If you want to brew the best-tasting coffee each and every time, then you must be vigilant with your coffee machine cleaning and maintenance. When making coffee at home, you may be able to get away with cleaning your personal coffee maker now and then, since you may only be brewing for yourself.
But in a professional café setting, routine cleaning and maintenance are essential for consistent performance and flavour output. And when it comes to quality coffee, consistency is key. A dirty coffee machine can impact brewing speed, water control, and heat pressure, which can all influence the taste and quality of the final product.
Also, a dirty coffee machine is just gross. Gross and coffee do not go together!
For café owners, baristas, and coffee enthusiasts, proper coffee machine cleaning will help ensure consistent quality, longevity, and hygiene. In this blog, we will take you step-by-step through the process of basic coffee machine cleaning, care, and maintenance.
Why Keeping Your Coffee Machine Clean is Important
Whether your coffee machine is a manual espresso machine, an automatic machine, or even a pod-capsule machine, regular cleaning and maintenance are essential to keep it running well and brewing great-tasting coffee.
Lack of proper maintenance can be a coffee machine killer. It is inevitable that with every shot of coffee you pull and every jug of milk you steam, a buildup of oils and milk residue can occur. Over time, this buildup can wreak havoc on the internal mechanisms of your machine, and that damage can be seen, felt, and – worst of all – even tasted.
Without the proper care, coffee machines can also quickly become a haven for creepy crawlies like flies and cockroaches due to humidity and moisture. The last thing any café manager or barista wants to see is a bug crawling out of their machine.
Consider our coffee appetite gone. All of these nasties can be easily avoided by regularly cleaning and maintaining your machine.
Read more: How Fresh Is Your Coffee? Why Roast Date Matters
How to Clean a Coffee Machine: Step-by-Step
Keeping your espresso machine clean between daily uses will help ensure you are achieving an optimal coffee flavour profile in every pull. These quick cleaning methods can be done in a few seconds and can save you much more time later on.
Step 1: Quickly Dispose of the Puck
After you extract an espresso shot, toss out the puck of coffee grounds from the portafilter right away. The grounds will be easier to remove and clean out while they are still warm after pulling, rather than cooled down and hardened.
The longer the grounds sit in the portafilter, the more oil that seeps into the screen, which can build up with coffee residue and oils over time, affecting the next brew. The quicker you get the coffee grounds out of your machine, the better!
Step 2: Clean the Portafilter
After you have tossed out the puck, the next step is cleaning the portafilter. This can be done by simply rinsing it under a faucet for a few seconds, then using a clean, dry towel to wipe it clean.
You can also give your portafilter a quick rinse by using the hot water nozzle on your machine if you have one. Also, be sure to check your tamper to make sure it is clean and dry before putting it away to avoid any potential bacteria buildup.
Step 3: Rinse out the Group Head
Once the portafilter has been removed and cleaned, you should rinse out the group head, or “flush” it. You can do this by brewing a blank shot without any grounds, which will help remove any lingering coffee and oils from the machine parts.
Pro tip: This step should be done every day!
Coffee Machine Deep Clean: Tackling Hidden Buildup
While the daily rinse is crucial for immediate hygiene, it cannot reach the stubborn, baked-on oils and mineral deposits that accumulate over time. This is where the deep cleaning comes in.
Deep cleaning is a more intensive, periodic process designed to tackle the built-up grime that a simple water flush leaves behind. This process requires specialised espresso machine cleaners, which are formulated to break down coffee oils, and descalers, which dissolve the mineral scale from water.
Step 1: Backflush Your Coffee Machine
Backflushing is one of the most important cleaning steps for espresso machines, especially in commercial café environments. This process helps remove built-up coffee oils and fine grounds from inside the group head, where they cannot be reached through normal rinsing.
Using a blind filter basket, run a short brew cycle to force water back through the system rather than out through the portafilter. This dislodges residue from the group head, shower screen and internal valve.
Regular backflushing helps maintain stable pressure, consistent extraction and clean-tasting coffee. In a busy café, this should be done daily, while lower-volume machines may only require it a few times a week.
Step 2: Soak and Clean Portafilters and Baskets
Even with daily rinsing, portafilters and filter baskets gradually accumulate stubborn coffee oils that affect flavour and crema. At times, removing the coffee puck will not be enough! Soaking these components allows you to break down residue that simple rinsing will not remove.
Remove the baskets from the portafilters and soak both parts in warm water with a coffee-specific cleaning solution. This helps dissolve oils without damaging the metal.
Once soaked, rinse thoroughly and allow them to dry completely before reassembling. Clean portafilters not only improve flavour consistency but also ensure proper water flow and extraction.
Step 3: Descale the Boiler
Over time, minerals from your water in your coffee machine will build up on the boiler and heating elements. This scale insulates the heating element, causing temperature instability and poor performance, and can eventually lead to a total machine failure.
To dissolve these mineral deposits and keep all your lines clear, you should run a specialised descaling solution through your machine’s water system whenever you perform a deep clean.
Step 4: Purge the Steam Wand
Milk can dry and get crusty quickly, so it is important to clean it out from your metal steam wand as often as possible. Purging your steam wand of excess milk can be easy and can even be done quickly between shots.
After the milk texturing process is complete, use a damp rag to wipe down the steam wand and clean off milk from the exterior of the wand. Then simply release a little steam into a towel. This will remove any possible milk buildup within the steam wand.
Following these basic cleaning and maintenance steps as often as possible will help you extend the lifespan of your machine parts and coffee equipment, as well as protect your coffee brewing consistency.
Step 7: Don’t Forget the Drip Tray!
The drip tray is one of the most overlooked parts of a coffee machine, yet it is often one of the dirtiest! Filled with excess water, milk and coffee residue, it can quickly become unhygienic if not emptied and cleaned regularly.
Drip trays should be emptied throughout the day and washed with warm, soapy water at least once daily. In a café, this is essential for hygiene and pest prevention.
A clean drip tray also keeps your workspace smelling fresh and looking professional, something customers definitely notice!
What is a Coffee Machine Deep Clean?
Regularly, after extensive use over time, your coffee machine may require a thorough deep clean. Deep cleaning requires more steps than general cleaning and will be machine-specific.
To deep clean your coffee machine, you will often need to mix some café supplies with a commercial cleaning solution and flush it through the machine’s entire system. This is not too involved a process, but it can take time.
Before attempting to deep clean your coffee machine, be sure to read your device’s user manual to avoid causing any damage. If you are ever unsure about deep cleaning your machine, then you can always arrange for a professional coffee machine deep cleaning service.
When to Professionally Clean Your Coffee Machine
Now we can all get busy. Those early morning rushes can really take their toll, and sometimes, you may not have time to clean your machine as often as you would prefer. Perhaps a deep clean intimidates you too much!
If you are ever unsure about proper coffee machine cleaning and maintenance or do not have the time to give your equipment the TLC it needs, then you can always call upon a professional coffee machine servicing and tune-up. At CoffeeNQ, we specialise in providing convenient and professional café equipment services.
Protect Your Investment and Coffee Quality with CoffeeNQ
Great coffee starts with a well-maintained machine. Are you ready to protect your coffee quality and your investment?
Contact us and speak to our CoffeeNQ team to book a professional coffee machine service today!
