How to Clean Coffee Maker?

If you brew coffee frequently, your coffee maker should be regularly cleaned to avoid malfunction and taste deterioration of your coffee drinks. During the brewing process, coffee releases specific oils, which accumulate on the pipe walls inside the machine. Over time, if this residue is not removed, it will affect coffee, making drinks taste bitter, spoiling the beverage taste, and resulting in pipe clogging. Hard water can also cause the formation of scale deposits and eventually lead to machine breakdown.

So, how should you clean your coffee machine?

The cleaning procedure depends on the type of your coffee maker, but still, there are some rules typical for all devices. Firstly, the exterior elements of the machine can simply be wiped with a wet cloth or a cleaning agent. For example, the steamer should be wiped thoroughly after each use because milk dries out and may cause bacterial growth. The water and milk reservoirs can also be easily detached and washed out. I should remind you that the coffee machine should not be completely immersed in water. Secondly, try to clean your coffee machine after each use. The coffee and milk residue may significantly affect the taste of coffee drinks. It will be more difficult to clean if you neglect it.

How to clean the inside of the machine?

Again, the cleaning method depends on the type of the machine because each model has its own design and peculiarities that determine the way of removing mineral buildup. If the appliance comes with a removable filter and brewing unit, they should be thoroughly rinsed under running water after each brewing. This is the cheapest way to prevent machine breakdowns.

The stores that sell household appliances offer special capsules and other cleansing goods for sale. You can probably find them in shops that trade in laundry and home care products. Often, the capsules come as an accessory set along with your coffee maker and the instruction manual for this model. Citric acid also does a good job. It is good at removing coffee oils, safe enough, and doesn’t harm the machine components.

Don’t use regular dishwashing detergents, as they can bind the oils that remain after making coffee so that they will be hard to remove. They will also affect the taste of your coffee beverages.

Still, if you use any household chemicals (especially powerful corrosive cleaning agents for coffee machines), I recommend wearing rubber gloves to avoid allergic reactions or chemical burns.

The cleaning procedure is not complicated. Pour the cleaning liquid into the compartment for ground coffee and start the machine. If you use citric acid, take 30 g of the powdered substance and at least 4 glasses of warm water. Pour this solution into the water reservoir. Then, add some more cold water. Run the solution through the system and turn the machine off. You can perform several cleaning cycles. Then, check the filter. If there are some scale deposits still left, remove the filter and put it in a hot cleaning solution. Leave it for at least an hour.

When the cleaning procedure is over, run a few more cycles with clean water to remove the remnants of the cleaning liquid. Rinse all the machine components thoroughly. Fill the coffee maker with pure water and heat the water several times. Change the water and boil it again to remove the cleaning agent completely. The process is over when the water is clean and odorless. If the glass coffee bulb has dark spots, use the same acidic solution. Fill it with the solution up to the top and leave it for several hours. Repeat the procedure, if necessary.