What cleaning does my specific coffee machine need?

Cleaning Required By Your Coffee Machine

Coffee is an integral part of life! To enjoy coffee, we also need the essential coffee machine. In order to keep your coffee fresh, it is important to keep your coffee maker clean. Whether you have a semi-automatic commercial espresso machine in your coffee shop, or a capsule coffee machine at home. Here is how you can tell exactly what cleaning your coffee machine needs.

All coffee machines, household and commercial, need maintenance to ensure optimal performance, and the perfect cup of coffee. It can, however, be tiresome figuring out how to best maintain and clean your machine, especially with there being so many different machines on the market.

Let us cover some of the coffee machines, their components, and how you can clean them. The easiest is to look at the individual components that your coffee machine has, and clean those accordingly.

If your machine uses coffee capsules/pods:

Let’s start off with the capsule coffee machine. If your machine uses coffee capsules/pods, you will need to clean the brewing chamber, spout, and washer plate of the machine. This can be done by using a cleaning capsule. Using the cleaning capsule is simple yet effective.

If your machine has a water tank:

You will require a descaler to remove lime scale and calcium deposits from the internal heating components, such as the thermo block and element. The build-up of deposits occurs over time and due to the water used and can hinder the performance of your machine.

If your machine has a steam wand, milk circuit, or any additional dairy equipment:

Dairy equipment and components on coffee machines require a milk system cleaner to prevent and remove milk build-up and blockages. These blockages can eventually lead to machine failure if not attended to. Read more on why you need a milk system cleaner, and how it works.

If your coffee machine has a pre-ground filter chute (General espresso or bean to cup machines):

You will require a cleaning tablet to remove the dirty coffee oils, residues, odours, and bitter tannins that build up in brewing units, pots, and filters. Through the tablets’ cleaning and degreasing capabilities, you can effectively clean your machine, and prolong its life span.

If your machine has a group head/s (Manual and Semi-Automatic commercial espresso machines):

Espresso machines and their group heads need a concentrated cleaning powder to effectively remove old, unwanted coffee oils, odours and tannins from the group heads, lines, and valves. The powder can be used for a routine group head backflush cleaning, and to clean filters, trays, and other additional equipment.

Read ‘A guide on the most popular coffee machines and how to clean them correctly’ for a more extensive guide on how and when to clean your coffee machine. It all leads to the perfect coffee (because it’s only ever made in a clean machine).


Posted on June 2, 2021 , in Importance of Cleaning

This blog was posted in Importance of Cleaning and tagged barista, cleaning, cleaning tips, coffee machine, coffee tips