We have automatically changed the website language based on your current location. You can manually select a different language using the language selector at any time.
Translations are powered by Google Translate.
We have automatically changed the website language based on your current location. You can manually select a different language using the language selector at any time.
Translations are powered by Google Translate.
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
India
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kuwait
Norway
Oman
Singapore
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
The Netherlands
UK / England
United States
Other
Subscribe to our Newsletter
At Caffenu, we believe great coffee starts with more than good beans. It starts with a well-maintained machine. That’s why we’re excited to announce our partnership with Henlo Coffee, a South African premium espresso machine brand, as their preferred cleaning and care product supplier.
Before we get into what the partnership means for Henlo customers, it’s worth understanding what makes Henlo machines different in the first place, because it changes how you should think about looking after one.
Henlo is a South African-based manufacturer of premium espresso machines, built around a philosophy that’s rare in the commercial coffee equipment world: buy once, and the machine keeps getting better.
According to Henlo, most of their machines are assembled through a network of more than 80 South African companies, with individual components such as groupheads and boilers passing through several specialist suppliers before final assembly. Stainless steel groupheads are cast locally, and powder coating for machine panels, including a large share of the blacks and matte whites, is sourced from South African manufacturers rather than imported.
The result, Henlo says, is a machine built through small-batch, locally coordinated manufacturing rather than mass production, with quality control at every handoff between suppliers.
The core idea behind a Henlo machine is longevity through upgrades rather than replacement. Henlo describes machines coming back for refurbishment after three or four years of commercial use, being stripped down, rebuilt, and returned to the client running to the same standard as a brand-new unit, both in hardware and in the software and firmware that runs it.
This is possible because the chassis and core materials don’t change between models. What changes over time are the optimisations: new groupheads, more powerful locally made heating elements, sturdier drip trays, and firmware updates that improve responsiveness in commercial environments. Henlo frames this as reducing waste and protecting the customer’s original investment, since the machine is designed to be improved rather than discarded.
One detail that stands out from Henlo’s own account of their manufacturing process is the central control unit they’ve developed in-house, which all machine components report back to. Henlo says this allows their technical team to diagnose issues remotely regardless of the machine’s location, citing sites as far apart as Cape Town, Durban, and international markets as examples.
For businesses running multiple machines across locations, this kind of remote diagnostic capability can reduce downtime significantly, since a technician doesn’t need to be on-site to identify a fault.
Henlo is upfront that not every part is locally sourced by ideology alone. Pumps, for instance, are sourced from established suppliers used across the premium global espresso machine market. Henlo’s stated approach is to localise manufacturing wherever it makes sense, while defaulting to internationally proven suppliers where quality would otherwise be compromised.
Whether it’s a full-size commercial unit or one of Henlo’s smaller-footprint machines aimed at lower-volume businesses, cafés, offices, or retail environments, the underlying technology and firmware suite stay consistent across the range.
A machine built for a decade-plus of use, with hardware and software that keep improving, is only as good as the maintenance behind it. Mineral scale, coffee oil build-up, and milk residue don’t care how well-engineered a boiler is. Left unmanaged, they shorten the life of components Henlo has gone to considerable lengths to source and refine.
That’s where Caffenu comes in. As Henlo’s preferred cleaning product supplier, we’re providing dedicated cleaning care packs for Henlo machines, covering espresso machine cleaning powder, milk system cleaners, and maintenance tools designed to remove build-up, protect internal components, and preserve flavour consistency in the cup.
For a brand built on the promise that a machine gets better with age, proper cleaning isn’t optional maintenance. It’s part of what makes that promise possible.
This partnership reflects a shared philosophy between Henlo and Caffenu: consistency, quality, and long-term performance over short-term convenience. By combining Henlo’s approach to coffee equipment with Caffenu’s specialised cleaning solutions, we’re aiming to give coffee professionals, businesses, and home users the tools and knowledge to get the most out of their machines, for years, not just for a warranty period.
If you own a Henlo machine, explore our professional-grade cleaning range built specifically to support the kind of long-term performance Henlo machines are designed to deliver.
The 2026 SCASA National Barista Championship took place on 8 and 9 August 2026 at Central Supply in Centurion, hosted by TriBeCa Coffee Company. Fourteen of the country’s finest baristas made the trip, drawn from the regional qualifiers across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, plus the wildcards who’d earned their place on points. Two days of competition. One prize that matters above all the others: the right to stand on the world stage in Panama City this October and call themselves South Africa’s barista.
If you’ve never been to a barista championship, forget whatever you’re picturing. It isn’t quiet and it isn’t polite. It’s a specialty coffee community folded into one hall, and the noise moves in waves. There’s the low, constant hum of conversation between rounds, industry people who’ve known each other for years trading notes and needling each other. Then a competitor steps up, the head judge calls time, and the room drops into a focus so sharp you can hear the milk pitcher tap the counter.
The aromas shifted with every routine. One barista would fill the front rows with something bright and floral, all jasmine and stone fruit, and the next would pull the whole room somewhere darker and heavier, cocoa and dried date. You learn, sitting there, that a signature drink can change the temperature of a space. People lean forward. Someone whispers. A judge writes something down and every competitor in the wings pretends not to watch the pen.
And then the wait. The scores never come fast enough for the people who care most, and everyone in that hall cared most.
This is the part that doesn’t fit on a scoreboard: what it costs to get here. Every one of those fourteen names spent months in the small hours dialling recipes, rewriting scripts, rehearsing a fifteen-minute performance until it lived in their hands. They begged roasted lots off their teams, burned through kilos of practice coffee, and stood in front of anyone who’d sit still long enough to judge them.
By the end, the field had narrowed to six. Those six carried more than their own ambitions onto the stage. They carried the roasteries and the crews behind them, the people who’d tasted every iteration and told them the truth.
The 2026 SCASA National Barista Championship top six:
Six baristas, six roasteries, one stage. That’s the whole story of South African specialty coffee in a single line: small, fiercely committed teams, punching far above their size.
It went to Xander Venter of Robin Chat Coffee Roasters. With the title comes the one thing every competitor in that room was chasing: the invitation to represent South Africa at the 2026 World Barista Championship at World of Coffee Panama this October.
Watch a champion in the moment the result lands and you see the months behind it arrive all at once. The early mornings, the failed recipes, the people who believed it before he did. That’s the bit worth filming, and it’s the bit no amount of preparation lets you fake.
A competition like this doesn’t run on passion alone. It runs on the partners who back it, and on the volunteers and judges who give up their weekend to hold the standard.
Our thanks to the major sponsors and partners of the 2026 SCASA Nationals:
TriBeCa Coffee Company (host) · Fargo Green Coffee Merchants · Caffenu · Ciro Coffee Academy · Morrico Imports · La Marzocco South Africa · Woodlands Dairy / Ayrshire · Seattle Coffee Co · Equipment Café · Sabores Flavours of Colombia
Caffenu was proud to be among them. Our whole reason for being is the unglamorous work that keeps great coffee tasting the way the barista intended, and there’s no better reminder of why that matters than a room full of people chasing one perfect cup. A genuine thank you, too, to the SCASA Board, the stage team and the judges. The bit nobody films is the setup and the teardown, the calibration, the quiet competence that makes the loud moments possible.
South African coffee doesn’t need permission to be world class. It already is. What Nationals does is put that on a stage and make you feel it, the craft and the nerves and the community all in one room, and then it sends one of our own to go and show the rest of the planet.
We came to Centurion with cameras. We left with something harder to put in a frame: a reminder that this industry is built by people who care far too much about getting one cup exactly right. That’s worth documenting. That’s worth celebrating.
Congratulations, Xander. We are excited for what this journey holds in for you.
There is a particular kind of quiet that settles over a workshop before the first call of the day comes in. Empty benches. Tools waiting in their places. And then the phone rings, and the day takes on a shape of its own.
This is where we found Jacques Cilliers, Head Technician at Equiserve, on the morning we followed him for Episode 2 of the Caffenu Technician Series. A few months earlier, at the Coffee Magazine Awards in Johannesburg, Jacques had been named Technician of the Year. We wanted to know what that recognition actually meant, not as a line on an award certificate, but to a man who has spent twenty years with his hands inside other people’s machines.
He is not, by his own telling, a man given to grand statements about it.
“It’s obviously a tap on the shoulder. People don’t always see the hard work and effort, research, that goes into this whole thing. And to win the award is amazing. It’s an awesome feeling. And hopefully it’s inspiration to other technicians, younger guys in the industry.”
That’s the whole of it, really. Not a victory lap. A nod to the guys coming up behind him.
The job that day was a breakdown call: two La Marzocco machines, a GB5 and a PB, both with the same complaint. Steam wands leaking. A T-tap leaking alongside them. Somewhere in the mix, a possible issue with the overpressure valve, the kind of fault that needs eyes on the machine before anyone can be sure of anything.
Jacques has a way of talking through a diagnosis that makes the invisible visible.
“So from my experience, if it’s leaking on the nozzle, then it’s definitely a problem with, it’s a rubber gasket. So basically the gasket sitting at the back of the steam tap. So once we replace that, then it should be fine.”
It sounds simple when he says it. It isn’t. It’s twenty years of pattern recognition compressed into two sentences.
Partway through the job, Jacques paused to explain something that doesn’t always make it into conversations about coffee machines: the difference cleaning and descaling actually make, not as a marketing line, but as a mechanical fact.
“Using Caffenu cleaning products on a coffee machine removes all the oil residue on the grouphead, and that prevents a bad taste to the coffee. And if there is coffee build-up on the groupheads, it basically burns onto the components and also gives a bitter taste to the espresso or the coffee.”
And on descaling:
“Descaling also helps to prevent scale build-up on the machines, and it obviously prolongs the lifespan of the machine.”
Two ordinary sentences, spoken by someone with no reason to say them except that they’re true. He sees what happens when they aren’t followed: burnt components, bitter shots, machines that die younger than they should.
Jacques didn’t set out to be a coffee machine technician. The trade found him sideways.
“So ja, it was always the plan. I started as a fitter and turner, and I got the opportunity to start with a group manufacturing machine parts to build dough rollers, and being in the industry, I started learning from people around me, and that’s how I became a coffee machine technician.”
Twenty years on, he’s seen enough machines to have a favourite kind of story, the ones that go wrong in ways nobody expects:
“After twenty years in the industry, I have basically seen it all. But there’s one machine that stuck with me, where the guys didn’t filter the water properly, and it actually corroded the stainless steel components in the machine.”
Water, of all things. Something nobody thinks to blame until a technician like Jacques opens the machine and shows them.
If there’s a thread running through everything Jacques said that day, it’s this: the work people notice is never the work that matters most.
“Most people don’t always understand how much effort and preparation, planning, the research goes into these type of things. Sometimes they feel it’s just replacing a part, but it’s to understand what’s the cause of failure and why the component failed, and why we replace it.”
That’s the difference between a technician and a parts-changer. One fixes what’s in front of him. The other asks why it broke in the first place.
He’s also quick to credit how much easier the trade has become to learn properly, compared to when he started:
“Technology changed a lot over the last couple of years, and also there’s a lot more resources. YouTube videos, parts diagrams. Manufacturers nowadays are not scared to share these type of things on their websites as well. So I think it makes it a lot easier for the technicians nowadays.”
Ask Jacques what a good service visit looks like, and the answer is refreshingly unglamorous:
“It’s important to do a quick overall assessment, open the machine, check if there is scale build-up, check the pressures, check if there’s leaks on the machine, but also cleanliness. I think that also plays a big role in the condition of the machine and how they look after their machines.”
No mystery to it. Just the discipline of checking the same things, properly, every time.
A machine that runs well for years isn’t an accident. It’s the result of people like Jacques doing quiet, unglamorous work, backed by routines that actually get followed, cleaning, descaling, proper assessment, rather than skipped when things seem fine. Caffenu exists to support that same routine. The technicians are the ones who make it real, one call-out at a time.
Jacques Cilliers is the Head Technician at Equiserve, a coffee machine servicing company based in Cape Town, South Africa, with twenty years of experience in the trade.
Jacques Cilliers was named Technician of the Year at the Coffee Magazine Awards, held in Johannesburg.
The Caffenu Technician Series is a documentary-style video series produced by Caffenu, profiling the technicians who maintain and repair commercial coffee machines.
According to Jacques Cilliers, cleaning removes oil residue from the grouphead that would otherwise cause a bitter taste, while descaling prevents scale build-up and prolongs the machine’s lifespan.
Equiserve is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Episode 4 of the Caffenu Barista Series takes you behind the bar at Rosetta Roastery, one of Cape Town’s most celebrated specialty coffee roasters and a benchmark name in South Africa’s third-wave coffee scene. This is not a polished product showcase. It is an unfiltered look at what happens before the first cup is poured and long after the last customer leaves.
Every great espresso shot starts long before the machine is switched on. The Caffenu Barista Series documents the quiet, repeated rituals that define professional coffee craft: the early-morning set-up, the dialling in of grind and dose, the obsessive attention to extraction. These are the habits that separate a good café from a truly exceptional one, and they are exactly the kind of detail the series was built to capture.
At Rosetta Roastery, those habits run deep. The people you meet in Episode 4 talk about coffee as something alive, and after a few minutes in their company, you start to believe it too. You see it in the way a shot is pulled, a portafilter is cleaned, a batch of beans is handled with the same precision every single time.
The Caffenu Barista Series exists because we believe the story of great coffee does not end with the bean. It continues through every piece of equipment trusted to deliver it, and how that equipment is looked after, day after day.
A clean, well-maintained espresso machine is not a background detail. It is a direct variable in cup quality, extraction consistency, and the long-term performance of equipment that professional baristas depend on. The care that goes into a world-class roastery extends to every surface, every group head, every steam wand. That is the part of the craft that sits closest to what Caffenu does.
It is also the quietest ritual in the room, and one of the most important.
We will not give the rest away. Their stories are better heard first-hand. Watch Episode 4 now and explore the full Caffenu Barista Series to go deeper into the craft, the culture, and the people who define specialty coffee in South Africa and beyond.
Coffee brands, machine distributors, and independent roasters that add a private label coffee machine care range to their offering are seeing measurable improvements in margin, revenue, and customer retention. This article explains what private label coffee cleaning products are, why they work as a business strategy, and what to look for in a manufacturer.
Private label coffee cleaning products are coffee machine care items, including cleaning tablets, descaler, and rinse products, manufactured by a specialist supplier but sold under your own brand name. Rather than stocking third-party branded cleaning products, you sell the same product category under your brand, at your own margin.
The category includes:
• Coffee machine cleaning tablets (compatible with bean-to-cup, espresso, and capsule machines)
• Commercial and domestic descaler
• Cleaning capsules (Compatible with leading coffee machine brands)
• Coffee Machine Cleaning Powder
• Milk System Cleaners
Coffee care is a high-frequency consumable. Customers need descaler and cleaning products repeatedly throughout the life of their machine. If those products carry a third-party brand, every reorder builds someone else’s brand equity. If they carry your brand, every reorder reinforces yours.
The commercial logic is straightforward. Private label manufacturing removes most of the cost that makes branded alternatives expensive at wholesale, which means you can hold your retail price and significantly improve your margin, or price competitively and still earn more per unit than you would reselling a branded product.
Caffenu private label partners have reported the following outcomes:
• A coffee brand increased its margin on cleaning tablets by 293% and on commercial descaler by 220%, without changing its retail selling price.
• A second partner grew its coffee care revenue by over 200% within twelve months of launching a private label range under their brand.
• Partners consistently report that branded consumables keep customers purchasing within their brand ecosystem rather than defaulting to third-party options at retail.
These results reflect a consistent pattern: the margin and loyalty benefits of private label coffee care are accessible to brands of various sizes, not just large distributors.
In a food-adjacent category like coffee machine cleaning, the technical and regulatory credentials of your manufacturing partner directly affect the quality, safety, and compliance of what goes on shelf under your brand.
Caffenu is a global manufacturer of coffee machine cleaning and care products. The company manufactures its own brand, Caffenu, as well as private label products for international coffee brands, machine distributors, and independent roasters.
Rowan, Caffenu’s founder, is the inventor of the world’s first Nespresso-compatible cleaning capsule. His career began at the world’s first Nespresso-compatible capsule manufacturing company, giving him a level of technical expertise in capsule manufacturing, food safety, and engineering that is rare in the coffee care category. That foundation underpins every product Caffenu manufactures today.
Caffenu’s manufacturing credentials include:
• FSSC 22000 food safety management system standards
• Halal certified
• Intertek certified
• Formulated with natural and biodegradable ingredients
These certifications matter for private label partners because they simplify your own compliance documentation, particularly if you operate across multiple markets or retail channels.
Caffenu’s private label offering is structured to be accessible to growing brands as well as established distributors:
• Low minimum order quantities (MOQs) suitable for independent roasters and smaller brands
• Product customisation to suit your market, format, and packaging requirements
• Compliance documentation support for your region and retail channel
• Range options across cleaning tablets, descaler, and capsule-format cleaning products
Private label coffee care is a commercially logical extension for:
• Independent coffee roasters selling direct-to-consumer or through wholesale
• Coffee machine distributors and retailers looking to increase margin on accessories
• Coffee chain operators who want branded consumables across their customer base
• Online coffee brands building subscription or repeat-purchase models
If your business already has a customer relationship built around coffee, those customers are buying cleaning products. The question is whether that purchase comes back to you.
The process is designed to be straightforward for brands without an existing manufacturing relationship in this category. To discuss a private label partnership, contact the Caffenu team directly.
Caffenu works with low MOQs, making private label viable for growing brands and independent roasters, not just large-volume distributors. Contact the Caffenu team for specific MOQ details relevant to your product and market.
Yes. All Caffenu products are manufactured to FSSC 22000 food safety management standards and are both Halal and Intertek certified.
Yes. Caffenu assists private label partners with compliance documentation suited to their specific market requirements.
Caffenu manufactures cleaning tablets, commercial and domestic descaler, and Nespresso-compatible cleaning capsules, among other coffee care products.
The world’s first Nespresso-compatible cleaning capsule was invented by Rowan, the founder of Caffenu. His background in capsule manufacturing and food safety engineering is the technical foundation of the Caffenu product range.
Yes. Caffenu formulates its cleaning products with natural and biodegradable ingredients.
At Caffenu, we believe that great coffee starts with more than just quality beans and equipment, it starts with proper care and maintenance. That is why we are excited to announce our official partnership with Henlo Coffee, a South African brand that shares our commitment to delivering exceptional coffee experiences through quality machines and customer-focused service.
Henlo Coffee has built a strong reputation for supplying premium coffee machines backed by hands-on support, technical expertise, and a deep understanding of what their customers need. Their approach goes beyond simply selling machines. It is about enabling businesses and individuals to get the best possible performance from their equipment every day.
This partnership brings together two brands with a shared philosophy: consistency, quality, and long-term performance.
A Partnership Built on Better Coffee Experiences
Through this collaboration, Caffenu will support Henlo and their customers with specialised coffee machine cleaning products and educational resources designed to extend machine lifespan and improve cup quality.
Each Henlo machine will now be supported with dedicated cleaning care packs, ensuring that customers have the right tools from day one to maintain their equipment properly. From espresso machine cleaning powder to milk system cleaners and maintenance tools, these solutions are designed to remove build-up, protect internal components, and preserve flavour integrity.
Strengthening the Coffee Community
At its core, this partnership is about raising the standard of coffee machine care across the industry.
By combining Henlo’s expertise in coffee equipment with Caffenu’s specialised cleaning solutions, we aim to empower coffee professionals, businesses, and home users with the knowledge and tools they need to get the most out of their machines.
We are proud to partner with Henlo Coffee and look forward to building something meaningful together, one clean machine at a time.
Make sure to follow Henlo on their social media platforms:
Instagram • Facebook • TikTok • LinkedIn
As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting excellence in the coffee industry, Caffenu is proud to announce our partnership with Stevo Kühn, South African Barista Champion 2023 + 2025 and AFCA Barista Champ 2025, as an official Caffenu Brand Ambassador. Stevo’s approach to coffee combines technical precision, sensory understanding, and a strong focus on education, making him a natural fit for the Caffenu brand.
Why This Partnership Matters
At first glance, competition coffee and machine cleaning might seem like separate worlds. But in reality, they are deeply connected.
As Stevo puts it, “consistency is everything“. And consistency starts with the condition of your equipment. Even the best beans and the most refined techniques can fall short if a machine is not properly maintained. Residue build-up, oils, and scale can all impact flavour, extraction, and overall performance. For professionals working at the highest level, there is no room for compromise.
We sat down with Stevo to talk about his journey, his approach to coffee, and what drives him to keep pushing boundaries in the industry.
Can you tell us a bit about your journey into coffee and how it all started for you?
Stevo: For me it all started by brewing with a R30 beehive brewer where I used French Vanilla pre-ground coffee to make pour-overs…(I can feel the judgement rolling in)
Before coffee, you were a qualified teacher. How has that influenced the way you approach coffee and sharing knowledge?
Stevo: Teaching was always part of what I did, whether through my career as a teacher or my passion as a musician. This approach, together with a major in Psych and a fair amount of extroversion, has taught me to be adaptable and engage any student or learning environment with empathy and EQ. This is a huge part of my teaching style today. When students are in front of me, it is a game on how to connect with them as quickly as possible and find the most suitable way that they will grasp the concepts that we are dealing with in training. It’s like building a pathway to the student to help create trust and confidence.
What drew you so deeply into specialty coffee as a career and passion?
Stevo: I have a pretty obsessive personality, so when I start something I want to push it as far as I can. I love the fact that coffee has so many techniques and that science plays a big role in it, but the further I go, the more people keep me going and pursuing more avenues of using coffee as a means to create positive impact beyond myself.
Winning the national title is no small feat. What do you think set your performance apart?
Stevo: I think my love for people makes my sets unique so when I speak about things that move me, it is evident that it is real for me and not just a nice story I heard somewhere. My sets always has elements of sensory science involved as well and this makes it fun for me, but also the judges.
You’ve competed on global stages as well. How does competing internationally differ from competing locally?
Stevo: Wow, it is really worlds apart. Locally you need to have a great coffee with good tasting notes, but at a world level you communicate to a global judging panel and that makes it really challenging. This makes me want to travel to certain parts of the world more so that I can entrench myself in other cultures for the sake of learning and growing.
What was your most memorable moment from your championship journey?
Stevo: Definitely being able build some really valuable relationships. In my last WBC set, I could share the story of my first farm visit in Kenya and my coach and friend, Sasa Sestic being heavily involved not only in the fermentation process of that coffee I used, but also in my set. That was a highlight for me.
What advice would you give to aspiring baristas who want to compete at a high level?
Stevo: It doesn’t happen overnight! Start somewhere and push hard in the same direction for a fair amount of time.
What, in your opinion, separates a good cup of coffee from a truly exceptional one?
Stevo: For me exceptional coffee should not only be balanced and sweet, but also be understated in the quality and clarity of its flavour. On top of that exceptional coffee is also linked to the surroundings, the cup you drink from and lastly, the people you get to share it with.
How important is consistency in coffee, and how do you maintain it as a home barista?
Stevo: This is the very thing that intrigued me about my French vanilla pour-overs…when I added more water, the coffee changed. So, I realised it’s less about the coffee and more about my own ability to be consistent. The tool most valuable in any baristas pursuit of consistency is a scale. Less guessing and more knowing!
What trends are you currently seeing in the coffee industry that excite you
Stevo: There is a big movement to automation, efficiency and hospitality. I really love this, because it all boils down to value. Value in the experience and efficiency for guests and for cafes
From your experience, how much does machine cleanliness impact the taste of coffee?
Stevo: Heavily!!! By ommiting to clean frequently you will get grittiness in the aftertaste and even high and unpleasant bitterness that does not stem from extraction or roast level.
What are some common cleaning mistakes you see baristas or cafés making?
Stevo: Baristas would maybe backwash, but not use never remove showerscreens. The build up there is intense and will just prevent water from running through the coffee puck evenly that results in channeling.
What role do cleaning products play versus just using water or basic maintenance?
Stevo: Water might look effective, but water does not dissolve the oil build-up, and this is where Caffenu products come in.
As a professional barista, what does your ideal daily and weekly cleaning routine look like?
Stevo: Daily – Removing the beans from the hopper and grind a few grinding tablets though the grinder. Removing the baskets and soaking this with the portafilters in cleaning solution. Weekly – Remove the showerscreens and soak them with cleaning solution.
What excites you most about partnering with Caffenu as a brand ambassador?
Stevo: This is really exciting for me – cleaning is one of the easiest ways to improve coffee quality and also to increase the longevity of the financial investment of coffee gear. To share this with people is an exciting task.
What message would you like to share with baristas and coffee professionals about caring for their equipment?
Stevo: A little goes a long way! It doesn’t cost you that much, but it will save you so much and the benefit of it is always tasty coffee. Clean equipment produces clean coffees!
Looking Ahead
This is just the beginning of what we believe will be a meaningful and impactful partnership. From industry insights to behind-the-scenes content and collaborative projects, we’re excited to share this journey with Stevo and the broader coffee community. Keep up with Stevo on his Instagram profile here: https://www.instagram.com/stevobrewscoffee/
Together, we’ll continue to push one simple idea: Clean machine. Better coffee.
For many businesses in the coffee, and coffee machine industry, offering cleaning and maintenance products alongside their core products can create significant value. One of the most effective ways to do this is through a private label cleaning range. The same holds true for distributors looking to expand their product offering.
Rather than selling a third-party brand, private label products allow you to offer high-quality cleaning solutions under your own brand name. This strengthens brand recognition and keeps your customers buying directly from you instead of turning to other brands for maintenance products.
A private label cleaning product range also helps businesses increase revenue by creating a new product category that complements their existing offering. For example, companies that sell coffee machines can provide machine cleaning tablets, descalers, and maintenance solutions designed specifically for their customers’ needs.
Another key advantage is customer loyalty. When customers purchase cleaning products with your branding, they associate the maintenance and care of their equipment with your company. This creates repeat purchases and keeps your brand present long after the initial product sale.
Working with an experienced manufacturer also means you can launch a private label cleaning range quickly and efficiently. The formulations, production processes, and quality standards are already established, allowing you to bring professional-grade products to market without the complexity of developing them from scratch.
For businesses looking to expand their offering, private label cleaning products provide a powerful opportunity to build brand value, increase recurring sales, and deliver a complete solution to customers.
What makes a cup taste balanced and sweet, the kind you keep thinking about long after the last sip? Shewaan shows us it’s never one big dramatic thing. It’s the small, consistent moves most of us never see, the temperature of the milk, the way the grinder is set before the doors open, the gentle routines at the end of the day that keep everything clean and calm inside the machine.
He doesn’t give away every secret on camera. He simply lets you feel how those little habits protect the coffee you love, so it can taste the way it’s meant to, every single time.
What stayed with me most while editing this one was watching Shewaan light up when one of his team is surrounded by customers, explaining why this bean shines the way it does. That moment of connection, of passing on real care… that’s his Ikigai. And it’s the same feeling we want for every coffee lover who finds Caffenu.
We exist to protect those coffee moments you care about, the ones that start your day, the ones you look forward to, the ones that just feel good. Because great coffee doesn’t only depend on the beans. It depends on what the coffee runs through.
Whether you’re a barista behind the counter, a proud home brewer, or just someone who wants their morning ritual to taste better tomorrow than it did today, this episode quietly shows you the difference a few caring habits can make.
The full video is right here. Watch it when your next cup is brewing. You might catch yourself smiling and thinking… “That’s exactly what I’ve been missing.”
Now tell me, what’s one small thing you do (or want to start doing) to look after your machine and keep your coffee tasting its best? Drop it below. We read every single one, and we’re still learning right alongside you.
Ever got so excited to try a new coffee in your capsule machine that you forgot to eject the capsule after brewing? This isn’t a problem if you eject it a few hours later before another cuppa. It can, however, become a problem if it’s left overnight or longer, especially if you own a Dolce Gusto® machine. To be safe, on any capsule machine, always eject the coffee capsule once you made your coffee.
Why would leaving the coffee capsule inside the machine be a problem? Well, if you do not remove the capsule until the next day, the coffee grinds inside the capsule would have likely dried up, and in case of your Dolce Gusto® trapped the needle that injects the water. You’ll notice that no matter how much you pull, the capsule won’t come out. This can be very frustrating.
So what to do if this happens to you? Is your Dolce Gusto® capsule stuck inside your machine? First & most important: don’t force the compartment, as you could break it and then it’s hopeless. The brewing needle in a Dolce Gusto® capsule machine is small, and can be broken, so don’t force it.
The best thing to do if you forget the capsule inside your coffee machine, is to make sure you lift the needle first and then try to pull it out VERY SLOWLY to remove the capsule.
Re-inject the needle if the capsule is still stuck and run the machine again, as if to brew another cup. When you run water again, the dried remains will soften, and you will be able to remove it without difficulty. However, put a glass underneath and don’t even think about drinking whatever comes out of it!
It is also never a bad idea to run a descaling solution through your machine. This will ensure all pipes are clear, and your coffee hot and fresh. Try our Caffenu Eco Descaler for an eco-friendly descaling solution.
The same can be said for ejecting capsules from Nespresso® machines. A coffee capsule won’t necessarily get stuck if you leave it in a Nespresso® machine (it’s possible), but it will get mouldy. Additionally, a capsule left in the brewing chamber will leave room for bacteria to colonise, as well as bad smells to arise. Although, bacteria and smells could arise in any capsule machine with a capsule left in it for too long!
If you do happen to forget a capsule in your machine for too long, it is highly recommended that you clean your Nespresso® machine before brewing your next coffee. It is, however, always good measure to give your machine a proper clean every now and then.
We covered the importance of ejecting coffee capsules from Dolce Gusto® and Nespresso® machines, but the same goes for any coffee capsule machine on the market. Whether it be a Keurig® K-cup® brewer, or a Lavazza® Blue®, it is generally a good idea to eject coffee capsules from the chamber, after brewing a coffee.
We value your privacy. No details will be shared with external parties.