Blog

Is your Vertuo blinking and you’re not sure why? The light pattern tells you whether your machine needs descaling, is already in descaling mode, or is running a clean. Here’s how to read each one, how to cancel a descale you didn’t mean to start, and the signs that it’s time for a clean.

Is your steam wand spitting, hissing or barely frothing? Your machine is probably fine. The tiny holes in the tip are most likely blocked with baked-on milk. Here is why it happens, how to clear it properly, and the two-second habit that stops it coming back.

Most coffee machine call-outs are not breakdowns. They are milk left in the system, cleaning cycles run with water only and scale nobody checked. In the first Coffee Tech Talks episode, Caffenu founder Rowan Isaacman shares what technicians see on site and how operators can stop paying for avoidable repairs.

Slow brewing, flat-tasting coffee or a machine that just doesn’t sound right? For most Nespresso Inissia owners, the cause is skipped maintenance. Here are the three jobs people miss most often, how often to do them, and what happens to your machine when you don’t.

Most bean to cup owners only clean their machine one way, and it’s usually the wrong way for the problem they actually have. Here’s why cleaning and descaling are two separate jobs, and what happens if you only do one.

Think rinsing your Nespresso Original machine keeps it clean? It doesn’t. Coffee leaves oil behind, and oil and water don’t mix, so a rinse just shifts it around. Find out why that matters for your next cup, and how the Caffenu Cleaning Capsule gets the oil out for good.

Bitter espresso shots aren’t always down to the grind. Uncleaned coffee oil in the group head turns rancid, and that’s a bitterness no amount of dialling in can fix. Here’s what’s actually going wrong, and how to fix it.

Henlo builds premium espresso machines designed to be upgraded, not replaced, through a network of over 80 South African suppliers and a philosophy of long-term performance. We’re now their preferred cleaning partner. Here’s the story behind the machines, and what proper care has to do with keeping that promise.

Weak coffee? Bitter shots? Nothing is broken. Old coffee oil and limescale are quietly clogging up your Barista Express, and each one needs a different fix. Here is the five minute clean, the full descale, and how to read the CLEAN / DESCALE light that most people misunderstand.

Two days in Centurion, fourteen of the country’s best baristas, and one seat on the plane to the World Barista Championship in Panama. This is what the 2026 SCASA Nationals felt like from the floor, and how Xander Venter of Robin Chat Coffee Roasters came out on top.

If your Delonghi Magnifica S is brewing weaker or slower coffee than it used to, the cause is almost always one of two things: coffee oil build-up in the brew unit, or limescale in the internal pipes. Both are normal, and both are fixable in under 15 minutes with the right process. Here’s how.

Jacques Cilliers has spent years fixing the coffee machines Cape Town’s cafés can’t afford to have break down. He was recently named Technician of the Year. We spent a day with him at Equiserve to find out what that recognition actually means.