheese since 1797. They know what they are doing. Twenty-four individually portioned 75g cuts, hand-selected from the artisan cheese world: British classics like Cheddar and Stilton alongside rarer European finds. Every door includes a factsheet on the producer, the origin, and suggested pairings. Delivered via chilled courier.
This is not casual food. This is the calendar you open with a glass of something appropriate, read the factsheet, and pay attention to. At £150 it is the most expensive food calendar in this guide, and it is genuinely the most considered. Shop at Paxton and Whitfield
Wine
Virgin Wines Mixed Wine Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £89.99 | Products: 24 x 187ml bottles, plus a full-size bottle for Christmas Day
Twenty-four different wines – red, white, and rosé – through December, plus a full-size bottle waiting for Christmas Day. The format rewards curiosity: by December 24th you will have a surprisingly clear picture of what you actually enjoy, which is useful information for the next twelve months. Virgin Wines curates from independent winemakers, so the selections are not the same bottles available in any supermarket. Shop at Virgin Wines
Fortnum and Mason Feasting Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £200 | Products: 24 premium food, biscuit, and spirits doors
Fortnum’s most ambitious food calendar: biscuits, preserves, Christmas tea, spirits, gin, and more. At £200, this is the luxury end of the food category and sits comfortably alongside the Paxton and Whitfield cheese calendar as one of the most considered gift options of 2025. The right choice for a dedicated Fortnum devotee who would notice the difference. Shop at Fortnum and Mason
Gin and Spirits
Fever-Tree Ultimate Gin and Tonic Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £65-£75 | Products: 12 x 50ml miniature gins, 12 x 150ml Fever-Tree mixers
Twelve gins paired with twelve specific tonics, each chosen to complement rather than simply dilute. The range spans classic London Dry through to floral and spiced. By day twenty-four you will have clear opinions about what you want in a G and T, which is the kind of self-knowledge that makes you considerably more specific at every party for the rest of the month. Whether that is a benefit or a drawback depends on your social circle.
Available at John Lewis, Ocado, and Very. Shop at John Lewis
The Whisky Exchange 25 Whiskies of the World 2025
Price: £125-£130 | Products: 25 x 3cl bottles, two tasting glasses, tasting journal
The definitive whisky advent calendar. Twenty-five 3cl pours (meaningfully larger than the 2cl industry standard) from Scotland, Ireland, Japan, the US, Taiwan, India, and Australia. The 2025 edition included Port Charlotte, Glenfiddich, Ichiro’s Malt and Grain, and Dingle Single Malt. Two tasting glasses and a journal included, because this format demands the full experience.
At £125-£130, this is a considered gift for someone who wants to spend December learning something. Shop at The Whisky Exchange
BrewDog Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2025
Price: £49.95 | Products: 24 cans, branded glass
Twenty-four cans from the BrewDog core range (Punk IPA, Hazy Jane, Dead Pony Club, Elvis Juice) plus seasonal variants and a branded glass. Nobody is surprised by the BrewDog calendar. Nobody is disappointed by it either. It does exactly what you would expect, which is either a recommendation or a caveat depending entirely on your feelings about BrewDog. Shop at BrewDog
The 2025 Food and Drink Calendar Map
| Category | Calendar | 2025 Price | For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premium chocolate | Hotel Chocolat Grand | £80-£150 | Adults who love chocolate and cream liqueurs |
| Hot chocolate | Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser | £50 | Hot chocolate enthusiasts |
| Mid-range chocolate | Lindt | £8-£28 | Reliable, broad-appeal gift |
| Budget chocolate | Cadbury Dairy Milk | £2.50-£5 | Kids, or anyone who just wants chocolate |
| Premium tea | Fortnum and Mason Tea Lovers | £35 | Good tea drinkers |
| Adventurous tea | Bird and Blend | £39.50 | Independent tea fans |
| Serious tea | Whittard | £60 | Proper loose-leaf enthusiasts |
| Tea and biscuits | Fortnum Tea and Biscuits | £95 | Couples, sharing |
| Speciality coffee | Grind | £30-£40 | Nespresso users, coffee lovers |
| Gourmet snack | Popcorn Shed | £20-£25 | Non-chocolate alternative |
| Preserves | Bonne Maman | £26.99-£33 | Almost anyone; best value at Costco |
| Artisan cheese | Paxton and Whitfield | £150 | Dedicated cheese lovers |
| Wine discovery | Virgin Wines | £89.99 | Wine explorers |
| Gin education | Fever-Tree G and T | £65-£75 | Gin enthusiasts |
| World whisky | The Whisky Exchange | £125-£130 | Whisky lovers |
| Craft beer | BrewDog | £49.95 | BrewDog fans |
| Gourmet feast | Fortnum Feasting | £200 | The Fortnum devotee |
A Note on Availability and Pricing
These prices reflect the 2025 retail market and are subject to change for the 2026 season. Food and drink advent calendars are particularly susceptible to annual price adjustments and “shrinkflation” – the same product at a similar price may contain different quantities or slightly reformulated contents year on year. Always verify current pricing and contents directly with the retailer before purchasing.
Most food and drink calendars in the premium tier (Hotel Chocolat, Paxton and Whitfield, The Whisky Exchange) benefit from ordering in September or October rather than waiting for November. Limited stock runs out, and while they do not typically sell out with the same intensity as luxury beauty calendars, the better options do move.
For everything the 2025 season delivered across all categories, see our Best Advent Calendars 2025 year in review.
