How to Make Your Coffee Machine Last
If you were recently given a coffee machine, then you’re about to learn that it’s more than just a machine. This is a machine that is one of the most complicated appliances you could ever have in your kitchen. We’re not just talking about a pod machine where you pop in a coffee flavored pod and wait for the water to run through it. We’re talking about a full coffee machine that you might find in a cafe or in an office kitchen.
The coffee machine that you get can last you for a long time if it’s been well maintained, but if you cut corners you’re going to run into problems. The whole point of getting a coffee machine is to cut your costs of your morning coffee because you can make a barista style coffee at home. With the right coffee tools, such as a coffee brush for good clean up, you can ensure that your coffee machine lasts longer. Below we’ve put together a list of tips to help you to save money and keep your machine giving you those hot, frothy coffees for a while yet.
- Make sure that you clean it thoroughly following the manufacturer’s instructions. You should be cleaning your coffee machine at least once a week thoroughly, and you should be giving it a quick clean after each use. Wiping down the milk frother, the steam wand and rinsing the group head and drip tray are a daily occurrence and every time you make a cup of coffee you should be doing this as a minimum. If you’ve left it for too long, you might need to use warm soapy water, but you shouldn’t be leaving it for too long anyway. The coffee brush we mentioned earlier can help you to get rid of any coffee grounds that have got in between any of the small crevices.
- Replace your water filter. The water filter helps you to have that purer cup of coffee, but it also works to prevent any scale buildups. A buildup of scale can actually affect the performance of the machine, and if you want to keep having those delicious coffees every day, you need to make sure that it’s performing as well as it should be. If you live in a hard water area then you’ll need to probably change the water filter more often, so keep a close eye on it as you use it.
- Use a good descaler. Mineral deposits can build up on your machines, boilers and internal systems over time. How often you need to descale will really depend on the hardness of the water in your area. You need to get everything running smoothly, and if you don’t regularly descale the machine, it could stop working, which puts your coffee mornings into a spiral. Read through the manual and stick to exactly what the manufacturer of your specific coffee machine says.
- Don’t forget your grinder. While you’re busy wiping out and cleaning your coffee machine, you shouldn’t forget the coffee bean grinder. Grinding is an important part of the coffee making process, and if you grind the beans incorrectly, no amount of frothy milk art is going to make a difference to make the coffee taste good. Unevenly ground beans are going to make the coffee taste funny anyway, so you need to make sure that the grinder is always working to keep your beans ground and working perfectly.
- Learn when it goes wrong. You need to know the signs that something might be wrong with your coffee machine, and addressing any issues as they arise is good practice in your relationship with the machine in general. You shouldn’t ignore the little niggles, and if you take care of it quickly, they’ll stay little niggles and will keep your machine happy. You want to have quality coffee coming through, and that means keeping an eye on things that could go wrong and learning how to look after the machine if that happens.
- Don’t leave it switched on. It’s OK to leave your coffee machine switched on during the day if you have more than one cup of coffee, but at night time, turn it off. Not only do you want to save energy, but leaving it on all the time will wear down the machine. You don’t want it to be too hot to use.
When you look after your coffee machine properly, you’ll end up with a delicious cup of coffee every day rather than just hit and miss cups that you could really let go of.
