person using a rag to clean their commercial coffee machine

How To Clean Your Coffee Machine

Maintaining a coffee machine, particularly an espresso machine, is an essential part of running a successful UK café. This guide will provide practical coffee machine cleaning tips to keep your machine in top condition for the best possible coffee.

 

Benefits of coffee machine cleaning

Coffee machine cleaning is crucial for a number of reasons:

Taste and aroma: Coffee oils degrade and become rancid, leading to bitter or unusual flavours.

Machine longevity and reliability: Clogged steam wands, blocked nozzles, and scale build-up can cause breakdowns. These issues are costly to fix and can lead to downtime.

Health and hygiene: In the UK, cafés have a legal duty to provide hygienic conditions. Milk residues and stale grounds provide a breeding ground for bacteria.

Consistent results: Clean machines operate at optimal pressures, temperatures and provide consistent extraction. This consistency is essential for quality control in a commercial environment.


Daily tasks to keep your coffee machine in shape

Make these steps a part of your daily closing routine:

Drip tray and grounds drawer: Empty and wipe out the drip tray and grounds drawer. Coffee dust left in a tray or drawer can form a sticky build-up.

Backflush with a blind basket and detergent: This process flushes away oils and residue from the group head and is essential with espresso machines.

Steam wand: After each steam use, purge water through the wand, wipe down and check inside for milk residue. Milk deposits are one of the quickest ways for bacteria to form.

Portafilters, baskets, and group handles: Give these components a rinse with fresh water to wash away oils and pockets of ground dust.

Cleaning your coffee machine daily should only take a few minutes.

 

Weekly deep clean routine 

Once a week, it’s important to go a little deeper on your coffee machine cleaning:

Shower screens and group heads: Remove and clean with a brush and a food-safe detergent. Coffee oils dry hard and can require some scrubbing.

Portafilters and other metal parts: Remove and soak for 20–30 minutes in a detergent solution to remove stubborn build-up.

Steam wand: Clean inside and out. Remove, soak in a milk-system cleaner and flush through thoroughly.

Weekly cleaning routines will prevent serious build-up and help maintain coffee quality and hygienic operation.


Monthly cleaning, maintenance and descaling 

A monthly deep clean will extend the life of your machine:

Descaling: UK tap water is quite hard and leads to limescale accumulation. Follow your manufacturer’s instructions to run a descaling cycle using a proper coffee-machine descaler through the boiler, group head and steam wand.

Flush: Flush your machine with multiple tanks of fresh water to clear residual descaler.

Grinder burrs and hoppers: Consider removing and cleaning grinder burrs and hoppers, where oils and dust can accumulate. This is more of a performance issue, as oils and grinds can alter flavour and clog up mechanisms.

Monthly cleaning will protect internal components, maintain pressure, taste and help avoid unexpected breakdowns.


Cleaning tips and tools for UK cafes 

Select café-grade, UK-available supplies: 

Coffee machine cleaner: Any cleaner that is effective at breaking down coffee oils and residues.

Food-safe detergents and descalers: Available from a variety of suppliers. Look for machine-specific cleaners, not vinegar, which can damage seals and gaskets.

Cleaning brushes, blind baskets and cloths: Proper tools make cleaning faster and more effective.

Pipe cleaners: Use these to clean through wands and narrow passages.

Stock up on these essentials to keep your coffee machine in top shape.


Tips for longevity and hygiene compliance 

Keep a cleaning log: Record daily, weekly and monthly cleans in a checklist. This will ensure consistency and provide a record in the event of an inspection.

Staff training: Train all staff on the importance of coffee machine cleaning and maintenance. A missed cleaning here and there can lead to stale coffee and potential damage to machine parts.

Filtered/softened water: If hard water is an issue, consider using filtered or softened water. This will improve water quality and reduce limescale build-up.

Performance checks: If you find your shots are tasting off or extraction is becoming slow, this can often be an early indication that a clean is required.


Conclusion 

Following a consistent coffee machine cleaning routine will help your commercial coffee machine stay hygienic, efficient and, of course, producing delicious coffee. Implement these daily, weekly and monthly tips to maintain your commercial coffee machine and provide great coffee. Want to go the extra mile? Check out Cotswold Coffee’s servicing options or browse our cleaning supplies.

 

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