by Rena Sandou

Created on: February 07, 2009   Last Updated: February 15, 2009

The true coffee lovers are demanding. They do not drink a cup of coffee just to start their day. They want to taste the perfect cup of coffee. For them, the process of making coffee is something like a ritual. They know the significance of keeping their coffee-maker clean. Purchasing the best coffee beans in the market is definitely a priority but, without a frequent cleaning of your coffee-maker, makes it almost impossible to enjoy the full coffee aroma. An everyday usage leads to an accumulation of previous oils from formerly brewed pots, hard mineral residues and other impurities that alter the taste and flavor of your cup of coffee. These are created in the inner parts of your coffee-maker, thus, just cleaning the coffee pot is not enough.

Cleaning your coffee-maker is something you should do at least once a month so as to ensure perfect taste for your coffee. All you need is vinegar and few simple steps.

(1) Just mix one part of vinegar and two parts of water until you fill up all the coffee pot and pour it in your coffee maker.

(2) Place a new filter in the filter basket in order to restrain the smell of vinegar of passing through to your coffee pot.

(3) Run your coffee-maker and leave it on until all the mixture is finished. If this is the first time you do this, leave your machine rest for 10-15 minutes while it is off and then repeat this step by adding a new mixture of vinegar and water.

(4) Repeat this step again but, this time, just use plain water. Let it cool off again and then repeat it, again with plain water, just to ensure that no smell from the solution is left in your coffee-maker. Follow this step again as many times as needed. Usually, two times are enough.

(5) Now it is time for your coffee pot and filter basket. Be careful; never use soap to clean these parts because soap will tie to the coffee oil residues that will, eventually, give a bizarre taste to your coffee. You can use hot soapy water instead.

Some big restaurants, coffee shops and housekeeping experts recommend baking soda and citric acid (4 tablespoons per water pot) for a meticulous cleaning of the plastic components. The calcium residues on the coffee-maker components are imminent and their quantity depends on the water hardness. There are also mixtures made from coffee-makers manufacturers that you can buy, but this is an unnecessary expense because they accomplish the same thing with the above ingredients.

Clean your coffee-maker on a regular basis and you will immediately taste the difference. The coffee specialists claim that this is the first thing you have to keep in mind. Just try it! A few simple steps that will help you not only to enjoy your cup of coffee, but also to maintain your coffee machine in good shape as well.

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