The Pros And Cons Of Using A Coffee Machine As An Iced Tea Maker

You may be hesitant to start selling iced tea if you don’t have the budget to invest in a commercial iced tea brewer. But have you thought about whether you actually need to buy one? 

While commercial iced tea brewers often offer a significant ROI and numerous other benefits, you can brew iced tea with your coffee maker. Decide what the right choice is for your business by weighing the pros and cons of using a coffee machine as an iced tea maker.

Pros: Why You May Want To Use A Coffee Machine For Iced Tea

You may decide against investing in a commercial iced tea brewer if you offer iced tea but don’t sell enough to warrant buying new equipment. In this case, you should continue using your coffee machine.

A coffee machine is also a good option if you lack the ability to run a waterline to your iced tea brewer. You can fill your coffee maker with water as you normally do to brew iced tea.

Using a coffee maker to brew iced tea isn’t complicated. Simply follow these steps:

1. Add a two-ounce bag of tea into your tea-specific brew funnel
2. Hit the brew button
3. Once the pot has finished brewing, pour it into the tea urn
4. Add three more pots of tap water to the urn

You’re now ready to serve two gallons of tea! As long as you use graphics on your iced tea urns and the urns are placed prominently in your store, your customers will be able to distinguish your brand of iced tea.

Cons: Reasons To Invest In A Commercial Iced Tea Brewer Instead

To maintain consistent quality every time you brew and at all of your locations, you’ll need a commercial iced tea brewer. A commercial brewer offers the following advantages when it comes to consistency:

• Proper water calibration
• Temperature control
• Simplicity in use
• Fast brewing time

Consistency is important if you want to make your iced tea a destination product, as customers will come to your store or restaurant expecting to taste the same delicious iced tea every time.

If you use a coffee machine to brew iced tea, you also have to make sure you use a different brew basket and pot to make tea, or else your tea will pick up the flavor of the coffee tannins.

You can brew larger quantities of tea faster with a commercial iced tea maker since it takes water directly from a water line and you don’t have to manually add water to the urn.

A commercial iced tea brewer allows you to offer a variety of teas more easily, including sweet tea, unsweetened tea and various flavors of iced tea. If you have a large customer base, you’ll likely see a significant ROI by offering a wider variety of tea.

Choose What’s Best For Your Business

If you’ve never sold iced tea before, you may want to try using your coffee maker to test how well iced tea performs with customers. In the end, the choice to invest in a commercial iced tea brewer or to use a coffee machine depends on your budget, volume of beverage sales and customer traffic. No matter what equipment you use, customers will appreciate a crisp, flavorful glass of iced tea.

Ready to learn how you can boost iced tea sales? Read these five tips.