Does anyone "brew" tea in their coffee pot?

[luv2cook]

If so, how do you do it and what do you use? I would like to try this.

And, sure, I could look it up but I want to see *how* you-all do it, proportions, what *kind* of tea you use, etc.

I want to get off of soda and thought I would start brewing tea and putting it in the fridge...

if you don't use your coffee pot, I will still be interested. But that's all I have is my pot...

[golden1225]

I make a pot of tea that will last me several days in the fridge (or on the counter). I pour water that is just getting ready to boil over 2 teabags in my tea/coffeepot. I like it strong, so I leave the teabags in for several hours. My pot is kind of small, so 2 teabags left that long work for me. If your pot is larger, you might want more. I've also done loose tea the same way; I put it in a tea ball or even a coffee filter that I've tied up with string.

[jadenegro]

My dad sometimes uses his coffeepot to brew tea. You don't really need a teapot or a coffeepot -- you could use a regular cooking pot. If you are using tea bags tie the bags to the handle and then add water almost ready to boil. If you're using loose tea just dump the tea in and pour the water almost to boil in it. I'm not sure what temp water coffee pots put out but it won't be boiling so that's an advantage of using it if you don't have a way to measure the water temp.

[luv2cook]

yeah, but say i want to use loose tea. I have a 12-cup coffee pot. Do you follow the rule for coffee -- 1 tsp. per cup (or stronger)...

[Gilgamesh37]

My vote is no---your coffeemaker doesn't get the water nearly hot enough to make proper tea. Tie the loose tea up in a coffeefilter or cheesecloth (or buy a tea ball) and make tea with real boiling water.

[LaraW]

Plus, if you have been making coffee in your coffee maker I doubt you would get the coffee favor out of the filter holder.

[syzygy]

Originally Posted by LaraW

Plus, if you have been making coffee in your coffee maker I doubt you would get the coffee favor out of the filter holder.

Totally agree with this, and there's nothing nastier than coffee flavored tea...yuk!

I have one of these, it's a tea maker, and I love it. True, the water doesn't get to boiling (but you shouldn't use boiling water when you make tea, anyway), but it does get hot enough to brew a lovely pot of tea (I usually use loose tea leaves but it works okay with bagged tea, too).

Some of the features as listed on the Sunbeam page:
* Simple and Convenient Solution to Heat, Steep and Serve Hot Tea
* Removable Tea Basket for Easy Filling and Cleaning
* Accommodates both Bagged and Loose Tea
* Steeps up to 28 oz.
* Variable Steeping Time
* Keep Warm Feature
* Stylish, Glass Tea Pot that will look great on any counter

Target has them at a very good price, too. (They usually sell for $30 more anywhere else )

[lindrusso]

If you use your coffee pot for coffee, I would definitely NOT recommend using it for tea. I have used the hotel coffee pots to heat water for tea and it was NASTY - I could definitely taste the coffee and it totally ruined the tea. I even cleaned and rinsed both the filter basket and the carafe - it didn't help.

[cchhbb]

At my former office, I bought a cheap coffee pot to make tea in daily. It was used exclusively for tea so it never tasted like coffee. I used tea bags and loose tea. I roughly judged the proportions.

[jadenegro]

Ok I was thinking about this all afternoon (ok not really) and had to look it up.

Coffee is recommended to be brewed at between 190 and 205 degrees, depending on the source of information.

Black tea - could be boiled.
Green tea -- brews at 150 to 160 degrees
Oolong tea -- best at around 190 degrees
White tea - best around 180 degrees

Assuming your coffee pot heats water up to or around those temperatures, your best bet using water from your coffee pot would be black or oolong.

[jmarie]

I don't brew in my coffee pot.

I boil water in a pot, maybe 3 cups.

When it comes to a boil, I remove it from the heat and place in 3 family sized "Luzianne" brand teabags.

I set a timer and steep it for 3 minutes. After which I remove teabags, making sure not to squeeze them.

Pour liquid into a pitcher, add 1/2 cup of Splenda baking(sugar substitute)
Stir until sugar mix is melted. Add a lot of ice, then enough water to make a gallon. (I add a lot of ice, so I can go ahead and put it in the fridge or so we can go ahead and drink it immediately. Once ice has melted you will want to stir it once.

I think "Luzianne" has a much better flavor than "Lipton".

When I have get-togethers people are always bragging on the flavor and how my tea is never bitter. It tastes good for three or more days.

[SusanMac]

I do it all the time & don't worry about what's "proper." I'm not British, and no one can tell whether the water was hot enough. It does require that you clean your coffee maker quite well beforehand. I often use vinegar for this (instead of soap, which leaves a funky taste)

Another thing I do often in the summer is make sun tea. Since you live in Houston, this will be easy for you! Get a big glass jug w/tight fitting lid. Fill w/water. I use 2 tea bags. Set out on your front porch in the sun for a few hours. Then chill. It's very yummy & easy.

[Hoodone]

If you just want to use tea bags and are stictly making tea to drink iced, then use this method (or the sun tea method listed above). Boil water in a large glass measuring cup (a 4 cup size would be good) in your microwave. Add tea bags and allow to brew for about 5 minutes. Make tea strong as you will be diluting it with ice. Remove bags and pour over ice to drink.

Personally, I would keep my coffee maker for coffee and use this simple method for making iced tea.

If you want to drink the tea hot, then get a cup infuser and some loose tea from www.upton.com and do it that way. Let me know if you need any direction on what loose teas to buy.

[luv2cook]

Central Market has these wonderful loose teas. They smell so wonderful. I was told to use a press but never got around to getting one. I have this thing about clutter and I'm just about out of good, useable easy-to-reach space, so with all the recommendations to NOT use my coffee pot except for oolong or black, then I think I'm going to have to do sun tea...sigh...OR get a tea pot...if someone posted that, I missed it!

The question, tho, is what's the rule of thumb on loose tea? How much tea=how much water???

[Hoodone]

The rule of thumb on loose tea is 1 teaspoon tea per 6 oz. of water. Personally, I find that to be too strong and use 1 heaping teaspoon per 12 oz. Exact amount of tea depends on the leaf size (this is where all those letters following a tea name come in such as TFGOP or whatnot) so it is technically more correct to weigh your tea, but I never do that.

If you don't want to get a press, cup infuser or anything like that, just strain your tea after brewing. You will want to remove the tea leaves so you don't overbrew.

[bbenedict]

I always use a tea diffuser to brew my loose leaf tea. It's great. Allows lots of room for the tea to swell. I can't get you a very big picture, but if you drink a lot of loose tea this works great. No tea leaves end up on the pot of tea because the mesh of the diffuser is so small.

http://www.savannahtearoom.com/index1.html

Bonnie

[Geo_nerd]

I use this teapot from Adagio Teas. I also have the smaller version for brewing tea at work. I love it!