How to clean a coffee machine

April 20th, 2012

Appliance Talk Coffee Machines & Accessories

Making a good cup of joe boils down to the beans, the milk, the maker and the machine.

But if the latter is in neglect it won’t matter how organic the beans are, how fresh the milk is, or how good a barista you (think you) are, the coffee is going to taste bad.

If your friends haven’t been popping in so often for a cuppa maybe it’s because your coffee is tasting a bit off.

High end machines will remind you to do everything from filling the beans and water to rinsing and cleaning (apparently the more you invest in appliances the less you have to think for yourself), but mid range machines are unlikely to have such features, leaving it up to you, or your friends, to remind you that it’s time to clean the coffee machine.

There’s a difference between wiping down the outside of the machine so that it looks clean and giving the insides, the working bits, a good cleanse.

The same natural coffee oils which make coffee so intense and aromatic can build up within a machine and become rancid and bitter. Hard water will also cause calcification inside of the machine

Here’s how to clean a coffee machine

It’s very easy.
Mix half a cup of vinegar to two cups of water and run it through the machine. When it’s finished, run normal water through to make sure all the vinegar has left the machine.
Coffee baskets can also be soaked in a vinegar mixture.

Voila, you’re done. Do this for every couple of dozen shots of coffee made and you’ll keep the machine making good coffee, longer.

For an extra thorough clean, buy some commercial coffee machine cleaner and follow the instrcutions – usually this means mixing it with water and running it through the machine a few times.

If the steam wand has a lot of built-up milk, soak it overnight in a cup of hot soapy water. In the morning the gunk should scrape off easily, if not wipe off.

Coffee shop machines use three-way valves and are cleaned by backflushing. This involves putting a non-filtering cup in the basket with espresso machine cleaner which is then flushed up into the inside of the machine. Such action will damage machines that don’t use three-way valves, so check first and follow the instruction manual.

Keri Algar

Having once had to sit on the washing machine to stop it from bouncing into oblivion, Keri is today delighted with the new (smoother running) technologies that make housework easier every day. A self-confessed lazy-bones, Keri seeks out quirky inventions that ease the human workload, such as the robotic vacuum cleaner (wow). And as soon as someone figures out a Jetsons-like self-cleaning house, she will happily lay her pen to rest and retire from appliance journalism. Until then, her pick is a fridge that will tell her smartphone when it's time to pick up more beer on the way home. Magic.