Tea and coffee are among the most popular beverages. Most people in the world drink at least one cup of tea or coffee daily. If you are among those who love tea, you always want it to taste pure. Sometimes, that may not be the case. If your tea has foreign tastes or tastes bad, you are less likely to enjoy it. One of the questions that many people ask is why does my tea taste like coffee? If your tea tastes like coffee, read on through this article to find out why.

     1. You Are Making Tea with a Coffee Maker 

One of the main reasons why your tea may taste like coffee is when you make tea with a coffee maker. Regardless of the type of coffee maker you use to make tea, it may end up tasting like coffee. The reason is that after brewing coffee, coffee oils impregnate the plastic components of the coffee maker.

Although coffee oils clean off easily from a glass carafe, they may remain behind in plastic parts. Thus, if you brew coffee and wash off your coffee maker, any coffee oils left behind will find their way into your tea when you make tea with the same coffee maker.

If you like your tea pure without any foreign taste, but you still want to brew it with a coffee maker, do a test before making tea. To do this, run the coffee maker with plain hot water through a complete brewing cycle. Sniff the water to detect any coffee smell. Also, sip the water and hold it in your mouth to check for any coffee taste.

If you detect any coffee smell or taste from the hot water, then your tea may taste like coffee. However, if you do not detect any coffee smell or taste, proceed to brew a pure cup of tea. If you mostly brew strong black tea and you also like coffee, you may not worry when your tea tastes like coffee.

You can try to get rid of any coffee smell and taste from your coffee maker before making tea by cleaning it with vinegar. In this case, add a few tablespoons of water to the coffee pot or carafe. Run plain water through the coffee pot. Rinse it thoroughly with plain water to clear the vinegar smell. Next, run the carafe with a tablespoon of bleach and plain water. Rinse everything thoroughly. Allow it to dry overnight. Then make tea the next day and enjoy drinking it without any coffee taste.

     2. Type of Tea

Some types of tea taste like coffee. These teas include black pekoe tea, barley tea, acorn tea, dandelion root tea, chai tea, yerba mate tea, and chicory root tea among others. Probably, you have brewed such a tea and you are wondering why it tastes like coffee. In this case, you can only drink the tea as it is. If you do not like coffee taste in your tea, then choose teas that do not taste like coffee.

     3. Lengthy Brewing Time

Why does my tea taste like coffee? Another reason why your tea may taste like coffee is due to prolonged brewing time. Allowing tea to steep for a few minutes gives it a lighter taste. If you increase the steeping time, it will have a more intense taste. If you allow the tea to steep for at least an hour, it will taste like coffee.

You can deal with this problem by steeping tea for a few minutes. Also, do not allow the hot tea to continue resting in the pot without sieving the tea leaves. If tea leaves continue sitting in the teapot, the tea will continue extracting and taste bitter like coffee. Also, if your tea tastes too bitter to your liking, reduce the amount of tea leaves you are using to make the tea.

Summary

A bad-tasting cup of coffee may put you off, especially as a new tea drinker or when serving guests. If your tea tastes like coffee, for instance, you are less likely to enjoy it. Probably, you steeped the tea longer than necessary, used a type of tea that tastes like coffee, or used a coffee maker with remnants of coffee oils to make your tea. When you know the cause of coffee taste in your tea, you will make pure tea next time.