You cannot use a coffee maker to make boiled water because the water inside a coffee maker is never hot enough to boil. The heating element inside the majority of coffee makers bring water to a near boil and steam causes the hot water to rise to the shower-head where it drips down over the grind basket. Most water released by coffee makers is only 185-195 degrees whereas boiling is 212 at sea level.
What’s interesting about coffee makers is that it’s literally impossible for water to be at a boiling temperature when it is released because the hottest it will ever get is when it is inside the heating coils under the hot plate near the bottom of most machines.
At this point the water is hot enough to “boil” and turn into steam. As the steam rises it condenses into hot water droplets again which are then pushed up through the inner water tubing all the way to the top by newly formed steam inside coils at the bottom.
New steam continues to push the hot water upwards where it can then condense at a slightly lower temperature than boiling before dripping out the top.
The only way a coffee maker could actually produce boiling water is if a water pump pumped water to heating coils that were at the top. If this were the case the machine would pump cold water from the water reservoir to the coils that heat it to boiling before dripping the boiling water out over the grind basket.
This is simply not how coffee makers are made.
K-Cup style coffee makers do use water pumps whereas regular drip coffee makers do not. But even they don’t produce boiling water either because the desirable coffee flavors are extracted at roughly 190 degrees give-or-take.
If a Keurig machine for instance heating water up to a full rolling boil before sending that water through a k-cup then the coffee wouldn’t taste it’s best. Instead Keurig-style machines heat to near boiling 190-200 degrees before pumping that water through a needle into the grounds on the inside of a K-cup.
Of all the alternative coffee makers that do boil water the only ones that can boil water are those that sit directly on a heat source like a moka pot, percolator, or a Turkish coffee pot.
French press coffee is another style that can be brewed at boiling temperatures if you use a kettle that get’s that high but even then the temp drops off nearly instantly once the water is placed inside the carafe to steep the grind.
Curious how a moka pot works since it does actually boil water in the lower chamber? See this post for detail.
Now let’s look at some related questions our readers pose day-in and day-out.
How Does a Coffee Maker Work
Coffee Maker Heating Element
How to Boil Coffee
How to Boil Water Without a Pot
Does a Coffee Maker Distill Water?
Boiling Water for Coffee
How Hot Does a Coffee Maker Get?
How to Boil Water Quickly
Coffee Makers That Heat Water to 200 Degrees
How Hot Do Coffee Maker Hot Plates Get?
If you are looking for better ways of heating water to a boil then consider getting an electric hot water kettle. Many of them will heat to a boil very fast without the need for a stovetop burner.