How to Clean Your Coffee Maker - Drip and Single Serve via Clean Mama

Coffee makers are one of my favorite appliances that we own. The familiar hum of it brewing away first thing in the morning coupled with the scent of fresh coffee is a morning tradition. With all of the use that a coffee maker gets, it doesn’t take long for it to slow down a bit and make coffee that tastes a little more bitter. Over time and use, a quick peek in to the inside of the machine will reveal the accumulation of hard water deposits. The carafe and exterior may be a little spotty as well. With a simple cleaning job and just one ingredient, your coffee maker will return to all it’s out-of-the-box glory and back to brewing good coffee again. Love your single use coffee machine? No worries, I’ve got that covered as well.

How to Clean a Drip Coffee Machine via Clean Mama

 

How to Clean a Drip Coffee Maker:

  1. Rinse out the carafe, basket holder and reusable filter (if you have one). You want all the grounds to be gone, but you don’t need to wash it thoroughly with soap and water. A good rinse will do until later.
  1. Fill your carafe halfway with plain white distilled vinegar and then the remainder with water. For example, if you have a standard 12 cup coffee maker, fill it to the 6 cup line with vinegar and then top it off to the 12 with cold water.
  1. Pour the vinegar and water mixture in to the water resevoir and begin brewing. Halfway through, turn off your coffee maker and let it sit for 45 minutes or so. The purpose of this step is to allow the vinegar to sit in the inner workings of your coffee maker and gently remove those hard water deposits that can slow your machine down.
  1. After your time is up, finish up the brewing cycle. See all that gunk and residue in your carafe? That’s what has been sitting inside your coffee maker slowing it down and brewing up a bitter cup of coffee. Pour out this solution and refill the water chamber with fresh, clean water.
  1. Run clean water through your coffee machine a minimum of three times, or until the water is clear and the vinegar scent has disipated.
  1. Use a damp microfiber cloth with a dot of soap in order to clean up the exterior of the coffee maker. If you have some hard water deposits on the outside, use a small amount of white vinegar on a cloth to remove. Wash the carafe and filter basket in hot, soapy water and allow it to dry. That’s it!

How to Clean a Single Serve Coffee Machine via Clean Mama

 

How to Clean Your Single Serve Coffee Maker:

There has been a lot of press these days over single use coffee makers and all the germs that have the potential to breed in their inner workings. A simple cleaning process will take care of that as well as remove those hard water deposits that build up and leave your coffee maker chugging a little more slowly.

  1. Begin by unplugging your machine and removing all removable pieces. This includes the water resevoir, K-cup holder and the tray where your mug sits. These pieces can all be washed in warm, soapy water and left to drip dry.
  1. Use a damp microfiber cloth to wipe the entire exterior of your machine. Take care around the K-cup basket to get all those pesky little grounds that remain.
  1. Dry all those pieces that you just washed and reassemble the machine. Go ahead and plug it back in when you have finished this.
  1. Fill the water tank reservoir with one half white vinegar and one half cold water. Turn on the machine and run a cycle without inserting a K cup. Discard this solution and repeat this step until no water and vinegar remains in the water tank.
  1. Fill up the tank with fresh, cold water and run through the cycle with no K cup. Dump the water and repeat until no vinegar smell remains. If you have further issues with performance, I suggest looking at the manual or contacting the manufacturer of your machine for more in-depth help.

No need to have a slow coffee machine, take a couple minutes today to clean your coffee machine and get it working like new again!