Chances are, you don’t clean your coffee maker as often as you should. In fact, a study found that people don’t even consider their coffee maker a place for bacteria and mold to be, but guess what? It is! The study also showed that your coffee maker’s reservoir has been known to contain a higher germ count than some spots in your bathroom. Crazy right?
If you are a regular coffee drinker, and chances are if you are reading this post, it’s imperative that you clean your coffee maker regularly. This will help make sure you don’t drink up any of the yeast, mold, or coliform bacteria. Which of course can cause illness. And this is why I want to stress the importance of cleaning your coffee maker if you’re an older adult. The older we get the more susceptible we are to illness, thus the more important it is that you clean your coffee maker more frequently.
Wash Any Odds & Ends Pieces
I know what you’re probably thinking, my coffee maker doesn’t have any odds and end pieces. Well of course it does. Otherwise, this post would be titled how to clean your coffee pot. We want to clean the whole appliance to keep mold and other bacteria out and as far away as possible. So cleaning any removable piece that your coffee maker has is prominent. This will be your coffee pot itself if your coffee maker has one, your filter, or even a reusable K-cup.
Cleaning The Coffee Pot
If you have a regular coffee maker, that brews into a pot instead of a cup, you know how dirty it can get. Coffee pots can get pretty stained and hard to clean after frequent use. Fill up your coffee pot with three-quarters water and one-quarter white vinegar. Let it sit in your coffee pot overnight. In the morning you can take the scrub pad on a sponge and wipe away the coffee stains from your pot.
Now, with this method, I’ve found that it will take several tries to get the coffee stain out if the sain is several years old. In other words, if you are trying to do this with a coffee pot you’ve never cleaned before, it’s going to take some work to get it sparkling again. To prevent this in the future it’s best that you clean your coffee pot often.
Decalcify Your Coffee Maker
With coffee makers, hard water minerals can build up inside your machine over time. You’ll be able to tell if this happens when you notice that your coffee maker takes longer to brew than it normally would. In order to get things back shape, you need to “decalcify” the machine. and give it a good cleanse.
Fill the reservoir with equal parts white vinegar and water. Place a paper filter into the machine’s empty basket. Position the pot in place, and brew the solution like you would your coffee. But instead of letting it run through all the way you’re going to stop it halfway through. Then turn the machine off and let it sit for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes turn it back on and let it finish the brewing cycle. Let it sit for another 30 minutes and then repeat this cycle. When you’re finished run a pot of water through your machine to rinse out the vinegar.
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