Coffee lover? You’ve clicked on the right article! If you’re anything like us, then you’ll agree with us when we say that, when it comes to making that perfect cup of coffee at home, nothing quite matches the taste and convenience of making coffee in your own coffee maker each morning.
But when you’re brewing coffee every day – or multiple times a day! – your coffee pot can begin to get dirty. Not only does the serving pot itself begin to get a bit dull and grimy, but buildup also begins to form inside the inner workings of your coffee maker.
If this sounds familiar, you may want to learn how to clean your coffee maker with apple cider vinegar!
So, without further ado, just read on for simple, easy-to-follow instructions on how to try this method out today.
Table of Contents
How do you know when it’s time to clean your coffee maker?
Adding a coffee pot to your collection of kitchen appliances is definitely more affordable than running out to a coffee shop each morning! Plus, coffee makers now come with a ton of innovative features, including built-in filtration systems, milk frothing abilities, and even a pause-and-serve, which makes brewing the perfect cup of java easier than ever. But how do you know when you should clean your coffee maker?
Aside from the obvious, (It looks dirty!), you may notice a change in the taste of your coffee over time. If you clean your coffee pot too infrequently, you may also find that it’s no longer brewing well, as buildup can impact the flow of water through the machine.
Luckily, many machines have a descale indicator to remind you it’s time to clean your coffee maker. Otherwise, we recommend cleaning your coffee pot with a descaler, such as apple cider vinegar, once a month. If you have hard water, your coffee pot may also need to be cleaned more frequently.
Apple cider vinegar is affordable, effective, and exceptionally good at cleaning coffee makers (even coffee makers with reusable pods): cleaning your coffee maker with apple cider vinegar will ensure that you are able to keep your go-to coffee maker in spick and span condition, time and time again.
Before using apple cider vinegar to descale your coffee pot, be sure to read the manufacturer’s instructions; some models may require you to use their own brand of descaler to maintain your warranty.
But for most coffee machines, try apple cider vinegar for an affordable and effective cleaning solution.
Why Is Apple Cider Vinegar So Good At Cleaning Coffee Makers?
While apple cider vinegar might not be the first thing that springs to your mind when considering the perfect cleaning product for your coffee maker, as it turns out, it’s actually one of the best (and least expensive) products to use in getting your coffee maker sparkling clean.
Wondering why that is, though. All types of vinegar share the same key ingredient of acetic acid, which is a type of acid that is not only able to give vinegar its distinctive and strong smell that we’re all familiar with but also able to ensure that apple cider vinegar can double up as a pretty powerful cleaning agent, too.
Acetic acid is so powerful and good at cleaning household surfaces, in fact, that you might be surprised to learn that many cleaning products on the market will typically tend to contain a certain percentage of acetic acid – particularly in products such as disinfectants.
In addition to being great for all disinfectant purposes, apple cider vinegar is also great at getting rid of a variety of stubborn stains caused by everyday mess, mineral scaling, grease from cooking, and much more – including cleaning the interior of a coffee maker.
To help break all of that down a little more, here are some fast facts about why vinegar is such a great cleaning product:
- Even though vinegar is specifically intended to be used as a food additive or flavor enhancement, it also doubles up as an extremely effective disinfectant due to its high levels of acidic content. So much so, that vinegar has the ability to kill off lots of nasty bacteria, germs, and more across a variety of different surfaces and appliances.
- As vinegar is nontoxic and totally edible, it means it can be used with the peace of mind that there will be no harmful fumes emitted. This sets it apart from many other cleaning products and agents currently on the market.
- Out of all cleaning products currently available to buy, vinegar is one of the most affordable options – and offers plenty of versatility for that matter, too! Besides using it to clean your coffee maker, you can also use it to clean other surfaces/appliances in your kitchen, as well as use it at dinnertime, too.
How To Clean Your Coffee Maker With Apple Cider Vinegar: Step-By-Step Instructions:
- Empty your coffee maker: First things first, you’re going to want to make sure that you have removed everything from inside your coffee maker. This includes removing any leftover water and coffee grounds, as this will only get in the way when it comes to cleaning.
- Prepare the apple cider vinegar cleaning solution: To make sure that you get the most optimally clean coffee maker, we recommend that you prepare a solution that is around 3 parts apple cider vinegar and 2 parts water in accordance with the size of your coffee maker. As a side note, if your coffee maker is in need of a particularly deep clean, then please feel free to raise the concentration of apple cider vinegar that you plan to use. It’s entirely up to you!
- Switch your coffee maker onto brew, but pause it halfway through: After you have prepared your apple cider vinegar solution and poured it into the interior of your coffee maker, you will then be ready to begin cleaning. Snap the lid closed and switch your coffee maker onto its brew cycle, and allow your coffee maker to begin heating up the solution and brew/fill the pot halfway. Then pause the cycle for an hour. This will allow the apple cider vinegar solution to really dissolve any buildup within the coffee maker. NOTE: Your coffee maker may have its own cleaning or descaling cycle. If so, use the apple cider vinegar solution but run the descaling/cleaning cycle as per the manufacturer’s directions.
- Resume the brew cycle: After you have let the solution sit for an hour or so, you can then resume your coffee maker’s full brew cycle. This will finish cleaning your coffee maker and ensure that it gets a thorough wash.
- Rinse your coffee maker with water: Once the above has been completed, you will then need to dump out the solution from the carafe and rinse it with water. Pour clean water into the coffee maker, select the brew cycle and allow it to run with just the clean water. This will allow the machine to be rinsed thoroughly. Repeat two more times to remove all the vinegar solution from the coffee maker. Allow it to dry, and you will be ready to begin using it again!
Closing Thoughts
Choosing to clean your coffee maker with apple cider vinegar is an affordable and effective way to ensure you brew the perfect cup of coffee every time.
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