Cleaning and maintaining your espresso machine is essential, but it’s definitely not the most fun part of being a home barista.
That’s exactly why it often gets skipped or even completely neglected.
To make it easier, we’ve divided the maintenance of your espresso machine into four categories, so you can easily create a maintenance schedule!
Espresso machine cleaning schedule
Espresso machine cleaning schedule:
Daily: Clean the portafilter, brew group, and steam wand.
Weekly: Deep-clean the portafilter and backflush the brew group (without cleaning powder).
Quarterly: Replace the water filter and clean the brew group with cleaning powder or tablet.
Annually: Descale the espresso machine.
Daily maintenance
After each espresso, we recommend running through these three steps to ensure your espresso machine stays clean:
- Knock out your puck and wipe down the portafilter
-
Brush your group head
-
Clean the steam wand and/or workspace
Requirements daily maintenance:
- A knock box
- Barista cloths
- Group head brush
Cleaning your portafilter
After you have brewed the perfect shot of espresso, there is a nice used coffee puck in your portafilter, which you can knock out into a knock box or drawer.
After knocking out your used puck, there is always some coffee residue left in the portafilter. It is important to wipe down your portafilter using a cloth to get rid of this residue.
Then place the portafilter back in the espresso machine for a short rinse, so run some water through it to flush out the last coffee residues.
Cleaning group head
After making an espresso, coffee residue remains on your filter and in the rim of your brewing group. Think leftover grounds and oil residue.
Use a group head cleaning brush to clean the rubber ring in the brewing group.
Also important: let your machine rinse briefly to flush out any coffee residue.
Cleaning steamwand and workstation
After using the steam wand, milk residues are always left behind.
It goes without saying that this is not hygienic, besides, the milk can clog up your steam pipe.
Cleaning your steam wand after use is a small effort:
1.After use, briefly turn on the steam again to remove any milk residue in your steam pipe
2.Wipe the steam pipe with a wet barista cloth
Weekly maintenance
The following things are important to do every week to keep your machine clean and running smoothly:
- Deep clean your portafilter head
- Backflush your espressomachine
Requirements:
- Barista cloth
- Blind filter basket
- Espresso machine cleaner
- Brew group brush
Deep cleaning your portafilter
Make sure you give your portafilter a good cleaning once a week.
That means: remove the filter basket and clean it completely with warm water and some soap.
Also make sure to clean the inside of your portafilter with warm water and soap, and to dry them completely before using them again.
Backflushing
Even though you flush your portafilter daily, it is important to give it some extra attention once every week.
It is also important to regularly clean the inside of your espresso machine’s brewing group, which is called backflushing.
Note: backflushing is not possible with every espresso machine, so always check the manual of your machine.
Below, we will explain this process for DeLonghi, Sage/Solis and espresso machines with an e61 brewing group so that you know how to backflush any of these machines.
Backflushing De’Longhi
As far as we have experienced and can find, there are no DeLonghi espresso machines that can be backflushed. So you don’t need a blind filter for this. Of course, if in doubt, it is useful to take a look at the user manual of your espresso machine.
Although backflushing is not possible, you do need to clean the brewing group. You do this by running the machine a few times without coffee. Use the brewing group brush to clean the brew head.
Backflushing Sage
In this blog, we have bundled all the cleaning advice you need for maintaining, descaling and backflushing your Sage espressomachine.
E61 brewing group ‘backflushing’
To blind-filter your E61 espresso machine, it is important to first switch it on and let it warm up.
When the machine is up to temperature, remove the filter basket from the portafilter and replace it with a blind filterbasket.
Place the portafilter with blindfilter in the espresso machine let it run for 5 seconds. Repeat this several times until you see clean water.
When you’re done, remove the portafilter from the espresso machine and rinse it, ready to make another espresso!
Quarterly maintenance
Quartetly maintenance of your espressomachine means:
- Changing your water filter
- Backflushing your machine with espresso machine cleaner
- Water filter
- Blind filter basket
- Espresso machine cleaning powder
Changing your water filter
You replace your water filter every 2 to 3 months depending on the hardness of the water.
Which water filter you need, depends on the kind of espressomachine you have.
For machines with a built in water reservoir, a water filter pouch is easiest. Simply rinse the pouch under the tap and place it in the reservoir.
Try to replace the pouch in the evening, at least 8 hours before your next coffee. This way, you ensure the water filter has had enough time to start working.
Machines with water reservoirs are De’Longhi, Sage and Solis, among others.
For espresso machines that draw water themselves, you can try a water filter that you connect to the water hose.
This may be the case for espresso machines of the following brands: Expobar, VBM, ECM, Isomac, Vibiemme, Bezzera, Rocket, Giotto, BFC, La Nuova Era, etc.
Not sure if it fits your machine? The height is 10cm, diameter 4cm and the diameter of the hose connection is 6mm.
Using this water filter is relatively simple, connect the water filter to the water supply hose of your of your espresso machine, fill the water tank with water, submerge the water filter and turn on the machine briefly to draw the water. Wait about half an hour for the water filter to saturate itself.
Backflushing with espresso machine cleaning powder
Once every 2-3 months, it’s nice to backflush your machine with a detergent.
Basically, you use the same process as weekly backflushing only here you add a bit of espresso maching cleaning powder in your blind filterbasket.
Backflushing E61 brewing group with cleaning powder
- Turn on your espresso machine to let it warm up.
- When the machine is up to temperature, remove the filter tray from the portafilter and replace it with a blind filter.
- Add half a bag of cleaning powder.
- Place the portafilter with blindfilter and cleaner in the espresso machine.
- Let it run for 5 seconds.
- Repeat several times until you see clean water and no residue of the cleaner remains.
- When you are done, remove the portafilter from the espresso machine and rinse it, ready to make another espresso.
Do you have a Sage? Read more about cleaning a Sage espresso machine here.
Yearly maintenance
If you use water filters properly, a lot of limescale buildup is already being prevented. This means it’s sufficient to only descale your machine once a year.
For De’Longhi, Sage and Solis espresso machines, limescale particles in your water tank are a good indicator that it’s time to descale.
Do not use vinegar for this as it can be too aggressive to some parts of your espresso machine.
Your espresso machine may have a specific descaling programme so read the manual for this.
In general, fill the water tank of your espresso machine to the max. Add the descaler, then let the espresso machine run until the tank is completely empty. Then rinse again with water without descaler.
If you have an E61 machine, descaling depends on the type of boiler.
There are three types, a single boiler, a single boiler with heat exchanger (HX, Heat Exchanger) or a double boiler.
With a single boiler, you only need to descale this boiler.
With a boiler with heat exchanger, you need to descale both the coffee part and the tea/steam part.
With the double boiler, you descale both boilers.
How to descale your specific model can be found in the manual of your espresso machine.
Curious about all the tools you need to properly clean and maintain your espresso machine?
Summary
The maintenance schedule above will ensure that you go from sporadic maintenance to structured and proper espresso machine cleaning, so it will last for a long time and you can continue to enjoy the tastiest coffee.
Still looking for barista tools to clean and maintain your machine?
Then you’ve come to the right place. We have everything you need for cleaning and maintaining your espresso machine.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to let us know. We are always easy to reach and willing to help you on your way.
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