You might be worried about how to clean espresso machine with citric acid. Don’t be – it’s quite simple.

Every time you pull a delicious shot of espresso or froth foamy milk, your espresso machine accrues a layer of espresso debris, oils, milk-proteins, and mineral-deposits. While it is important to clean your machine after every use, chemically cleaning your machine once a week to dissolve built-up espresso debris is highly recommended. To rid your machine of built-up oils, milk-protein, and mineral deposits, descale your machine every three to four months.

To clean an espresso machine after using it, scrub your portafilter and basket clean with a nylon brush or pad. Then, use a brush to clean the gasket, and wash the screen and underside of the group. To keep your stream wand sanitized, purge it before and after every use, which will prevent clogs. Alternatively, if you need to descale your machine of mineral deposits, fill the reservoir with fresh water. Then, add descaling solution, and run it through the steam wand, group, and machine.

Cleaning: It’s a necessary evil of everyday life.  Cleaning is something no one likes to do, but everyone has to do it. but because it brings back memories of Mom saying you can’t play outside until your room is clean. Chores are the essential speed bumps in life on the road to fun.

The benefits of cleanliness far outweigh the annoyance of filth. Take for example an espresso machine.  An espresso machine has many different, complicated parts that come in contact not just with oh-so-delicious coffee, but with germs too.  If not properly taken care of and sanitized, your investment of an at-home espresso machine will go right down the drain.  And don’t forget, just because your coffee maker is a little simpler than an espresso machine doesn’t mean that it doesn’t need to be cleaned either!  Clean and sanitized brewing equipment, no matter what type it may be, yields better tasting coffee.

A little cleaning every so often isn’t that hard to do, and the benefits outnumber the bad a bazillion times over. Remember, a clean machine makes a mean java bean!

Want to learn more tips and tricks about home brewing? Come down to The Roasterie plant for a tour (and a workshop on Saturdays!).

Remember what that beautiful machine brings to your life each day – the lovely, rich, liquid gold jolt of caffeinated delight.

Limescale can clog up your machine and cause serious damage. Not to mention it can affect the taste of your coffee.

No matter what your water is like (and even if you used bottled water), it is a good idea to descale your espresso machine on a regular basis.

This is a proactive step to keep your machine healthy and happy – which translates to keeping you (and other family members) cheerful because your machine works well and your coffee tastes great.

Before you decide on an approach, please check your owner’s manual to see if there are any restrictions or if they recommend another method.

If you want to know more about your water, you can test it to see what minerals (and how much of them!) are in it.

If minerals are high, it is a sign to descale your espresso machine more often. You can find a water testing kit here:

Every machine is different and every water source is different; however, the overall process is the same.

Let’s go through the hows and whys of each of the descaling cleaners here – so you can make an informed decision as to what is right for you.

Citric acid vs. vinegar vs. a commercially-produced descaling product is a personal choice.

It is sold in a dry powdered form markets and grocery stores, and is often called because of its physical resemblance to table salt.

It is used in culinary applications, as an alternative to vinegar or lemon juice, where a pure acid is needed.

You can find this in health food stores, in some grocery stores or on Amazon.com here.

A popular citric acid descaler recipe has a citric acid descaling ratio of one quart of water to two tablespoons of citric acid.

The cons: citric acid can create a different kind of build-up within your machine over the longer term.

You can combat this by using different products and rotating them in a cycle, or by using a citric acid descaling solution three times out of four and using a commercial product that fourth time.

The vinegar descaling solution for espresso machines that appears to work best is a ratio of 25% vinegar to 75% water.

It might work for some… one of the challenges is that it doesn’t always work work well for hard water – and vinegar and citric acid are cheaper.

You can also choose to approach descaling coffee machine with vinegar and then cycle in commercial descaling product every three or four cleanings.

It must feel that you are hearing an echo of this one statement over and over in this article, but it is important: please check your owner’s manual to see the specific instructions for your machine.

If you do, then you get to do a little happy dance. If not, you’ll need to do it manually.

It’s up to you what you use. Citric acid, vinegar and lemon juice are all all-natural.

Any commercially-made descaling products – powders, tablets etc. – that you decide to use should clearly state that they are all-natural as well. Most are.

At some point, you will get into a routine with this and have a “go-to” descaling recipe or product that you like and that works.

It may be that you choose to go the espresso machine descaler homemade route with vinegar or citric acid, or you might purchase a descaling product.

Depending on what type of product you decide to use – a homemade solution or a commercially made product – there might be an additional step.

If you’re using citric acid, you need to mix up the powder with water; if you’re using vinegar, you dilute it in water – and for a commercial product, please follow the directions.

In this step, you fill up your reservoir with your cleaning solution (the mixture with the water) – just as if you were making coffee.

It runs through your boiler and out through the machine. You will want to run this through your steam wand too.

It runs through your espresso maker, cleaning away gunk and other bits and pieces that come from the minerals and other elements in your water.

This process dissolves those things as it goes – so that it doesn’t sit there and build up, clogging the pipes.

If you deal with hard water where you live and are concerned about it, you can run this process twice, back-to-back, just to be sure you got all the gunk.

Now, sometimes what happens is that in the middle of a descaling process, you are hit with the NEED for an espresso.

Even with your machine in the middle of this cleaning process, you can make yourself a double shot – without an espresso machine.

Click here to learn how to do this. It’s a real McGyver move to be able to make espresso without an espresso machine.

After you have done your descaling rinse, fill up your reservoir ONLY with water this time and do it all over again.

Your espresso machine (and the coffee you make post-descale process) will benefit from rinsing after the descaling process, no matter what option you use.

This is done to be sure that all of the citric acid, vinegar or other commercially-made descaling product has been flushed out of your machine.

You don’t want your morning espresso tasting like vinegar or citric acid or some other descaling product.

When you feel that you are done with the rinse rinse, take a big sniff of the water that has come out and make sure that it only smells like water.

And – if it looks the least bit cloudy, it is recommended that you start the ENTIRE process all over.

You want to see clear water so you know there won’t be any descaling product flavor lingering about.

Once the water is clear and it smells like, well… water, you are good to make coffee again!

One of the things you can do to keep yourself caffeinated throughout this process – it takes about 20 minutes all in – is to have some chocolate covered coffee beans around.

After all, you took the time to care for your espresso machine, now it’s time for it to return the favor.

And after all that, perhaps a coffee liqueur might be order. You can find recipes here.

And if you have any buddies who want to know how to descale their machine but are unsure, please share!

Back wash your machine regularly.  If you use your machine daily, once a month will be sufficient. Insert the blind filter (which is a solid filter plate that comes with your machine, that prevents water from running through the portafilter) into the portafilter and run the hot water as you would for an espresso.