The Best Food and Drink Gifts for Mother’s Day – From Teapots to Gin Jams

Whether you honour Mum with breakfast in bed, a cosy afternoon tea or a celebratory dinner, it’s hard to deny the shared experience that food encourages.

Here are our picks of delicious snacks, elegant tea blends and artisanal condiments to gift her this Mother’s Day.

For the sweet tooth

Chocolate is a go-to Mother’s Day gift for good reason – it’s a way to spoil Mum with something she’d appreciate but wouldn’t splurge on herself. Satisfy a sweet tooth with selections like Cacao’s 16-piece signature box, a journey of textures and flavours from the Melbourne artisans, or create your own chocolate hamper with favourites from indie chocolatiers like Canberra’s Jasper and Myrtle. As the weather cools, don’t forget to put hot chocolate on the menu – this Koko Black bundle is an indulgent option.

If she’s a baker at heart, fresh recipe books like Madeleines by Melbourne’s Madeleine de Proust patissiers Hyoju Park and Rong Yao Soh, You’re Welcome by Raya and Dua baker Raymond Tan (with Broadsheet editor Audrey Payne), or Celebrate by the Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood are hot right now.

For the tea connoisseur

From the soothing sound of a kettle boiling to the tantalising taste of a first sip, tea is a sensory experience. It’s a gift that can be a mindful and meditative ritual for your mum when she’s solo, or a chance to bond with others when shared.  

Curate a premium T2 giftbox in-store – any four cubes for $75 – from the retailer’s broader gifting range, spanning pure and blended teas, including its caffeine-free selection of rooibos, herbal infusions and fruit tisanes. The new Croissant au Beurre, a black tea with comforting buttery notes, is best sipped with morning pastries, or, if Mum’s after relaxation rather than stimulation, there’s Spa Day, a fruity caffeine-free blend that invokes the denouement to a massage. You can also bring flowers in flavour form with The Flower Shop, nine tea blossoms that unfurl as they infuse.

The colourful and capacious Moditerranean mug encourages a well-deserved break, while the Pollygarden Marble is a cottagecore style handmade in Korea. Company coming? Help her show off with the elegant Moroccan Muse teapot, or level up with the eye-catching and brag-worthy Sogni d’Oriente by Milanese designer Alessandra Baldereschi.

For the condiment queen

Condiments are essential to living a more flavourful life, so whether your mother is a jam ma’am or chilli chaser, there are plenty of tasty options to suit her palate. There’s also Melbourne chef Rosheen Kaul’s Secret Sauce cookbook if she wants to try her hand at making her own.

Fat Wren Farm on the Sunshine Coast is a family-run label with a range of small-batch jams, relishes and chutneys. In addition to traditional berry jams and marmalade, you can try the more exotic mango and vanilla jam, or rhubarb and lavender. Its award-winning hot date chutney, and blood orange and ginger caramelised vinegar are also worth a shot for adventurous tastebuds.

Adelaide maker Fiaje is also stepping things up with its sour cherry gin jam, a tangy addition to toast for mums who don’t have a sweet tooth. There’s also the popular fig, cranberry and apple chutney, which is superb on a cheese board.

For the cheese lover

Speaking of cheese, if Mum’s open to a wedge or two, it’s never a bad time to assemble a tasting platter. There’s an increasingly good selection at supermarkets and delis these days, or check out your local artisan cheesemonger for something special.

For a gift that keeps on giving, why not get her a cheese subscription box? The Artisan Cheese Room in Sydney has a monthly box of four seasonal cheeses, delivered across east coast Australia, while the Bruny Island Cheese Co offers four cheeses, two accompaniments and the option to add a paired bottle of wine per month, sent by refrigerated postage to anywhere in Australia.

This article has been produced by Broadsheet in partnership with T2 Tea.However you choose to celebrate, these gifts are best enjoyed slowly – ideally alongside a well-brewed cup of tea.Explore T2’s full gifting range in-store or online.