Coffee machine cleaner and maintenance

Which coffee machine cleaner do you need?

Coffee oils, milk residue and limescale are three different problems, and each one needs its own product. Cleaning tablets and cleaning powder dissolve the coffee oils that build up in the brewing unit and the group head. A milk cleaner removes the film that milk leaves in the frother and the milk hose. A descaler removes the limescale that forms in the boiler and the pipes. Use the product your manual asks for, at the moment your machine asks for it.

Cleaning tablets and espresso machine cleaner

Most bean-to-cup machines have a cleaning programme that uses one tablet per cycle. Tablets come in different sizes, so check which size your machine takes before you order:

• 1 g: Café du Jour Cleaning Tablet 1 g and Clean Express Cleaning tablets 1 gram x 100 pieces
• 1.5 g: Cafetto Tevo® mini, 100 pieces
• 2.5 g: Café du Jour Cleaning Tablet 2.5 g, Clean Express Cleaning tablets 2,5 gram x 60 pieces and Cafetto Tevo® Maxi, 150 pieces

A portafilter machine is cleaned by backflushing: you swap the filter basket for a blind filter, add cleaning powder and let the pump push water back through the group head. Clean Express Cleaning powder / Detergent 900 gram and Cafetto EVO® cleaning powder, 500 g are the powders for this job.

Milk system

Milk leaves a film in the frother, the milk hose and the steam wand that plain water does not shift. Clean Express clean cappuccino 1000 ml is a cleaner made for the milk system. If you froth by hand, the Milk / Cappuccino Thermometer tells you when to stop heating.

Descaling

How often you need to descale depends on how hard your water is and how much coffee you make; most machines tell you when it is time. You can choose the format that suits you:

• Liquid: Bottle Descaler 500 ml, universal and good for four descaling cycles
• Powder, one cycle per sachet: Bag of descaling powder and Café du Jour Descaler 1 x 50 g
• Powder, four cycles: Café du Jour Descaler 4x50 g
• Tablets: Café du Jour Descaling tablets, 6 pieces

Water filters

A water filter catches part of the limescale before it reaches the machine, so the time between descaling cycles gets longer. For the water tank there is the BRITA AquaGusto universal water filter 100/250 and the universal water filter for espresso machines. Machines on a water connection use the Brita Purity C150 Quell ST Filter Cartridge with a matching filter head, and for catering there is the DVA Water Descaler / Water Filter.

Grinder and bean hopper

Coffee oils also collect in the grinder and the bean hopper, where they go stale and end up in your fresh beans. Puly Grind coffee grinder cleaner (10 bags) and Urnex Grindz (430 g) are ground through the burrs like coffee; the Puly Grind hopper cleaner (200 ml) is for the bean compartment.

Tools for the espresso machine

• Rubber blind filter, Ø 50 mm and stainless steel blind filter, Ø 58 mm for backflushing
• Group Head Brush for coffee grounds around the seal
• Haynes Lubri-Film Plus, a food-grade lubricant for seals and moving parts

A simple coffee machine maintenance routine

• Every day: empty the grounds container and the drip tray, and rinse the milk system after use.
• When the machine asks: run the cleaning programme with a tablet, or backflush with cleaning powder.
• When the machine asks: descale, and replace the water filter as your manual describes.