Will this work for tea?
In short, yes. However… I got one of these for my wife last year and she hated it because of the tea issue specifically. Every time you make tea / hot water in it, if you have used it for coffee, especially K Cups, you will have coffee grounds in your tea. This enraged the Mrs. I finally figured out the solution is to leave a coffee filter in it, and it will catch all of the grounds. Problem solved. Too bad it took me nearly a year to figure it out.
If you really want tea or other hot water functionality, then you may want to seek out some version of the 300 series of this. E.g. cfp301 (about twice the price right now for refurb on amazon). Probably won’t find as good of a deal, but those have a separate bypass so the water doesn’t actually run through the coffee brewer at all.
The models with the dedicated hot water system have an extra module on the side near the frother, and the descriptions generally list it as a feature.
Note that the reviews seem to be mixed with the CPF301 as well.
Alternatively, use a separate coffee maker just for hot water and that way, there will never be any chance of flavor or grounds contamination. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy at all either.
(Yes, there are hot water pots, but the makers I bought were cheaper.)
(Note that I am not staff. I just volunteer to help out on the forums.)
Bought this model from Costco, just replaced with another Cuisinart. These have leaking issues, mine at least 4 times and it was the water reservoir only once. Be careful, you MAY be buying the bad ones “Fixed”, we do own many Ninja cooking things that we love.
I also have a refurbished one, it has worked great but yeah I use a separate filter for the water but many times still end up with light coffee water instead of just hot clean water.
Is this a bait and switch kind of deal or am I really just missing something here? 
On the main/first picture we see of this Ninja coffee maker it’s clearly showing the frother on the left side but when I open the post it doesn’t show it. The fact that I’m also not seeing in the description really doesn’t mean anything since I’m running on only a couple hours of sleep and I’m exhausted! 
On another note, I had to return the one I bought a few months ago (refurbished model CFP451CO with the frother, the 14oz glass pot and the separate line for hot water only) because I kept getting the error code to add water when it was totally full! We didn’t even get to make a pot of coffee! 
The CS help line at Ninja is trying to be on top of it though. They were prepared to do a video call and walk me through a troubleshooting session but unfortunately “I” was having difficulty with the settings on my phone and couldn’t make it happen, operator error! 
I will say that the credit for my return was on my CC within minutes of being dropped off at UPS and that’s amazing! 
I’m debating whether or not to try again with another refurbished one, it’s killing me to think about buying new/paying an arm and leg and having the same thing happen. What to do, what to do… 
i like my coffee mcdonald’s scalding hot…does not come out that way. Gave it to my son.
Bought one of these refurbished from woot a few months back. Unfortunately, it was DOA. Deciding not to try again. Seems like a lot of these are getting “refurbished” which is concerning.
On a separate note, these refurbished units arrive in blank, not so great looking packaging. Something to just keep in mind if you plan on buying one to give as a gift.
I highly recommend an electric kettle for tea on demand.
Arrived today, water tank has a hole in it from not being secured against its latch properly (?) 
Please reach out to Woot! Customer Service. To speed things up, let them know if you prefer a return/refund or a replacement (if possible).
Please allow 24-48h for them to respond.
Browser: Use the Woot! Customer Service form.
Woot! App: Choose Account from the bottom navigation and then Support.
Self-Return: Items without Li-Ion batteries can be self-returned within 30 days. Go to your Order Details to get started. The return label will be emailed from UPS.
Note: Woot! Customer Service replies go to the email address on your Woot! account, not your Amazon login email if used/different.
(Please Note: I’m not employed by Woot, but I volunteer to help in the forums.)