Cleaning Your Coffee Maker

Even if you do not drink coffee that often, it's important to give your coffee maker a good cleaning at least once per month. One might not really drink coffee at all, but own a coffee maker to serve their guests coffee. That still means you need to clean it out, just not as often as once a month. The reason? Build up.

Build up of mineral deposits in water sources, as well as fine powdery bits of coffee that slip through the filters with the water build up over time inside the coffee maker. This slows down the production time of the coffee itself, and, over an even longer period of time, renders the coffee maker completely useless.

There are only a few simple steps to keeping your coffee maker in top working condition, and to help extend it's use.

Step 1: Get a large bottle of White Vinegar (use ONLY White Vinegar).
Step 2: Fill the water tank area of the coffee maker up to it's capacity with the white vinegar, and place a coffee filter in the filter area. Begin 'brewing' the vinegar, just as you would a regular pot of coffee. Note - open a window. The warm vinegar will give off a semi-strong aroma as it's brewed.
Step 3: Once the vinegar has been fully brewed, turn off the coffee maker, and empty the vinegar into your sink. Fill up the water tank of the coffee maker once again, only this time use regular plain water (if you're real picky, you can use distilled water). Brew the water through, again, using a coffee filter.
Step 4: Repeat step 3.
Step 5: After allowing the coffee maker to cool down completely, take a warm rag of cleaning cloth and use water to clean off the exterior of the coffee pot, including the black heating pad the coffee pot sits on (you will be surprised as to just how much coffee 'goo' is on that pad).
Step 6: Clean out the filter holder (some people may see darker coffee deposits in here. If this is the case, you can use a mild detergent to remove the stains, but remember to rinse the detergent thoroughly from the filter holder.
Step 7: Dry the coffee maker completely with a clean paper towel or rag.
Step 8: You are now ready to brew a fresh, and 'clean' pot of coffee :)

NOTE: If you do decide to use a bottled type water for steps 3 and 4, be sure that it is distilled water only. Distilled water is pure water and contains absolutely no additives. This means that it will not leave any mineral deposits inside your coffee maker.

It is not recommended that you use distilled water to always brew your coffee. This is only because of the expense of distilled water. If you are not really secure with drinking your tap water, simply boil the water for 15 minutes and allow it to cool down to room temperature, then place it in a clean gallon jug and mark it "coffee water" or "drinking water".

Exceptions: Those who have well water, sulfuric treated water (which also can come from wells and some very deep reservoirs), heavily chemically treated waters (such as you'd find in larger cities) or have 'discolored' water, should use bottled water for coffee at all times.

The chemicals and minerals used to treat these above mentioned drinking waters can not only cause a much faster build up of deposits in your coffee maker, but can also lead to stomach upset and minor gastrointestinal ailments.