Can I Use a Coffee Maker to Make Tea?

Introduction

If you have a coffee maker, you must have wondered whether or not it is possible to brew tea in it. Coffee makers are certainly a lifesaver. Especially if you have a busy life and cannot start your day without coffee. Coffee is something that has become a must in most people’s lives. Whether it is to drink while catching up with your friends, whether it is to be able to wake up with caffeine, or it is to just enjoy a warm drink, coffee has a big role in our lives.

Most houses have a coffee maker right now; we know that. Naturally, people are wondering, “can I use a coffee maker to make tea” as tea is another warm drink that people love.

What Happens if You Make Tea in a Coffee Maker?

First, let us answer the main question of this article: Can you make tea in a coffee maker? The answer is yes, you can. Coffee makers are designed to brew coffee. To be able to brew it, you put the coffee in the basket of your coffee maker, put the water in the container, and after heating the water, the machine brews the coffee.

So when you think, technically, you can just put tea instead of coffee, and the coffee maker will brew the tea as it brews coffee. But the real question shouldn’t be, “can I” it should be, should I? There are a few reasons that it might not be the best idea to brew tea in a coffee maker. We will explain these reasons to you, and while doing so, we will also answer the question of what happens if you make tea in a coffee maker.

There are a few reasons that it is not recommended for you to make tea in a coffee maker. One of these is the steep time. As we mentioned above, coffee makers are designed to brew coffee. That is why, if you put the tea into the coffee maker instead of coffee, it will not be able to calculate the time required for the tea to be steeped. So, the tea might not be steeped properly, and it might not taste the way it is supposed to if you brew it in a coffee maker. 

One other reason that it is not recommended for you to make tea in a coffee maker is the boiling level of the water. When you are brewing tea, you should boil the water until it is just below the boiling level to brew black tea the best.

Because the coffee makers are made to brew coffee, and tea and coffee are brewed at different temperatures, the tea might not be brewed the way you want it to be. These are a few of the reasons that it is not recommended for you to brew tea in a coffee maker besides the cleaning process. You will also have to clean your coffee maker thoroughly, as the tea might leave a taste behind.

Can a Coffee Maker Be Used as a Kettle?

Another question apart from “can I use a coffee maker to make tea” is whether or not you can use your coffee maker to boil water and use it as a kettle. The two questions have similar answers. Yes, you can boil water in a coffee maker and use it as a kettle, but is it good for your coffee maker? The answer is no. As we mentioned above, a coffee maker is made to brew coffee and designed for the best way to brew coffee.

That is why, even if you try to boil water with it, yes, the water’s temperature will surely go up, but in most coffee brewers, it won’t go past 200 degrees, which is the best temperature to brew coffee. The water’s temperature can go up to 200 degrees, but even then, the temperature will still be 12 degrees under the temperature of boiled water.

So, to answer the question shortly, yes, you can use your coffee maker as a kettle. But is it recommended? No, as it most probably won’t be at the normal boiling temperature, and it could damage your coffee maker.

Is Coffee Maker Water Hot Enough for Tea?

Like the brew time is designed with the thought of brewing coffee, the water temperature is also designed however is the best for brewing coffee. As we mentioned above, most coffee makers only boil water up to 200 degrees which is the ideal temperature to brew coffee. To understand whether or not this temperature is enough for brewing tea, we should know at which temperature the tea is brewed.

This can change according to the tea type. While black tea is brewed at 212 degrees, green tea is brewed at 175. So while the highest temperature a coffee maker can go up is not enough to brew black tea, it should be enough for green tea. But still, as we mentioned, because coffee makers are designed specifically to brew coffee, the tea you brew in it will not be the best. So, as an answer, we can say that yes, the coffee maker water is hot enough for tea, but not all types of it.

Conclusion

To sum up, in this article, we explained whether or not you can brew tea in a coffee maker, whether or not you can use a coffee maker as a kettle, and if the coffee maker’s water is hot enough for brewing tea. We explained all these questions above in detail, but as a short answer, we can say that yes, you can use a coffee maker both for brewing tea and boiling water.

But it is not recommended as coffee and tea are brewed differently at different temperatures, which is not good for your machine’s health. We hope this article helped you in finding the answers to these questions.