Tea water made in a coffee brewer
A friend of mine works somewhere where nearly everyone drinks coffee, not tea. He said they have a Keurig single cup coffee brewer. If you want tea, I guess the expectation is you run the coffee maker without a coffee capsule and it will dispense “plain” hot water. However, I have always found that coffee makers have the smell of coffee on them or they have coffee grounds on some of the surfaces water touch. This situation sounds like it would make some very lousy tea, probably smelling or tasting a little like coffee (why I put “plain” in quotes). Is it unreasonable for him to think this is ridiculous? Are we just overly picky?
It’s definitely a lousy way to make tea. The temperatures are inconsistent and your tea will always taste like coffee. When I had a job like that I wound up bringing in my own kettle. After a few years, I actually converted a few to the dark side so I left it with them as a parting gift :)
Yes it will matter. I have a water boiler from Walmart for $20.00 that works just for my tea.
I found the keurig can be okay if you use an empty capsule and put your tea in. I would put the empty capsule in first and flush the evil coffee out. Then I would fill an empty capsule with my tea and adjust the temperature. Unfortunately depending on the Keurig the temperature may not go low enough for certain teas.
However I detest getting my tea water from a traditional coffee pot maker and will give restaurants bad reviews if they commit this sin against tea.
My department at work also only has a Keurig (though a larger one) and that is how I had to make my tea to start with. The water did come out smelling like coffee oftentimes, and sometimes people would not remove their K-cups, so if I forgot to check myself and discard them I’d end up with weak coffee pouring over my tea leaves. :(
Many of my coworkers keep their own coffee maker in their office and one of my past coworkers actually brought her Zoji water heater to keep in her office. so I ended up buying a Bonavita that I keep in my office for hot water. Makes a huge difference, and I don’t think expecting clean water that hasn’t been tainted by something is at all unreasonable.
I bought my first variable temp kettle for cheap at Adagio Teas online. Then I upgraded to a Breville. I just can’t bring them to my current work site. But the Cafeteria has a hot water tank thingy that only does hot water so I just make the teas that work for that.
I tried automated brewer versions of teas at one tea expo and they weren’t as bad as I expected, teas actually sold as packaged in the little capsules. It’s not unusual for people to make Thai tea versions in espresso machines here (in Thailand), the spiced versions of black teas that are sometimes artificially colored orange. It’s more common for that to be made from powdered tea here, for what that’s worth.
It’s pretty far from an ideal way to make any kind of tea, essentially preparing it with steam or forced hot water and “brewing” for half a minute or so. It’s not great with versions of black teas but would be even worse with green teas. It makes a lot more sense to figure out how to prepare hot water otherwise (anything but microwaving it) and then use any other kind of device to infuse it.
I’m not completely following the implication that the company should be required to provide hot water for brewing tea. That would be nice of them, but your friend using his own inexpensive version of tea kettle wouldn’t relate to much expense. A variable temperature kettle would be nicer and with some looking around reasonably priced options for that would turn up.
You’re right, they don’t have to provide hot water for tea. However, it’s against policy to plug in a coffee maker (and presumably a water kettle) at his desk, and items in the break room have sometimes gotten damaged by incompetent employees. Also, sometimes break room items turn up missing (usually just stolen lunches, pop, coffee capsules, small stuff, etc). So his alternate options are not ideal. He told me that if he was allowed to run a kettle at his desk, it would be perfect. I don’t know why they don’t allow that. Safety issue?
Can he use a water kettle in the break room and then empty it out and take it back to his desk so that no one will take it?
fission, yes, that is an option. I’m guessing he just didn’t like that plan because it involves carrying more stuff back and forth (mug, kettle, kettle base). It’d be inconvenient but possible I figure.
Sounds like he’s not in the most tea friendly environment there. My company provides free bottled water, hot water from a kettle, use of an automatic espresso style coffee machine, and the beans for the machine, in addition to ovaltine and instant coffee. It’s nice that they’re nice about all that.
Yes, it will matter, as others have stated above. Depending on where your friend works and the type of tea that he likes, have him get an electric kettle that he can use strictly for his tea. The ones that boil are pretty cheap; the variable temperature ones are more expensive but companies have been coming out with ones at a more affordable price point, around $40-$50.
It’s a new challenge I think. Maybe the flavor will be amazing us. What do you think? And I think black tea will be the best choice to try.
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