Coffee connoisseurs should put a high priority on maintaining and cleaning their brewing machines. If your brewer is dirty or damaged, it will be challenging to serve delicious coffee. Whether you own a sophisticated coffee shop or convert your kitchen into a high-end coffee sanctuary, mastering proper maintenance and cleaning is a critical skill.
As a result, your brewer will perform better and last longer, reducing the risk of it breaking down. Most coffee lovers will agree that there’s nothing better than waking up to a freshly brewed cup of coffee. Drinking coffee regularly has numerous health benefits, as well as improving your mood and productivity.
Here’s a complete guide to help you clean and maintain the quality of your brewing machine.
How To Keep Your Espresso Machine Clean
Your espresso machine is as important and as vital as your freshly ground coffee beans. Preparing a pulling, complex, and rich flavor of an espresso drink can be exhilarating. It requires proper care and maintenance of the actual home brewing machine, which shouldn’t feel like a cumbersome taste.
Since you already invested a decent amount of money into an espresso machine, it’s time to protect it properly. In case you miss descaling your machine properly, there are several setbacks you’ll be experiencing down the road. The most commonly encountered issues are:
- Espresso shots are not pulling properly, and the flavor seems off
- There is inconsistency in the steam wand
- calcium scales are blocking the filters and pipes, which in turn;
- Cost you more with pricey repairs and downtime preparing your espresso
Tips To Extend Espresso Machine’s Life
With the benefits of owning an espresso brewer at home, caring for this device shouldn’t be difficult and expensive. There are several steps—daily and weekly tasks—to extend your device lifespan and maintain its optimum quality and performance.
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Daily To-Do Lists
It can really be tempting to sit down and enjoy every cup of freshly brewed java and, later on, move to other activities. However, several things need to be done, which can take 15 seconds or less to clean your espresso machine.
These tasks ensure that your brewer is ready for another shot later. That means you can instantly jump over and never have to worry about the coffee residues that might hurt the coffee flavor on your next cup:
- Avoid leaving the brewer or portafilter longer into the machine. The grounds and oils might get stuck into the portafilter basket and filter screen.
- Rinse your portafilter for about 2 – 3 seconds and wipe it with a clean rag
- Wipe the machine’s steam wand using a clean and damp rag immediately.
Summary: Clean the machine’s filter screen, portafilter, and milk wand or pitchers for every shot.
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Weekly Tasks
While post-shot routine care works like wonders, it doesn’t cover everything. Your brewer needs deeper cleaning to ensure it’s free from stubborn coffee grounds and oils. Most cafes do this every end of the shift; however, you can do this every week:
For espresso machines that come with valves:
- Replace your portafilter basket using a blank screen, then add a cleaner
- Insert portafilter into the group’s head and let the water run for about 10 seconds
- Turn off the water for 5 seconds
- Do this 3x
- Turn the water on and wiggle portafilter in the group’s head to dislodge gasket grounds
For machine without valve:
- Take the portafilter out and unscrew the dispersion screen
- With a damp rag and espresso cleaning solutions, scrub the group head around
- Rinse with lots of fresh, clean water
…and this should do most of the trick to extend your machine’s lifespan and provide optimum brewing performance.
Regardless of which machine model is sitting on your kitchen countertops, soaking the steam wand, dispersion screen, and portafilter as a cleaning solution or water for about 10 to 15 minutes is essential. Once you’ve done soaking them off, rinse them thoroughly with fresh or clean water and wipe them dry with a clean rag.
Overall, these weekly tasks won’t hurt your daily routine and other plans as they will take less than 20 minutes to do. This process can pay you for years of great-tasting aroma-field and a flavorful cup of coffee every morning or whenever you’d like.
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Descaling Your Espresso Machine
Your machine needs proper descaling regardless if you’re using specialized water or tap water to remove all accumulated calcium scale build up in your brewing system. This element affects the espresso pressure and causes every shot to have inconsistent flavor; worse, it can completely damage your machine.
Descaling the espresso machine is easier than you thought. While there are different ways to do it, some devices have their self-cleaning and descaling process, and the most popular one is using a descaling solution or homemade recipe.
- Home-made vinegar solutions
- Dedicated descaling solutions for espresso machines
Final Words
Cleaning and maintaining machines are not complex, but it may seem tedious at first, but it is an essential task. Cleaning your machine will ensure that it can brew better coffee and last for longer than a machine that is not properly taken care of and may need expensive repairs due to damage or breakage.
Keep your machine in good working condition by cleaning it periodically to maintain its quality.
