Cleaning Coffee Maker

Cleaning Coffee Maker the Right Way

Cleaning coffee maker regularly is smart both for the sake of the machine and the flavor of the coffee. A dirty coffee maker is slower and might consume more electricity. And the worst – makes bad coffee.

Coffee makers collect all kind of dirt: limescale from the water as well as fat and color from the coffee. Cleaning coffee maker doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive. Rather, you can keep everything clean with stuff found easily at the grocery store or home.

Removing dark spots and fat

The flavors and aromas in coffee are mainly formed from the fats in the coffee bean. Over time, the fats collect into the coffee maker and especially in the coffee pot. Because of this, it is important to wash your coffee pot now and then either by hand, or by putting it into the washing machine. If the coffee pot is extremely dirty, you should put water and baking soda into it. The filter can also be cleaned with baking soda and a dishbrush.

It is very important to not use the coffee put to measure water for coffee, because that returns the fats into the machinery and makes the machine’s lifetime shorter. If this has happened, it is possible to wash some of the fats out of the machinery.

Measure water and 2-3 tbsp baking soda into the maker and let it drip through the coffee maker. Repeat the operation without the baking soda to get all of the soda residue out. The coffeemaker can also externally be cleaned with baking soda. Just make a paste from baking soda and water and brush it on the dark parts to remove the discoloration and fat residue. Baking soda is also good for cleaning your coffee cups.

De-scaling

Limescale is present in hard tap water and slowly, it also begins to built up inside your coffee maker. With this issue, the solution is vinegar, because it dissolves the limescale.

You should mix about equal parts of vinegar and water and pour it into your coffee maker until it is half full. Switch the maker on, let it drip until half of the mixture has come through, switch the machine off, let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes and then finish the drip process. Afterwards it is recommended to rinse the parts of your coffee maker thoroughly as well as run 3 or 4 pans of water through the maker, to eliminate the strong flavor of vinegar.

Another way to get rid of limescale is citric acid. Mix approximately 3 teaspoons of acid for every liter of water and run it through your coffee maker the same way as with the vinegar, remembering to let the mixture rest for 10 to 15 minutes while it’s going through your coffee maker. Citric acid also has a strong flavor, so you should run 2-3 pans of water through (and rinse the pan) before using your coffee maker to make coffee.

You should clean your coffee maker tregularly every 1 to 3 months. This is usually plenty enough as long as you don’t measure the water with the coffee pot and wash the pot thoroughly with water or dishwashing solution always after use.

 SO SCRUB-A-DUB-DUB!