When making coffee, the quality of the machine and equipment used is as important as the quality of the preferred coffee; In addition, regular cleaning of machines and equipment directly affects the taste of the coffee you drink. You will see that regular machine cleaning is not only important for your health, but also makes a big difference in the taste of your coffee.
VALID REASONS TO CLEAN YOUR COFFEE MACHINE REGULARLY
- As your espresso machine is used, particles and coffee residues in the water settle on the machine parts. If it is not cleaned, the taste of the coffee is directly affected negatively.
- Various malfunctions may occur in machines that have not been maintained for a long time.
- Side corners of your machine and compartments such as the hot water tank are critical areas for bacteria formation.
- The popular belief that hot water and coffee kill germs is just a myth. The temperature of the water and the acidity in the coffee may not be enough to kill all bacteria and germs.
- It is important to clean your coffee machine at regular intervals as bacteria and germs will affect your health.
It is recommended that you clean your machine regularly, both for your health and for the quality of the coffee. So how to clean the coffee machine?
Important Tips on How to Clean a Coffee Maker
Before giving cleaning tips, it is useful to classify the equipment used. Likewise, even the material of the machinery and equipment may require different cleaning methods. Additionally, you should not use equipment other than recommended. For example, you should not put milk in the water reservoirs of coffee machines/equipments. Misuse may damage machine parts or cause blockage/deposition in equipment, as well as the formation of harmful bacteria in compartments that are impossible to clean.
Coffee brewing equipment produced using aluminum material (moka pots are mostly made of aluminum) should never be brought into contact with materials such as soap, detergent, or sponge. You should only clean these equipment by rubbing them with your hands or shaking them with hot water. Otherwise, the aluminum material may react and turn into a material that could threaten your health. For details, see How to Clean Moka Pot Coffee Pot? WHAT IS MOKA POT AND HOW TO USE IT? You can take a look at our article.
The materials you use in your equipment also affect the frequency of cleaning. You must clean the machine parts or equipment you use to heat and froth liquid (fresh) milk with hot water, soap and a sponge after each use. Because milk causes harmful bacteria to grow in a very short time. Separating the parts connected to your machine, such as the milk frothing wand and/or chamber, from the machine after each use or at the end of the day and washing them thoroughly with hot water and soap will prevent the formation of harmful bacteria. Puly Caff Powder - Cleaning Powder, with its approved cleaning power, is one of the most commonly used cleaning materials in the daily cleaning of equipment that comes into contact with coffee. Daily cleaning is ensured by adding 10gr of Puly Caff Powder - Cleaning Powder to 1 liter of hot water, dissolving it and keeping the filters and spoons in it for 15 minutes, then rinsing them with hot water. In addition, 3-5 grams of Puly Caff Powder - Cleaning Powder is placed on the blind spoon and attached to the group. After turning it on/off 5 times with 10 seconds intervals, the group is rinsed and then by turning it on/off 5 times with 10 seconds intervals, daily group cleaning is ensured.
You can also find the cleaning brushes you will need most to clean countertops, machines and equipment during the day in the barista equipment category.
It is recommended that you always use clean drinking water in your machine because if the lime content in the water you use is high, calcification may be observed on the machine's internal parts and pipes. Even if you use potable water, lime maintenance will still be required over time. Some machines automatically give a lime maintenance warning after a certain amount of use and may have a special program for lime maintenance, but most machines do not give a warning for lime maintenance. You can find detailed information in the user manual of your own machine. If no detail is given on this subject, you can follow the steps we provide below.
The water flow paths of machines that have not been maintained for a long time may become clogged and cause other malfunctions. Therefore, you can regulate the lime maintenance intervals yourself by monitoring the machine and its usage. How do we know when it's time for lime maintenance on the coffee machine? If you ask, the answer is actually very simple. If you observe a bitter taste of the coffee you prepare in your machine or a decrease in the volume of flowing water, it is time for your machine to be descaled. Depending on usage, lime maintenance every 6 months or once a year will prolong the life of your machine and will not spoil the taste of the coffee.
How to Clean Espresso Machine and Do Limescale Maintenance?
- Remove the removable parts of your machine, such as the teapot and coffee grinder holder, soak them in warm soapy water, brush them thoroughly, and after they are cleaned, dry them and replace them.
- Fill your water tank (reservoir) with warm water, add the lime care solution and stir until it dissolves in the water.
- Before adding coffee, run the solution water through your machine, so that the parts that brew the coffee are purified and cleaned.
- Stop the machine halfway through the water flow process and wait for a while for the vinegar to thoroughly dissolve the residue accumulated in the pipes.
- This process will properly disinfect your machine.
- Finish by draining the solution water from the reservoir.
- Rinse the water tank and fill it with clean water.
- Run the machine twice more with clean water to remove any remaining solution residue.
- In this way, coffee oil and lime residues accumulated in the internal parts of your machine will be cleaned.
- Coffee brewed in a clean machine will give great results for at least four more weeks.
*Always use clean drinking water to keep limescale build-up in your coffee machine to a minimum and improve coffee flavour.
*Cleaning the cups you drink coffee from is as important as the machines. You can increase the taste of coffee by rinsing clean cups with hot water and heating them before pouring coffee.
*When you turn on the machine every morning and run hot water before making coffee, you can have a positive effect on the coffee taste by both cleaning and heating the water flow path.
You can find out how to descale maintenance of Illy capsule machines in the user manuals, and we will also add it to our blog posts.
Related Products
