Can You Brew Tea Using Your Nespresso Machine?

Being a tea drinker whose friends rave about their Nespresso machines is a little like being a coffee drinker at afternoon tea in the London — you just can't help but being a little envious of the ceremony of it all. While the coffee drinker at the tea party may be a little out of luck, there are a few ways to enjoy tea with your Nespresso machine (just don't tell Nespresso about them).

The official line at Nespresso is that the machine is for coffee alone. "Our foremost priority," the company says on its website, "is sourcing the highest quality coffee beans and providing exquisitely unique Coffee and Espresso to our members worldwide" It also says that the machines are carefully calibrated for coffee and advises against using them to prepare tea or hot chocolate. With its Vertuo line of machines, the company allows you to turn coffee pods into espresso and vice versa, but that is the only customization it suggests.

Tea companies and social media influencers have identified a few workarounds, though. Companies, such as Tea Boquete, now sell pods filled with various teas compatible with the Original machine. On TikTok, people are making use of refillable coffee pods, which are available for both the Vertuo and Original, and filling them with a tea bag or loose tea leaves.

Another hack is reusing Nespresso's own pods by cutting off the top, cleaning out the leftover coffee grinds, and adding in loose tea leaves or a tea bag. You can even purchase kits online (like this one from Nessus) that help you open, clean, and reseal the pods.

If you want to skip the pods altogether, some suggest using the machines to make hot water, which the machine will dispense if you press the top button three times. Several Reddit users, however, caution against using this feature, which is actually part of the coffee maker's self-cleaning process. You need to make sure you clean your Nespresso thoroughly first, otherwise your water will end up with coffee or other built-up gunk from your machine. Others say it simply doesn't get hot enough to make proper tea.

Whether you prefer loose-leaf tea or tea bags, there are easier ways to make tea than trying to use your Nespresso. If you're really feeling envious about not having a fancy machine, you can get great design and efficiency with something like the Fellow electric tea kettle.