Cleaning Your Coffee Maker

When was the last time that you cleaned your coffee maker? Last month? Last year? Or never like me?

A dirty coffee maker can ruin even the best coffee. Limescale, mineral deposits build up inside, tainting the way our morning brew tastes. Cleaning it is very simple to do and from the very next pot of coffee that you make, you'll taste a dramatic difference.

There are several different ways to clean a coffee machine, I used the white vinegar method because it was effective and cheap. It didn't hurt that I had a bottle of it sitting in my cupboard.

1st Step - Fill your the pot with one third vinegar and two thirds cold water.

2nd Step - Put a filter in.

3rd Step - Pour the water and vinegar into your water chamber, then turn it on. Let it go through the normal brewing cycle, filling up the pot with the oil and vinegar mixture. If possible, open up your windows to dilute the not so pleasant vinegar smell.

4th Step - Throw out the filter. You might be surprised with how much sediment and minerals are caught in the filter

Let the it sit and cool for ten to fifteen minutes.

5th Step - Rinse the pot. If it was like my coffee maker and still needs more cleaning, you can repeat the previous steps.

6th Step - Once you're done with the vinegar, repeat the process twice more with just cool water to get rid of any remaining vinegar and the accompanying odor. If you can still smell it, you can repeat the process as much as you need.

Depending on your water quality, it's recommended that you clean your coffee maker anywhere from every seven to fourteen days for the best tasting results.

One warning. This isn't a quick process. It can take over an hour to completely clean your coffee maker, so if you're in need of some caffeine, make the coffee now and clean the machine later.

Alternatives to vinegar include:

Two denture cleaning tablets, just make sure they dissolve before you put them into the water chamber.

Citric acid mixed with four cups of hot water and an additional four cups of cold water.

There's even cleaning solutions that you can buy at most grocery stores.

You an also put a glass marble in to the water chamber. It attracts mineral deposits in hard water so that you only have to wash the marble once a week instead of cleaning the whole machine.

How To Clean Your Coffee Pot

You shouldn't use soap to clean your pot or put it into the dishwasher. The soap can actually attach itself to the oils from leftover coffee, leaving soap residue behind

Instead, use ice cubes with a little bit of water. Swirl the ice and water around the coffee pot. If you have tough stains, try adding some salt. Using just ice and water wasn't strong enough to clean mine, but the addition of salt a noticeable difference.

Thanks To : Mr Coffee BVMC-FM1 Keurig B60