Try To Clean Your Coffee Pot Every Month
Cleaning your coffee maker can make the difference between bitter brews and fresh flavor. Leftover coffee oils and hard water deposits can tinge the best brew with a rancid, bitter taste despite how often you rinse the pot.
Even if your water source is pure or your tap water is free of lime and calcium, your coffee maker still needs to be cleansed of oils and other impurities at least once a month.
You don`t have to buy a commercial product. The solution is probably in your cupboard. While there are a host of household staples which can be used to clean your coffee maker, distilled white vinegar is the gold standard.
Vinegar Is A Safe and Inexpensive Coffee Pot Cleaner
Why use vinegar? The acid is natural and gets rid of lime scale, mineral build ups, and any oils left over from brewing various beans – all without leaving toxic residues. Vinegar is easy on the budget and easy on the environment not to mention your health.
Despite its scent, vinegar is a deodorizer and disinfectant which cuts through soap scum, grease and oils as well as mold and bacteria.
NOTE: Never clean your coffee maker with soap or detergent – the residue will make your coffee taste worse than ever and may damage the coffee maker.
Coffee Maker Cleaning Directions:
1. Start by soaking the pot in vinegar overnight if the pot is coated in film or any coffee has been burned in. Rinse the carafe and filter basket in soapy water.
2. The next morning, dump the vinegar and then brew up a mix of vinegar and water using twice as much water as vinegar. Pour this mix into the water reservoir and then turn the coffee maker on.
3. Once the brewing is done, turn the coffee maker off and let it cool for 20 minutes, then dump the water-vinegar solution down the drain.
4. Next, rinse the pot with warm water until there is no taste of vinegar left.
5. Finally, pour water into the reservoir as if you are brewing a pot – but don’t add coffee yet. Once the brew cycle is complete, let the coffee maker cool for 20 minutes.
6. Check for signs of brown coffee film. No film means you are ready to brew a great pot of coffee.
7. Now you`re ready for great tasting coffee!
Lemon Juice and Baking Soda Also Work
If you have no vinegar at home, turn to lemon juice or baking soda as substitutes:
• Mix 1 part Lemon Juice to 4 parts water
OR
• Mix 1 part baking soda with 1 cup warm water
Now, you don't have to worry about drinking rancid, bitter coffee from a dirty coffee pot ever again.
Image Credit: D'Arcy Norman / Flickr