# Coffee in a Teapot Source: https://dailyextraction.com/methods/tea-pot-coffee/ Last updated: 2026-10-20 > Warm the teapot, add a rounded tablespoon of medium-coarse coffee per cup plus one for the pot, and pour on water just off the boil. Stir, put the lid on and let it steep for about 5 minutes. Then pour it through a tea strainer, or lift out the infuser basket, leaving the grounds behind. ## At a glance - Ratio: 1 rounded tbsp per cup, plus one for the pot - Grind: Medium-coarse - Water temperature: 85–93 °C - Brew time: about 5:00 - Category: Immersion & Steeping (Immersion) - Difficulty: Beginner - Origin: United Kingdom - Also known as: teapot coffee, steeped coffee, jug coffee, infusion coffee ## Steps 1. **Warm the pot**: Rinse the teapot with hot water so it doesn't cool the coffee, then pour the water away. 2. **Add the coffee**: Add a rounded tablespoon of medium-coarse coffee for each cup, and one for the pot, either loose or in the teapot's infuser basket. 3. **Pour and stir**: Pour on water just off the boil, stir briskly, and put the lid on. 4. **Steep**: Leave it for about 5 minutes, or a little longer for a stronger cup. 5. **Strain and serve**: Pour through a tea strainer, or lift out the infuser, leaving the grounds behind. Serve straight away. Making **coffee in a teapot** is one of the oldest ways to brew it: put ground coffee in a warm pot, pour on hot water, let it **steep**, then **strain** it into cups, exactly as you'd make loose-leaf tea. It's the same principle as a [French press](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/french-press/), without the plunger. In the 1700s it was the fashionable alternative to boiling coffee, and by the early 1900s, steeping coffee in a **china jug** was an everyday habit in American homes, one Ukers calls "an English heirloom". If you've got a teapot and a strainer, you've got a coffee maker. Here's how, with a recipe from 1921. ## The short version - **A rounded tablespoon per cup, plus one for the pot.** - **Medium-coarse grind**, so the strainer catches it. - **Water just off the boil**, about 85 to 93°C. - **Steep about 5 minutes**, lid on. - **Strain** through a tea strainer, muslin or paper, or lift out the infuser. ## How do you make coffee in a teapot? Steps 2 to 5 follow the steeping rules in the 1921 booklet *Coffee and Coffee Making*, issued by the American **Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee** and quoted by Ukers in *All About Coffee*: 1. **Warm the pot** with hot water, and pour it away. 2. **Add a rounded tablespoon of coffee for each cup**, "or, as some cooks prefer to remember it, a tablespoonful for each cup and 'one for the pot'": the same rule people use for tea. 3. **Pour on freshly boiled water**, and stir. 4. **Steep for five minutes** "or longer, according to taste". 5. **Strain through muslin or cheesecloth**, or settle the grounds with a dash of cold water, and serve straight away. The booklet used **medium grind** for steeping. I'd go a touch coarser, **medium-coarse**, if you're pouring through an ordinary tea strainer, so fewer fine grounds slip through. ![Chart of coffee grind sizes from extra fine to extra coarse, with medium-coarse highlighted for coffee in a teapot](https://dailyextraction.com/diagrams/grind-size.svg#medium-coarse "Medium-coarse coffee steeps well in a teapot and is easy to strain.") ## How hot should the water be? Not quite boiling. Ukers reports that in **1921**, **Professor S. C. Prescott** of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told the National Coffee Roasters Association that coffee made with water at **185 to 200°F** (about 85 to 93°C) was preferable to coffee made at a full boil: it kept the fine flavours and was freer from bitter, astringent ones. In practice, that means letting the kettle rest for a moment after it boils. ## Which teapot works best? Prescott's report also ranked the best materials for coffee-making utensils, in order: **glass, including porcelain and other vitrified ware**, then aluminium, nickel or silver plate, copper and tin plate. Two centuries earlier, Broadbent preferred a pot of **stone or silver**, "much better than tin or copper". - **Glazed china or porcelain** is ideal, and it rinses clean. - **A teapot with an infuser basket** makes straining easy: lift the basket out when the time's up. - **Glass** lets you see the coffee steep. I'd avoid using an unglazed clay teapot that you also use for tea: unglazed clay is porous, and coffee oils would linger. ## Using an infuser basket Many teapots have a removable mesh basket. Coffeexplore's guide to brewing coffee in a tea infuser gives these pointers: - **Use a medium-coarse grind**, the same as for a French press. Fine coffee over-extracts, tastes bitter, and leaks through the mesh. - **Use a fine mesh.** Coffee grounds are generally finer than loose-leaf tea, so a coarse tea mesh lets them through. - **Steep 3 to 4 minutes** in water just off the boil, around 93°C. - **Rinse the basket straight away**, and brush the mesh, because coffee oils build up over time. ## Where does teapot coffee come from? | When | What | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | 1670s to 1680s | England's first teapots and coffee pots look almost identical; a 1681 silver coffee pot in the V&A closely matches a 1670 teapot | Ukers, quoting Charles James Jackson | | 1722 | London coffee merchant **Humphrey Broadbent** condemns boiling coffee and urges infusing it: pour boiling water on the coffee and "let it stand to infuse five minutes" | Ukers | | By 1760 | In France, steeping has generally replaced boiling | Ukers | | 1921 | The American coffee trade publishes its steeping rule: a tablespoon per cup and "one for the pot" | Ukers | | 1922 | Ukers notes that steeping in a **china or earthenware jug**, "an English heirloom", is common in American homes | Ukers | Broadbent's dose was generous: he couldn't "conceive how you can put less than two ounces of powder to a quart, or one ounce to a pint of water". That's about 28 g to 570 ml, or roughly 1:20. Ukers describes the jug method of his own day: boiling water poured on the coffee until the jug is half full, a brisk stir, the rest of the water, another stir, then a rest to settle before pouring through a **strainer or filter cloth**. *General guidance only. Take care with boiling water, and let a hot teapot cool before washing it.* ## Coffee in a teapot vs other methods - **[French press](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/french-press/):** the same steeping, with a mesh plunger. - **[Mason jar coffee](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/mason-jar-coffee/):** steep in a jar, hot or cold, then strain. - **[Cowboy coffee](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/cowboy-coffee/):** coffee boiled in a pot, the method Broadbent argued against. - **[Cloth filter pour-over](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/cloth-bag-pour-over/):** for straining through cloth, the old way. Explore every immersion method in the [immersion chapter](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/immersion/). ## Words used in this guide - [Steeping](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/steeping/): Steeping is leaving ground coffee to sit in water so its flavour dissolves out, as in a French press or cold brew. - [Immersion vs percolation](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/immersion-vs-percolation/): Immersion brewing steeps all the coffee in all the water at once, as a French press does. ## FAQs ### Can you make coffee in a teapot? Yes. It's simply steeping, the same principle as a French press: hot water poured on ground coffee, left to infuse, then strained. In 1922, Ukers described steeping coffee in a china or earthenware jug as usual in American homes, "an English heirloom". ### How much coffee should I put in a teapot? A 1921 American coffee trade booklet, quoted by Ukers, says a rounded tablespoon per cup and "one for the pot". In 1722, the London coffee merchant Humphrey Broadbent said not less than an ounce of coffee to a pint of water. ### How long should coffee steep in a teapot? About 5 minutes. Both the 1921 booklet and Broadbent's 1722 method steep for five minutes. With an infuser basket, Coffeexplore suggests 3 to 4 minutes, like a French press. ### Will a tea strainer catch coffee grounds? Mostly, if the grind is medium-coarse. Coffee grounds are generally finer than loose-leaf tea, so Coffeexplore recommends a fine mesh. For a cleaner cup, strain through muslin or a paper filter. ### Will coffee flavour my teapot? It can leave oils behind. I'd use a glazed china, porcelain or glass pot, which rinses clean, and keep any unglazed clay teapot for tea only. ## Sources - [All About Coffee (1922), Project Gutenberg edition](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28500) - [Can a tea infuser be used for coffee?](https://coffeexplore.com/can-a-tea-infuser-be-used-for-coffee/)