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Not properly cleaning or washing your coffee maker could be changing the flavor of your coffee, and if left long enough, could make you sick. It’s important that you make sure your coffee maker is clean each time you use it so that you can enjoy the full flavor of your coffee without having to worry about what may have been lurking in the carafe.
Whether you use your coffee maker once a week or once a day, you should be cleaning all of the removeable parts after each use. Coffee grounds can linger in areas where they shouldn’t, and the carafe can become stained and discolored after a while.
Cleaning Your Coffee Maker After Every Use
There are a lot of different types of coffee makers out there, but there’s one thing that all of them have in common, they can become extremely dirty if not cleaned.
While you don’t need to do a deep clean of your coffee maker after every use, you should be using dishwashing detergent to clean the inside of the carafe as well as the reusable filter (if you use one). Make sure to also clean inside the area where the coffee filter goes, as coffee grounds can get loose and end up in areas they shouldn’t, which can then cause them to end up in your coffee.
Any removeable part on the coffee maker should be removed and cleaned after every use as well. This pertains to all coffee makers, not just drip coffee makers.
If you use a French Press, or a different type of coffee maker, you’ll want to make sure you’re cleaning every piece of the coffee maker that could possibly touch coffee grounds or the coffee itself, with dishwashing detergent.
This will help prevent any distaste or discoloration from happening and will also prevent build up of things like hard water residue from forming.
There are some coffee makers where the removeable parts are dishwasher safe, so removing those putting them in the dishwasher will also help keep everything clean.
The best thing you can do is not let your coffee maker sit for very long in between cleanings, but the next best thing you can do is give it a deep clean once a month to ensure the best quality flavor you can get!
Deep Cleaning Your Coffee Maker
In general, when we talk about deep cleaning your coffee maker, we’re talking about the coffee carafe, or the glass pieces of your coffee maker.
Yes, a good scrubbing and cleaning after each use is going to be better than nothing, but by doing a deep clean every month you’re ensuring that your coffee is the best it can possibly be.
Deep cleaning your coffee maker is pretty simple. The only things you need are some water and white vinegar.
First, you will take the water tank of the coffee maker and fill it up with a mixture of ½ water and ½ white vinegar. This solution acts as a natural cleaner and will help loosen up and clean any residue that may be left over in the coffee maker.
Once you have the water tank filled with this mixture, you’ll want to turn the coffee maker on and let it run half way through the brew cycle. This will flush the cleaning mixture through the internal drip mechanism cleaning it out.
Once you’re halfway through the brewing cycle, turn the coffee maker off and let the mixture steep through for about 45 minutes, then turn the coffee maker back on and let the remaining time run through.
Once the cleaning mixture has fully run through the coffee maker, discard the water that is now in the carafe and refill the water tank on the coffee maker with plain water. Run this water through the coffee machine, then discard it and do that whole process again.
Once the water has run through the coffee maker a couple times you can be sure that your coffee maker is clean.
If you’re worried about having any leftover vinegar in the coffee carafe you can pour some of the water in the carafe into a cup and then sprinkle some baking soda into the cup. If the baking soda fizzles, then you know there is a little vinegar still left in the solution and you should run water through it again until it’s clear.
You really don’t want to have a vinegary taste to your next cup of coffee. Yuck!
Cleaning your coffee maker regularly is important to ensure that your coffee tastes as best as possible. It also helps to prevent build up, mold, contaminants and other gross things that might start to accumulate within the coffee maker.
Wouldn’t you enjoy that cup of coffee better knowing that it came from the cleanest possible source?
