Cleaning Guides

How to Clean and Descale Your Coffee Machine

Fantastic Team
Published: Mar 24/2020
Last update: Jun 13/2024
6min read
Views: 114

If you’re one of the many people who cannot bring themselves to function without a cup of coffee every morning, then your coffee machine has probably seen better days. The more you use it, the dirtier it gets and at some point, you should give it a thorough clean. If you don’t, you might notice the impurities in the taste of your morning drink – a tiny moment that could ruin your whole day.

In this post, you’ll learn how to clean and descale your coffee machine, how often to do it, and how to keep your appliance clean and neat.

Table of Contents:

How often should you clean?
Tools you need
How to clean your coffee machine after each use
How to clean your coffee machine from limescale
How to maintain your coffee machine

How often should you clean your coffee machine?

It depends on the type of coffee machine you own. As a general rule of thumb, you should clean the brew basket, lid and carafe after every use. If you live in an area with hard water, then your coffee machine’s inner mechanisms will be plagued by limescale buildup. For that, you’ll need to run a cycle with a descaling agent ideally once a month.

Some coffee machines will notify you when they need to be cleaned, either with a visible, or an audible signal, or both. Some of them might even stop running until you activate their cleaning cycle. If you own one of those, make sure to study their instructions manual, so you make sure your coffee machine is working when you most need your daily fix.

Tools you need

Dishwashing detergent;
A soft cloth;
A sponge;
Vinegar;
Water;
Paper towels.

How to clean a coffee machine after every use

Here we’re going to explain the proper maintenance of a coffee machine after each use! Here’s your daily cleaning checklist to follow:

Discard the used coffee. Once your long-awaited cup of coffee is in your hands, don’t sip immediately, but dispose of the used up coffee. Remove the brew basket and empty it along with the disposable paper filter if you’re using one.
Wash the brew basket and permanent filter. Use a soft sponge and dishwashing detergent, and thoroughly wash the brew basket and the permanent filter. After that, wipe them dry with paper towels.
Clean the carafe. Once you’ve poured the coffee into cups for you and all your guests, wash the carafe with a soft sponge and dishwashing detergent. After that, wipe it dry with paper towels.
Wipe the exterior of the coffee machine. Use a damp cloth to wipe down the entire exterior of the coffee machine, thus removing oily spots, fingerprints and leftover coffee.
Reassemble. Once all the parts are dry, you can put everything together and reassemble your coffee machine. Now it’s ready for the next batch of coffee.

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How to descale a coffee machine every month

Time needed: 1 hour and 30 minutes.

When you use an appliance too often, especially if this appliance uses water, limescale and mould could build up in its inner workings. This is particularly true if you live in an area with hard water.

Here is how to descale your coffee machine:

Create your cleaning solution.
Check your instruction manual for any information about descaling your coffee machine. In most cases, it would be fine to use a solution of equal parts vinegar and water. If your instruction manual says not to use vinegar, purchase the kind of commercial cleaner the manufacturer recommends.
Fill the reservoir with the cleaning solution.
Fill your water reservoir with your vinegar and water solution (or with commercial descaler).
Run a brew cycle.
Run your coffee maker through a brew cycle with the water and vinegar solution. Let it drip into the carafe. Stop the cycle in the middle. This ensures that the solution has filled the entire inner system.
Let it sit for an hour.
Now that you stopped the brew cycle, let the solution do its magic upon the mould and limescale buildup. Let it sit there for 30 minutes to about an hour.
Finish the brew cycle.
After an hour has passed, pour the liquid from the carafe away and resume the brew cycle. You may notice brown or white particles floating in the solution – this is dirt the mixture managed to remove from the inside.
Run a brew cycle with clean water.
Once the cycle has finished, run another one, this time with fresh water. Repeat as many times you need, until the smell of vinegar is gone. This might take about four or five times.
Wash, wipe and reassemble.
When you stop seeing dirty particles in the carafe, and your coffee machine doesn’t smell of vinegar anymore, you’ve done a good job. It’s time to give one thorough wash of the carafe, brew basket and permanent filter. Don’t forget to wipe the exterior as well. Once everything is dry, reassemble your coffee machine.

How to keep your coffee machine clean

Prevention is the best medicine. And while using preventative measures will not replace the need to clean your coffee machine, they will keep it clean for longer. In order to keep your coffee machine in generally good health, here’re what you can do:

Use demineralized water. The less hard water you use for preparing your coffee, the less limescale will build up.
Always clean the machine after each use. Make sure to never leave used, wet coffee inside your coffee machine, as that can contribute to the growth of mould and yeast.
Run a brew cycle with a cleaning solution on a regular basis. Once a month is ideal to keep your coffee machine clean. If you don’t manage every month, try at least every three months.

Hire professional domestic cleaners!

Taking care of your coffee machine is not hard, but it’s very easy to forget to do it for a long time. Luckily, there are cleaning services available to never let you forget. The regular cleaners from Fantastic Services can clean your coffee machine and the rest of your property, so you don’t have to worry about these things ever again. Get in touch with us and ease your cleaning schedule starting from today.

Visit the main website for price rates on our professional domestic cleaners!

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Takeaways

You should clean your coffee machine after each use;
You should run a cleaning cycle for your coffee machine once a month;
You can use vinegar to break down limescale in the inner mechanisms of the coffee machine unless the instruction manual says otherwise;
Using demineralized water can slow down limescale buildup.

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How often do you usually clean your coffee machine? How do you fight limescale buildup? Tell us in the comment section below!

Image source: Mr.Whiskey/shutterstock.com