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Bean to cup coffee machines are some of the best coffee machines for making that perfect cup. What’s more, most of the time they don’t require too much maintenance to keep making great cups of coffee. However, you still need to clean it now and then to make sure you make a quality cup of joe every time. If you’re looking to find out how to clean a bean to cup coffee machine, find out here.
Is It Too Late To Start Regularly Cleaning my Machine?
If you’re someone who never cleans their bean to cup coffee machine, you’re not alone.
One recent study found that over 20% of bean to cup coffee drinkers have never descaled or cleaned their coffee machines. Crazy, right? What’s more, 20% of bean to cup coffee drinkers also only clean their machines once a year.
However, if you want your coffee to taste nice, and you want to avoid leaks or other problems with your machine, you should avoid doing what these coffee drinkers do above and start cleaning regularly.
How to Clean a Bean to Cup Coffee Machine: It Depends on What Machine You Have
Some machines need to be cleaned differently. This can sometimes be a long and arduous process, but most of the time it is quick and easy.
Luckily, many machines have automatic rinsing buttons to rinse the machines and drastically reduce the amount of buildup that occurs in them. Although this will eliminate the large majority of buildup, it won’t get rid of all of it. You will have to clean the sections the automatic rinser doesn’t pick up differently, this all depends on which machine you have.
Many machines also have descaler functions. This is extremely important for reducing limescale buildup, among many things. For many coffee machines, this is quite easy to do, so don’t worry too much about whether you have to take loads of time out of your day to do it.
If you have a bean to cup coffee machine from one of the top manufacturers, they will have detailed instructions on how to clean it. We always recommend that you read the manual before starting to use the machine to learn all the ins and outs when it comes to cleaning them.
However, if you’ve lost one, you can easily download it off the website of the manufacturer.
How to Use the Built-in Cleaning Function
As mentioned earlier, many machines come with a built-in cleaning and descaling function, making your life easier.
But how can it clean itself? Easy. When the built-in cleaning function button is pressed, it will run hot water throughout the machine. This is perfect if you want to stop the coffee from clogging the pipes in the machine. What’s more, it takes minimal effort and time to do.
When you press this button, you will normally need to place a cup or tray under the coffee spout so that the hot water doesn’t overfill the drip tray.
However, not all bean to cup coffee machines with a cleaning function are the same. Some machines have cleaning tablets that you will need to buy for them to clean the machine properly.
How to Clean a Bean to Cup Coffee Machine: What You Need to Know About the Descaling Function
Descaling is extremely important for any coffee machine. If your coffee machine is not descaled, it can lead to many big problems.
One such problem is that when limescale builds up, the water flow would be greatly reduced. This causes many different issues, such as the machine noise wildly increasing, the coffee spout leaking, and the taste of the coffee not being as nice as it should be.
Just like the built-in cleaning function, every bean to cup coffee machine has a different process for descaling. However, for most of them, you only need to fill up the water tank to the brim with a concoction of water and a descaler solution, and then press the descaling button on the machine.
Once the machine has completed the descaling process, it will then rinse it through again to ensure that it is safe for you to drink coffee out of once more.
When using the descaler option, you need to be careful. If you use the wrong descaler fluid, it can break the machine. Check the manual or the website to make sure.
What If My Machine Doesn’t Have an Automatic Cleaning Option?
Although automatic functions are great for cleaning them, not all machines have them. What’s more, they also don’t get rid of all the ground coffee that has accumulated in all the cracks and crevices.
However, many bean to cup coffee machines can be taken apart and the components can be individually cleaned, making it easy to wash the inside and get to the hard-to-reach parts.
How Often Should I Clean It?
After getting a new bean to cup coffee machine, many people forget to consistently clean it.
The answer to how often it should be cleaned varies a lot. Most manufacturers will give a time for when it should be regularly cleaned, but if not, we recommend for you to do it every month at the very least.
If you find your machine not working or not working as it should, the problem could very well be that it hasn’t been cleaned recently. Make sure to thoroughly wash it before trying to troubleshoot the problem.
How to Clean a Bean to Cup Coffee Machine: A Summary
Cleaning a bean to cup coffee machine is easy once you know how to do it. By using the automatic functions you can save time, and get your machine working well to make the very best cup of coffee.
Remember to regularly clean it for best results, and if you can’t figure out how to use the automatic functions check out the manufacturer’s website. However, don’t forget to continue manually cleaning to reach those tight spaces to make your bean to cup coffee machine spotless.
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