Whether you’re a coffee fanatic or tea lover, here are a collection of coffee and tea station ideas that will get your creative juices flowing. From simple to extravagant, this list has something for everyone. We’ve collected 25 ideas that will blow your mind and give you all of the inspiration you’ll need to create your own coffee and tea station!
Any good tea and coffee station should be well-stocked, beautiful and practical.
What are some things in a coffee and tea station? Well… tea and coffee, obviously! You might not drink them both (I only drink coffee, for instance), but my guests might want tea, so I have a good selection of different types of tea and coffee on hand, just in case.
You’ll also need some milk or cream and sugar or sweeteners. What else? Plenty of cups and mugs, spoons, and maybe napkins too for wiping up spills.
And let’s not forget the main item: how you make the tea or coffee.
All these things have to be super well organised and easy to use, so let’s take a look at the best examples we’ve found for you.
25 Best Coffee and Tea Station Ideas You'll Love
Stylist Heather Bullard knows a thing or two about how to put together the perfect tea and coffee station.
It's got absolutely everything you could need to make a perfect cup. She features a combination of beautiful things out on view, as well as items tucked neatly away in drawers.
The layout is so well designed and organised, with everything at hand. On top of all that, it's sleek and stylish. What more could you ask for?
This little tiny nook features all the essentials in one small space. The tiling is a great idea to make splashes easy to wipe down. With a white and wood colour palette, the space looks crisp and clean and helps it look larger than it probably is.
If you like the idea of having absolutely everything you could possibly need in your station, but you don't want it all on view, this idea is for you! A combination of shelves and drawers like this offer the most effective storage.
If you love a cutesy, cafe style, check out this example. Complete with chalkboard, cake stands and coffee shop cups, it's a look that is cheap and easy to achieve in any home.
Make the most of a dining room cabinet by using it for your tea and coffee station. Here the drawers hide away all the bits and pieces, leaving just the pretty things on view.
Some of us hate to have anything on our counters. The only thing on view is the Nespresso machine, but everything else is within arm's reach, beautifully stored in drawers and a cupboard. Marie Kondo would be proud of this tea and coffee station that is immaculately presented and organised.
Are you a label fan? Do you love decorating your things with words and text? That's just what Cyndy did here, resulting in a well-organised coffee cabinet with everything in its place and easy to find at a glance.
This combination of kitchen cupboard and wall shelves looks great with the contrasting, painted wood behind it. It also features an interesting use of appliance pulls to hang cups from. Plus, they have a video of its creation!
For fans of industrial, coffee-shop inspired decor, this open shelf tea and coffee station is a great solution. The baskets are a fantastic idea for organising different elements neatly. This is another DIY tea station option, including instructions on how to make it yourself.
Change your coffee station out each season by simply using a tray as a base and changing the items on it. This setup for spring includes pastel coloured cake stands and cups to create a pretty, cheery coffee bar. Using the cake stand as a shelf is a great idea too.
It's amazing how versatile a little white cabinet can be. Here it hides all the boxes of tea and coffee behind closed doors, leaving just the drinks machines on top. A plant and the wooden worktop stop it feeling too clinical.
This coffee cart leaves everything on view, making use of a tray to group together cups, and a bottle rack for the bottles of water. After all, not every visitor wants tea or coffee! The benefits of it being on a cart is that you can easily move it to wherever you are entertaining in your home.
Are you a fan of flavoured syrups and tasty toppings in your coffee? This coffee bar features everything you need to make individualised coffees, yet manages to pull it off with nothing more than a cup hook tree and a tray of glass jars and bottles.
Bookshelves are not just for books! A bookshelf that has drawers and cupboard doors allows you to hide away boxes of tea and coffee while still showing off cups and cakes on the shelf.
Perhaps you have an old sideboard or bookshelf lying around that would be perfect as a tea and coffee station? You could paint it to match your decor and even use wallpaper to cover the shelf, as they did here. This particular tea and coffee station also uses coat hooks for hanging cups on.
This old sideboard would look perfect anywhere. The warmth of the wooden top and the simple wooden shelf on the wall above contrast beautifully with the painted colour of the sideboard. Choosing a larger piece of furniture for your coffee station means there's plenty of room to put cakes or croissants on there too.
Most tea and coffee bars don't include a sink. This one does though, making it much easier to keep everything looking spotless. If you don't like dirty coffee cups on the counter, put your coffee station near the sink to encourage everyone to clean up after themselves!
If you love to change your decor with the seasons, creating a tea and coffee station that allows you to add seasonal details, like this one, is ideal. A white base means it's easy to introduce a few colourful decorations, depending on the time of the year. This style works overall because the trays, cake stand and lampshade are all a similar design.
You would be forgiven for thinking that this arrangement isn't in someone's home. The large blackboard, chalked up with different types of coffee, looks like something straight out of a modern coffee shop. The slim counter has hidden-away storage space and a display shelf, complete with lighting.
You don't have to spend a fortune to make a sweet little coffee and tea area in your home. Repainting an old cupboard and adding some cheap pine shelves can be made more interesting with some colourful accessories, as they've done here. The addition of pictures and a plant makes it very homely.
This bar cart - turned coffee cart is brought to life by the simple addition of some pretty lights strung on it. It also has a seasonal theme - the dried oranges and faux pumpkins go beautifully with the gold of the cart. Here too, a cake stand doubles up as a shelf.
This cart on wheels caters for everyone's tastes. The top has all the essentials to make tea or coffee - it even has a hot water urn. What it lacks in variety of teas and coffees it makes up for with the bottom shelf - a selection of drinks for guests who don't want a tea or coffee. Note the clever design to keep the glasses in place.
We've seen cake stands used as a shelf in many designs so far, but this takes that notion one step further: everything is neatly and conveniently arranged on a 3 tier stand. The top layer houses the cups, with glass jars containing loose tea below it. This is a clever way to make use of limited space by storing things vertically.
This tea and coffee station is so complete it serves as a breakfast base too. Adding slim shelves to the back of the cupboard door is an ingenious way to get extra room to store boxes of tea and coffee, flavoured syrups and toppings.
If you have colourful cups, let them be seen! The wire basket is a really compact way of storing lots of plain cups, whilst cup hook trees show off more unusual designs. Putting some family pictures up above the station makes it a cheery, welcoming spot to start the day.
Tips for Making the Perfect DIY Tea and Coffee Station
After having looked at so many exciting ideas, your head is probably spinning with possibilities for your own tea/coffee station. Let’s help you get started by focussing on the main points:
The main housing
What do you plan to use as a base for your tea/coffee station? Are you going to repurpose a piece of furniture such as a bookshelf, sideboard or cart? Or will you be putting it in kitchen cupboards or on the counter top?
Style
Consider your colour theme: classic, all white, with a contrast accent colour, or a fun, colourful approach?
Are you looking for a rustic finish, maybe using wire or wicker baskets, or are industrial hanging hooks more your style?
Another consideration is how much of it you’d like to see. Do you want everything on open shelves, Boho style, or the opposite extreme, all hidden away in minimalist heaven?
Storage
How will you store the cups? In a basket, from hooks, stacked on shelves, in full view? Perhaps you have some special cups that you’d like to have on view but not use them? Put them on a higher display shelf and maybe add some lighting.
Do you like to see your selection of teas and coffees? If so, go for see-through storage containers, pretty boxes and tins and open shelves. If not, take advantage of drawers and cupboard spaces and hide them away.
Spoons and stirrers can be in a drawer, or use a pretty cup or container to store them in, on view.
Position
Where is the nearest outlet? Will you be able to connect your drinks machines easily, or will it require an extension lead? Think too about where you’ll get water from. Is there a sink nearby?
Size
Does your drinks station need to double up as a breakfast area? If so, leave some counter space free for putting out plates, jams and cereal.
If you only have a small corner of your kitchen available, make best use of vertical space with a series of shelves or tiers.
Wall-mounted vs. Freestanding Tea Stations
We’ve seen cart and bookshelf style stations as well as tea stations that are incorporated into kitchen cupboards. Do you want to be able to move the location of your tea/coffee station in the future, perhaps to a conservatory in the summer months, for instance? Or are you looking for a permanent installation?
Hygiene
Whatever style and position you choose, think about how you’re going to dispose of used tea bags and coffee grains or capsules.
Ideally waste receptacles will be conveniently close by but not on view – no one wants to see a pile of old coffee grains!
Likewise, where will you put used spoons or stirrers?
Finally, how easy will it be to keep your tea / coffee station clean? Spills and splashes are easy to wipe down on counter tops that have tiled splash backs, but not so much on portable coffee carts.
Surround your coffee stations with one of our DIY photo collage ideas.