I now have a Breville Keurig single cup brewer which I use pretty much only with an adapter called the "my k cup" which is a 2 tbsp capacity reusable filter to put ground coffee as it costs much less than the "k cups" it normally uses.

Although it's not meant to, I often make tea by putting ground tea in the reusable filter.

Since I prefer buying coffee beans instead of k cups I figured a super automatic machine may be a good choice to save money in the long term (for $20 I can make 180 cups of coffee buying whole beans, it would cost $130 in k cups for that much coffee).

I noticed many models have a pre ground coffee bypass funnel to make a cup with different ground coffee. Is there any reason why I couldn't put 1 tsp of ground tea in that funnel and have the machine make tea like I do with my current single serve brewer (which isn't meant for tea either but still works great).

I'm hoping I could simply put a teaspoon of ground green tea in the ground coffee input, choose the "brew from ground" option and have the machine make a cup of green tea and dispose of the leafs in the waste bin.

So is there any reason this would not work? The only reasons I could think are if it refuses such a small quantity (it takes 6 times less tea leaves for a cup of tea than it takes ground coffee for a cup of coffee), or if there's any problem if it attempts to tamp a teaspoon of tea leaves. Another possible problem is does the machine rinse the brew filter after each brew? Otherwise a tea may taste like coffee if made immediately after.

I'm really hoping a super automatic could not only make making coffee simpler, but also tea, as it would eliminate the need to clean the filter manually after each use.

Thanks

John, I'm sorry but you won't find much love here for super-autos. The trade-of between the quality of what's in your cup, versus the convenience of simply pushing one button is just not worth it for the overwhelming majority of us here.

Speaking personally, I have never had an espresso from a super-auto that was any better than "good," and actually think I prefer the brew from a Nespresso or Keurig brewer. That said, I think there is indeed a place for super-autos, but it's more likely to be in an office, a company breakroom, or in, say, the customer service lounge of my car dealer, rather than in the home.

I'd check out the super-autos at the Canadian equivalent of Sur La Table or Williams-Sonoma near you. See what they say about tea. I don't know anyone who's ever done this, personally, so I have no experience with it.

Cheers,
Jason

Some super auto's will produce something that resembles coffee but you will never get espresso from one. The better ones are a couple thousand dollars. You could get a good entry level machine and make real espresso for the same cost or less.

I have a Nespresso Citiz Milk that I travel with. Not a super automatic by any stretch but it does make a decent cup of coffee on the road....at least better than you can get in a motel.

Last week I stopped in the local Surlatable store which I do frequently. They were displaying and sampling cappuccinos from the Jura J7 which I think is around $3000. Now this machine does it all and I was optimistic that the drink would be good. I took one sip and I quickly set it down. It was horrible and they blamed it on the Illy coffee they were using. They are friends of mine so it was all done in a light and humorous manner.

I would suggest that you find an excellent barista in your area and ask him to make you a drink that you could compare to a super automatic. I am sure they will quickly take on the challenge. You have to have a benchmark to start with to know how to judge the drinks from a super automatic. Once you know your target you will quickly know if a super automatic can satisfy you.

There are tradeoffs and you have to decide is convenience more important to you than taste.

Good luck in your search.

bob

Thanks for the replies.

I don't really want an espresso maker, I want something that's automatic, as long as it makes coffee that's comparable to my keurig or a drip brew. I also want to make sure it could brew ground tea from the ground coffee funnel as I drink more tea than coffee and would love to have a way to make tea without cleaning a filter each time.

So I'm mostly interested in knowing if they would brew tea from the ground coffee funnel input or if there's any reason it wouldn't work then why wouldn't it work?

Thanks

John,

If you don't really want an espresso maker, then this is probably the wrong place for you to pose your question. As some of us have said, none of us really prefer super-autos over our beloved semi-autos, and we all strive to experiment and refine to produce the perfect espresso, not find shortcuts to save us 30 seconds in the morning.

You can't also really brew tea in a super auto in the same manner as coffee, because you will have contamination from the coffee in your tea and vice versa. Additionally, most super autos have one bin for coffee beans, so if you want to brew tea in the same manner as espresso, you will need to swap out the contents of the bin. I'm not even sure if you can even grind tea and run it through a super-auto - Tea is not normally brewed under pressure like espresso is, so it may produce an undesirable result.

Besides, why spend thousands of dollars so you don't have to clean a filter out every time? I think your money would be better spent buying a Starbucks franchise and building it next door to your house so they could make all the tea you desire without you having to lift a finger.

aab1 wrote:I also want to make sure it could brew ground tea from the ground coffee funnel as I drink more tea than coffee and would love to have a way to make tea without cleaning a filter each time.

The Tea Bag was invented in 1908.

Tea is made with boiling water @ 1 bar and requires steeping
Espresso @ ~200°F [93°C] @ 10 bar and is ready immediately

caffeineninja wrote:You can't also really brew tea in a super auto in the same manner as coffee, because you will have contamination from the coffee in your tea and vice versa. Additionally, most super autos have one bin for coffee beans, so if you want to brew tea in the same manner as espresso, you will need to swap out the contents of the bin. I'm not even sure if you can even grind tea and run it through a super-auto - Tea is not normally brewed under pressure like espresso is, so it may produce an undesirable result.

Besides, why spend thousands of dollars so you don't have to clean a filter out every time? I think your money would be better spent buying a Starbucks franchise and building it next door to your house so they could make all the tea you desire without you having to lift a finger.

Don't super autos have a rinse option? Doesn't that clean the filter? You can also choose the "brew from bypass" option and not put anything in it to rinse it, I've read that somewhere. Would this not get rid of taste contamination? Otherwise I could rinse the brew group in the sink when I switch from coffee to tea which is very rare anyway.

I was not planning in putting the tea in the bean hope, the way I would use it is leave coffee beans in the bean hopper at all times, and when I want tea I would put it in the bypass chute and use the "brew from bypass" mode.

I also know tea is not normally brewed under pressure and it still wouldn't be in a super auto, it's the compactness/fineness of the coffee that causes the pressure, water will run freely around the tea leaves like it does in my current single cup brewer (I can tell it's under pressure when doing coffee and not under pressure when doing tea, the water comes out as if the filter was empty when I do tea).

Anyway there's a super auto with what seems to be a simple descale problem on ebay that looks like it will end really cheap (as in under $200), if it ends cheap I'll buy it to try and fix it and see how well it works with tea. If it doesn't work well with tea I'll resell it probably.

Well, as they say, "It's your money -- waste use it as you see fit!"

aab1 wrote:I also know tea is not normally brewed under pressure and it still wouldn't be in a super auto

Yes, it would be brewed under pressure, just like the coffee would be to make the espresso.