Tips For Cleaning Coffee Maker
If everyone in the world who loved cleaning their top coffee machine stepped forward you’d have enough people to play some one on one basketball. It’s one of life’s enduring contractions: everyone loves a delicious, clean, non-acidic cup of Joe but no one wants to donate the elbow grease necessary to achieve it. While the best and brightest scientific minds have labored for years in laboratories around the world attempting to find a solution to this paradox none has been forthcoming and so – while it pains us to say this – you’re going to have to roll up your sleeves and clean the damn thing yourself. Here are a whys, whens and hows of doing so.
Why?
While it may seem like a fairly low impact process the act of brewing coffee & beans actually leaves all manner of residue on the inside of the coffee maker. This residue can interfere with the smooth flow of water, compromise the brewing temperature and leave behind a slew of unpleasant, oily films.
When?
In order to ensure your coffee is always its tastiest we recommend you clean your coffee maker once a month if you use it every day and once every 2 months if you use it sporadically. Especially if you have a camping coffee maker
How?
It would be nice if you could take the best pour over coffee maker to the coffee maker car wash and just let a bunch of automated whirling brushes work their magic but alas, such is not the case. Instead you’ll need to accept it’s up to you and assemble the following:
● 1 large bottle of white vinegar
● A pail of hot soapy water
● Clean sponge
● Clean damp cloth
● Clean dry cloth Once you’ve got all that it’s time to begin.
● Empty out the carafe, make sure the filter is free of grounds and empty the water reservoir.
● Refill the reservoir with equal parts water and white vinegar.
● Use a chopstick or some other low impact device to gently mix the two together.
● Run the coffee maker through half a cycle then turn it off for about an hour and leave it as is.
● Return after an hour and complete the brew cycle.
● Once the brew cycle is complete, toss the vinegar and water solution in the carafe.
● Refill the reservoir with clean water only and run another brew cycle. When this cycle is complete run two more using fresh water only (no vinegar) each time.
● When all three cycles are complete empty the carafe and then wash both it and the filter in hot soapy water. Don’t leave any of the brown, oily residue behind in the pot or on the filter or your next pot of coffee will still taste off.
● Rinse the carafe and filter thoroughly, wipe them down and dry them with your cloths, put everything back together and voila! A clean coffee maker. And you survived to tell the tale. Congratulations!
