Yes! You can just load the water as usual, leave the arm free of any ecopours, and let the hot water directly fill your mug with the tea bag or hot chocolate.  Once the water has been fully dispensed, the EcoPour can be removed and placed on top of the cup to allow for a longer steep (stronger tea). You can also fill one of the empty Ecopour filters with loose tea leaves and run a normal brew cycle to get a better extraction of the tea flavor (try it, you'll love it!).  Because coffee never enters the SWIRL Mini system, there is no "coffee taste" to the hot water (as with other systems).