Making Tea in the coffee maker

No.

So... do you drink all the leaf-grounds along with the "tea"?

MarshalN

I haven't actually tried it Toci but it would seem to me that coffee is brewed differently than tea in the sense that it is brewed longer to my knowledge (for instance, if I do coffee in a French press, which is basically steeping it, I use 7 minutes or more) and also if they are using an automatic coffee maker to do it, the coffee maker may have special design features specific to coffee. For instance, I think my home coffee maker doesn't just run the water through straight, it might let the grounds get wet first, expand, then put the water through or something. Also, though generically the compounds to be extracted may be generally similar (flavinoids, etc.) they may differ in solubility ratings.

Anyhow, like I said, I haven't tried it. If I compare the closest methods coffee vs tea, that is, steeping loose leaf and steeping grounds in a french press, the coffee takes a longer bath. FWIW.

Melinda

If we're talking about a drip-style coffee maker (like a Mr. Coffee machine), the reasons it wouldn't work well are because the water would not be hot enough (for black tea, anyway) and because the steeping time would be insufficient. Those machines are designed for the water to just wet the coffee grounds and then pass right through immediately. Loose tea leaves need to steep for a few minutes, unless you like your tea really weak.

It always fascinates me how many people seem to want to use this method for making tea. when all that is really needed is a teapot and an electric kettle that switches itself off when the water is boiled? It doesn't get any easier than that. This need to "build a better mousetrap" serves only to complicate the process - and usually results in an inferior brew.

toci wrote:

It's not really about building a better mouse trap, but rather an attempt to reproduce the excellent results I have tasted in a restaurant that uses this method. To me, it just looks exactly like a coffee maker that is used to make tea at this place and it tastes great.

If there is no residual flavor from coffee or cleaning solutions in the coffee maker, I say go for it. The only problem is perhaps the leaves not having enough time to keep in contact with the water. That also depends on what tea you are drinking; I wouldn't see much of a problem with blacks.

I'm not trying to be the wet blanket here, but even if you did have a good experience I'd say you are much better off brewing it properly. Coffee pots do not get the water to the exact temps needed for many teas, and then there is no way to really control the amount of time the water passes through the leaves. Frankly I'm surprised as many responses even slightly considered the idea, I'm sticking with my first response. Just don't do it.

I could not imagine this working well for standard black tea, but I could see it working for iced tea or the like.

I have not tried it, because to do it would require a brand new coffee maker that has never had coffee through it and does not have nasty coffee contamination.

--scott