Can You Use an Espresso Maker to Heat Water for Tea?

It's a question that comes up more than you'd expect: can I just run water through my espresso maker and use it to brew tea? For Espresso Rituals, the product page recommends water-only cycles for cleaning, but does not describe using it as a kettle for tea. For your tea routine, we'd use a separate source of suitably heated drinking water. Here's why the two tools serve different purposes.

Two Completely Different Ways to Brew

Espresso and tea look similar from the outside — hot water meets plant matter, and something delicious comes out. But the physics underneath couldn't be more different.

Espresso is pressure extraction. A pump forces hot water through finely ground coffee to produce a concentrated drink. The Espresso Rituals self-heating portable espresso maker accepts cold or hot water, regulates it to 90°C before brewing, and uses 20-bar pressure for extraction. Its current product page does not specify a heating or extraction time.

Tea is steeping. Loose-leaf tea needs time, not pressure. Whole leaves unfurl slowly in hot water, releasing essential oils and aromatic compounds over 1–7 minutes depending on the variety. Use the preparation method and steeping time recommended for your tea rather than putting tea leaves into the espresso maker.

The Temperature Problem

Even setting pressure aside, the temperature question matters. The Espresso Rituals maker regulates cold or hot water to 90°C before brewing. Its product page does not list adjustable temperature settings for tea. For tea, the range varies considerably:

• White and green teas: 70–80°C — boiling-temperature water scorches delicate leaves and pulls bitterness
• Oolong teas: 85–90°C
• Black and herbal teas: 95–100°C — close to a full boil is fine here

Follow your tea supplier's instructions for the specific leaves you choose. Espresso Rituals has an 80 ml water tank and a regulated espresso-brewing cycle, not a listed tea-steeping or temperature-holding mode. Preparing water separately gives you more control over the temperature and quantity for your tea.

What About the Output Water?

Running plain water through Espresso Rituals is part of its listed cleaning routine: the product page recommends a water-only cycle to clean. That is different from recommending the machine as a general-purpose kettle. The current product page does not say that a cleaning cycle provides water at a specified temperature for brewing tea.

Residual coffee oils may also affect the flavour of water passing through a used coffee brewer. For tea, use suitably heated drinking water from a separate source and follow the espresso maker's supplied operating and cleaning instructions.

When to Reach for the Espresso Maker

The Espresso Rituals portable espresso maker is the right tool when you want a rich, crema-topped espresso shot — at your desk, in a hotel room, on a campsite, or anywhere there's no kettle and no café. It regulates cold or hot water to 90°C before brewing, uses 20-bar pressure, and gives you 4–5 shots from a full charge using cold water, or 40+ using pre-heated water. It works with ground coffee or Nespresso-compatible (NS) capsules. USB-C charging at 5V/2A takes about 3 hours for a full recharge.

Choose it for its listed espresso-brewing features rather than assuming it has a separate kettle mode.

When to Reach for the Tea Infuser

The Alchemist Bottle is built around what tea actually needs: space, time, and temperature control. Its 380 ml double-wall borosilicate glass chamber keeps water at steeping temperature without cooling too fast, and the built-in 304 stainless steel separator stops the infusion at exactly the right moment — so you don't end up with bitter over-steeped tea when you get distracted. It's leak-proof, heat-resistant, and cool to the touch on the outside.

You bring your own suitably heated drinking water — from a kettle or another source intended for preparing drinks — and let the bottle handle the steeping environment. That's the right division of labour.

The Case for Owning Both

Espresso on heavy days. Tea on quiet ones. These aren't competing rituals — they're complementary ones, and the tools reflect that. The Espresso Rituals maker and the Alchemist Bottle are both portable, both built for quality, and both designed to make your chosen ritual possible wherever you are. The current espresso maker product page offers The Alchemist Bottle free when you add it with your espresso maker, with the offer applied automatically at checkout — a simple way to make room for both rituals.

If you're new to loose-leaf tea, our beginner's steeping guide covers temperatures, timing, and everything else in plain language. And if you want to learn how to prepare portable espresso, the step-by-step espresso guide walks you through it from first charge to final crema.

The right tool for the right ritual. Always.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are an espresso maker and a tea infuser interchangeable?

No. They serve different brewing routines: an espresso maker extracts coffee, while a tea infuser holds tea leaves during steeping. Choose the tool for the drink you want to prepare.

Does the Alchemist Bottle heat its own water?

No. You supply the hot water separately; the bottle is used for steeping your tea.

Where can I learn how to prepare each drink?

Start with our portable espresso maker guide for coffee or our loose-leaf tea beginner's guide for tea.

Have a question about choosing between the two setups? Contact Brewing Rituals.