How to Clean and Descale a Breville Barista Express (Full Step by Step Guide)

Your Barista Express needs two different clean-ups, and they are not the same thing.

The cleaning cycle uses a tablet to wash old coffee oil out of the machine. It takes five minutes.

Descaling uses a descaling liquid to dissolve the chalky mineral build-up that hard water leaves behind. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes.

The light on the front tells you which one you need. Flashing means clean. Steady means descale. You need both. A cleaning tablet does nothing to limescale, and descaler does nothing to coffee oil. Doing one and skipping the other is why so many people descale their machine and find the coffee still tastes off.

Why your coffee has gone downhill

Nothing is broken. Two things are quietly clogging up your machine.

• Old coffee oil. Coffee is oily, and a bit of that oil stays behind every time you pull a shot. It builds up where the water comes out and inside the basket. Over time it goes rancid, and rancid oil tastes exactly how it sounds. It also blocks the water’s path, so your shots come out unevenly.
• Limescale. If you have hard water, you have seen the chalky white stuff inside your kettle. The same thing happens inside your coffee machine, except you cannot see it. It coats the heating element, so your machine can no longer get the water properly hot. It narrows the pipes, so less water and less steam come through.

Between them, these two are behind almost every complaint people have about their Barista Express: weak coffee, bitter coffee, slow shots, feeble steam, coffee that is never quite hot enough.

What the light on the front is telling you

That little CLEAN / DESCALE light does two jobs, and most people never realise it.

If your machine is an older one and the light just says CLEAN, run the cleaning cycle when it comes on and put descaling in your diary every couple of months instead.

Part one: the five minute clean

Do this when the light is flashing, or every couple of months if you use the machine daily.

What you need: your small (1 cup) basket, the little rubber disc with a hole in the middle that came with the machine, one Cleaning Tablet, and a decent sized bowl or jug.

If you cannot find the rubber disc, check the accessories drawer tucked in behind the drip tray. That is where it usually ends up.

The steps

1. Put the small 1 cup basket into the portafilter, sit the rubber disc on top, and pop one tablet in the middle of the disc.
2. Twist the portafilter into the machine like you are about to make a coffee, and put your bowl underneath it. Quite a bit of water comes through.
3. Fill the water tank with cold water and push it down until it clicks properly into place. Empty the drip tray.
4. Turn the machine off at the power button.
5. Now press and hold 1 CUP and 2 CUP together, and while still holding those, press POWER as well. Keep all three held down for a full ten seconds.

Count it out. Ten seconds feels like ages when you are standing there holding three buttons. Letting go too soon is the number one reason nothing happens. Count to ten out loud if you have to.

6. Walk away for five minutes. You will hear water spurting through in bursts. That is meant to happen. When it is done, the machine beeps three times.
7. Take the portafilter out and check the tablet has completely disappeared. If there is any left, run it again.
8. Rinse the portafilter, basket and disc under the hot tap. Then put the empty portafilter back in and press 1 CUP to run clean water through. Do not skip this bit, or the first coffee you make afterwards will taste of cleaning tablet.

Part two: descaling

Do this when the light is steady, or every two to three months. Different product, different routine.

Two things before you start. Take the water filter out of the tank first, because descaler will ruin it in one go. Put it back in when you are completely finished. And do not pull the water tank out or let it run bone dry while the cycle is going. The pump does not like running with nothing in it.

What you need: Caffenu Eco Power Descaler for Breville & Sage, a container that holds at least two litres, and about twenty minutes where you are not in a rush.

The steps

1. Mix 1 Dose of Caffenu Eco Power Descaler for Breville & Sage into one litre of water and pour it into the tank. One litre, not a full tank. The machine’s cycle is built around that amount.
2. Put your container underneath so it catches water from the coffee outlet, the steam wand and the hot water spout. You will be running solution through all three.
3. With the machine off, press and hold 2 CUP, then press and hold POWER as well. The power button will flash while the machine heats up. Wait. It is ready when four things are lit up and steady: POWER, 1 CUP, the CLEAN / DESCALE light and the HOT WATER / STEAM light.
4. Press 1 CUP. Solution runs through the coffee side for about 25 seconds. The 1 CUP light flashes while it works and goes steady when it is done.
5. Turn the steam dial to the right, towards the steam symbol. That clears the steam wand, about 13 seconds.
6. Turn the steam dial to the left, towards the hot water symbol. That clears the hot water spout, about 8 seconds.
7. There will be about half a litre of solution left in the tank. Do steps 4, 5 and 6 again to use it up.
8. Now take the tank out and rinse it properly. Refill it with plain cold water right up to the max line and click it back in.
9. Do steps 4, 5 and 6 one more time on the plain water. This is the rinse, and it is the step people skip. Any descaler left inside will make your next few coffees taste strange.
10. Press POWER to come out of descaling mode. The lights will go off.
11. Put the water filter back in and make one coffee that you throw away.

Get everything ready first. The machine switches itself off if you leave it sitting in descaling mode for five minutes without doing anything, and then you have to start over from step 3. Have your container, your tank and your solution sorted before you begin.

While you are at it: the grinder

Coffee oil builds up on the grinder blades too, and that quietly changes how much coffee you are actually getting in the basket. It is often why shots suddenly start running fast or slow for no obvious reason.

Take the bean hopper off, run the grinder empty for a few seconds to clear it, then unclip and lift out the top grinding burr. Give both burrs and the chute a going over with the little brush that came with the machine. The burrs are genuinely sharp, so mind your fingers. Put the top burr back, lock it, set the grind size back to 5 and refit the hopper.

The little jobs that make a big difference

After every use: rinse your portafilter and basket under the hot tap. Wipe the steam wand, then blast a bit of steam through it over the drip tray to clear the milk out of the inside.

When the basket holes block: use the pin on the end of the cleaning tool. If they are really stuck, dissolve a cleaning tablet in hot water and let the basket and portafilter soak for twenty minutes.

Every couple of months: change the water filter in the tank. It genuinely reduces how often you need to descale. If you already use filtered or bottled water, you do not need the filter at all.

Now and then: wipe the metal shower screen where the water comes out. Coffee grounds collect up there.

Eventually: the rubber seal around the shower screen wears out. You will know because coffee starts leaking out around the edge of the portafilter instead of into your cup. It is a replaceable part and the machine comes with the tool for it.

How often should you be doing all this?

Hard water means doing it more often. If you are in a hard water area you will be descaling and changing filters more frequently than the guide above. Worth finding out what your local water is like.

Signs you have left it far too long

• Coffee comes out fast and tastes watery, or barely drips and tastes burnt
• The machine takes forever to warm up
• The steam has gone weak, or stops altogether
• Barely a trickle from the hot water spout
• No water at all from the coffee outlet
• Every cup tastes stale, no matter how good your beans are

Can I just use vinegar?

We would not. Vinegar is slow at shifting limescale, it needs to sit there for ages, and the smell hangs around in the machine long after you think you have rinsed it out. Loose citric acid from the supermarket is a different problem: it is not measured out for coffee machines and can be harsh on the rubber seals inside. Proper descalers are made for what is actually inside these machines. It is also worth a look at your warranty terms before you put anything unofficial through it.

Breville or Sage, same machine

If you bought yours in the UK, Ireland or Europe it will say Sage on the front rather than Breville. It is the same machine and everything above applies: one clean-up for coffee oil, another for limescale, both needed.

Sage model numbers start with SES instead of BES. If a button combination here does not behave quite as described, have a quick look at your own manual before you keep trying it.

Common questions

Why is my Barista Express making bad coffee all of a sudden?

Usually old coffee oil, limescale, or both. Run the cleaning cycle first, then descale if the machine is still slow, weak on steam or not hot enough. If it is only the timing of your shot that has changed, check your grind and how much coffee you are putting in before blaming the machine.https://youtu.be/HBd9f1-OMEY

What does the CLEAN / DESCALE light mean?

Flashing means run the cleaning cycle with a tablet. Steady means descale with descaling solution. Two different jobs, two different products.

How long does descaling take?

The actual running is less than a minute at a time, but with warming up, the second pass and the plain water rinse, set aside 15 to 20 minutes.

My machine will not go into descaling mode. What am I doing wrong?

Nearly always one of three things: not holding the buttons long enough, the machine not being properly switched off first, or the water tank not clicked all the way down. Also remember it times out after five minutes of sitting idle, so you may just need to start again.

Can I skip the tablet and just run water through?

Water alone will not shift the oil. The tablet is what breaks it down, and the rubber disc is what forces the water backwards through the machine to reach the places a normal shot never touches.

Do I really have to take the water filter out before descaling?

We would, yes. Descaler uses the filter up in one go. Take it out, then put it back once you have done the plain water rinse.

Can I clean and descale on the same day?

Yes, and it is a good idea. Clean first, then descale. If you do it the other way round you are pushing loosened coffee oil into a machine you have just cleaned out.

I descaled and it still tastes weird.

Almost certainly not rinsed enough. Run another full tank of plain water through the coffee outlet, steam wand and hot water spout, then make one coffee and pour it away.