Can you use a coffee maker to brew tea?

We do it all the time. Just drop the tea bags in the funnel in place of the coffee filter. I usually spread them out in a pattern that I think will give them maximum exposure to the water flow, and if they have tags, I leave them hanging over the side. Use the same number you normally would for the amount of tea you plan to make, and run a couple of pots of water through (assuming you're making that much or more, we never make less than a gallon at our house), transferring the tea to a pithcher in between. Stir the sugar into the hot tea, then finish filling the pitcher with water and/or ice.

Silent Serenity, I guess it just depends on where you're from. Where I'm from, "tea" means iced tea. And I think anyone who would ask this question on AnswerBag isn't out for the "proper" way, but is more of the "git-er-done" type.

I do it when we want to make several pots at once ; our electric kettle is just not big enough. I just put the teabags in the coffee pot and use hot water. It doesn't get quite as hot as a boiling kettle, but for most teas, this doesn't make much difference. It will then keep the tea hot without a tea cozy - nice in the winter when you want more than one hot 'cuppa'.

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Edited 20 October

My Concise Oxford Dictionary defines 'Brew' as ' make (tea, etc) by infusion' ; no mention is made that it must be loose tea and not tea bags. 'Infusion' , a liquid obtained by infusing. 'Infuse', steep (herbs, tea, etc) in liquid to extract the content. 'Steep' , soak or bathe in liquid. So technically, not only can you brew tea in a coffee maker, you don't even need to use heat to do it.

No mention was made in the question of how to do it to a 'purist's' satisfaction.

I just tried this and it works, use ice tea mix in your coffee maker and use about the same ammount like it was coffee, tastes good!

You cannot “brew” tea in a coffee maker.

You can drop tea bags in a coffee maker because it’s the lazy way
but it won’t give you brewed tea.

Brewing tea is really quite easy.

First start with cold, great tasting, water. If your tap water does not taste good, then use filtered or bottled water. (I say to use cold water because a typical hot water heater will often add contaminants and reduce the amount of oxygen in the water, which is needed for flavor extraction).

Then bring the desired amount of water to a rolling boil. (Do not boil the water for a long period of time because this too will deplete the water of oxygen).
Put approximately 2 grams or 1 tsp. of tea leaves per 6-8 oz. of water into a pre-heated pot or cup (pre-heating will allow the tea to steep at the proper temperature).

Then add hot water according the chart below for the type of tea you are brewing. Please note that these are general guidelines. If your tea container has brewing instructions I would follow those as they are probably ideal for that specific tea.

http://www.2basnob.com/brewing-tea.html

Edit: Tea Bag
Tea leaves are packed into a small (usually paper) tea bag. It is easy and convenient, making tea bags popular for many people nowadays. However, because fannings and dust from modern tea processing are also included in most tea bags, it is commonly held among tea afficianados that this method provides an inferior taste and experience. The paper used for the bag can also be tasted by many which can detract from the tea's flavour.

A connoisseur always gives correct instructions.
Enjoy the tea.

I have brewed the tea with the tea bags in the basket of the coffee maker, but added the sugar in the pot AFTERWARDS.

Yep, you sure can.

Absolutely you can, we do it all the time. You have a couple of ways to go about this:

Put loose tea into a filter in the filter basket, and brew as you would a pot of coffee.

Put tea bags into the filter basket with the strings hanging over the edge, then brew. I find this produces a weaker tea, so you might consider using more tea bags. Or ...

Put the tea bags into the pot with the strings hanging over the edge, then brew. This produces a stronger tea than the above method so you don't have to use more tea bags. But some consider the tea to taste "over brewed" using this method. I find 3-4 tea bags will produce a rich pot of tea in a 12-cup coffee maker.

Make coffee using a standard drip coffee maker,
I use a small 4 cup coffee pot with a cone shaped filter to brew tea in the coffee pot. It was designed for coffee but I use it as a tea and coffee maker.

Most Definitely.

You can tear open tea bags if you don't have any loose tea leaves, and just put them into the filter paper cup and brew away just as you would your coffee. Or you can just put the tea bags into the holding cup minus the filter and minus the strings and tags as the bags will do about the same job as your paper coffee filters do. You'll also find it a relatively fast way to make a pitcher of ice tea because you can brew a whole pot of tea at one time then put it into a pitcher and then right into your refrigerator.

I don't know but I an going to try today

Sure I always do it, I dont own a tea pot.
Just toss in 2 bags in the Basket for each cup you want to have. I usualy fill my coffee cup up and pour it in the coffee pot then toss in the teabags into the basket where the grounds go.
Done in a few minutes, You need to use two bags usually because it goes thru so fast it isnt strong enough.

yeah. there are some things wrong with my tea pot. so I use the coffee maker to make tea,,it taste good.

source:http://www.topons.com/home-garden/dinning-kitchen-1/kitchenware/coffee-machine.html