Coffee represents an everyday ritual for countless coffee lovers and consumers not only in Italy, but all over the world. Although the mocha keeps being the favourite and most widespread method to brew it at least across Italy, more and more people are keen on choosing to prepare it to make use of an espresso coffee machine. Often chosen for the flavour for its versatility and convenience, the importance of regular cleaning is frequently underestimated.

In this article we are about to see a few suggestions that will make your maintenance more efficient, apart from evaluating in fact how to effectively clean your home coffee machine with or without vinegar.

Let’s clean your coffee machine WITH vinegar!

Before you begin, there is something you should consider! Check your coffee machine's manual to ensure that cleaning with vinegar is recommended by the manufacturer, since some brands do not go that, as a few of their parts are made in metal. The following process is useful to descale your coffee maker and manages to remove the mineral build-up. Here are the few tools you need:

Soft cloths
Dish soap
Water
White vinegar

Directions:

Empty your coffee machine by remove its parts, then clean the carafe, the brew basket and the permanent filter with some hot soapy water.
Mix equal parts of white vinegar and water. Otherwise, you can also add vinegar directly into the machine, soon followed by by water.
Fill your water reservoir with your water and vinegar and mixture. Furthermore, weather you are using paper filters, it is time to place one in the brew basket.
Run your coffee machine through half of a drip cycle and then stop it to let your mixture sit both in the reservoir and the water channel. Allow it to sit from half an hour to an hour.
Resume the brew cycle and let it run completely letting your mixture run through your coffee machine, then discard the mixture from the carafe and replace the paper filter in case you use it.
At this point, you might run white vinegar through your coffee maker once or even twice, just before water rinses. Time to fill the water chamber with plain water and then run it through the whole system for a full brew cycle, then discard the water, and – still if you are using it – replace the paper filter. Allow your coffee machine to cool down and then go for another full brew cycle, this time with water.
All that is left to do is clean up the carafe and brew basket with some hot and soapy water. In addition, a change of water filter might also be a good idea in case your brewer has one.

Finally, polish the exterior of your coffee machine with a damp soft cloth.

Let’s clean your coffee machine WITHOUT vinegar!

In this case, all you must do is to follow these instructions helping you to remove residue and scale by simply using water and dish soap.

Remove the Brew Basket of your coffee machine and then discard the grounds and any disposable or permanent paper filter.
Partially fill your sink or a large enough container with hot water.
Add dish soap and then make use of a formulated brand to remove oil.
Soak your brew basket and your permanent filter - weather you have one - into the hot and soapy water and wash them thoroughly using a soft cloth or sponge to remove any coffee grounds or oily residue left.
Discard any residual and rinse your carafe in warm water, washing it in the same way.
Rinse your brew basket, permanent filter and carafe with warm water, then wipe with a dry cloth just before setting them to dry off.
By using a soft cloth dipped in the soapy water wipe down
every remaining part of your coffee machine to remove any residual. At this point, dampen a cloth in fresh water to clean away any soap residue.
Now you can reassemble your coffee machine and restart using it.

Here are a few hints and tips that will help you make your coffee the best way, avoiding any bitter taste and making your brewing experience even better day after day! Apart from what we noted in the previous paragraphs, we fervently suggest trying a descaling liquid, a reliable product able to prolong your coffee machine’s life, granting you the certainty to enjoy your delightful everyday cup, since coffee machines always deserve the best cleaning products available.