How to clean an espresso machine: daily, weekly and descaling

Step by step: how to clean an espresso machine

Safety first. The group head, steam wand and water outlets are hot enough to scald. Let the machine cool before you take parts off, keep your hand clear of the wand when you purge it, and unplug it before wiping the body. Descaler is an acid: wear gloves if the label says so and wipe spills off counters and chrome right away.

1. 1

   Knock out the puck while it is warm

   Right after each shot, knock the used coffee puck into a knock box or the trash. Warm grounds come out in one piece; cold ones stick and leave oil behind. Rinse the portafilter and basket under hot water and wipe them dry with a cloth.

2. 2

   Run a blank shot through the group head

   Lock the empty portafilter in and run water for 5 to 10 seconds, the way you would pull a shot. This flushes loose grounds and coffee oil off the shower screen. You should see the water run clear by the end.

3. 3

   Purge and wipe the steam wand

   Before and after you steam milk, open the steam for 1 to 2 seconds into a damp towel or the drip tray. Then wipe the wand with a damp rag straight away. Milk that dries on the tip bakes hard and blocks the steam holes within a day.

4. 4

   Empty the drip tray and wash the small parts

   Empty and rinse the drip tray every day or two, and wash the tray, the portafilter and the milk jug by hand in warm water with a drop of dish soap. Many manufacturers, including Breville, say not to put these parts in the dishwasher. Dry them before you put them back.

5. 5

   Brush the shower screen once a week

   With the machine cool, scrub around the gasket and the shower screen with a group head brush, then wipe it with a damp cloth. Look for a brown film or grounds packed around the edge. If coffee is still trapped, the screen can usually be unscrewed for a deeper clean; check your manual.

6. 6

   Run the cleaning or backflush cycle

   If your machine has a cleaning cycle, put the cleaning disc or blind basket in the portafilter, drop in one cleaning tablet and start the cycle your manual describes. This pushes cleaner back through the group head to dissolve coffee oil. Run a rinse cycle afterward so the next shot does not taste of cleaner.

7. 7

   Soak the baskets if the holes are blocked

   Hold a filter basket up to the light. If many holes are clogged, dissolve a cleaning tablet in hot water and soak the basket and portafilter for about 20 minutes, then rinse well. Keep the plastic handle out of the soak if you can.

8. 8

   Descale when the light comes on

   Remove the water filter from the tank, add the descaler and water to the marks your manual gives, and run the solution through the coffee spouts and the steam or hot water outlet. Then rinse the tank and run a full tank of fresh water through the same outlets. Expect the program to take about half an hour; De’Longhi quotes around 25 minutes for the Linea Classic.

How often should you clean an espresso machine?

Rinse the portafilter and purge the wand every time you use it, clean the group head weekly, and descale every one to three months. Hard water and heavy use push those intervals closer together.

Breville’s maintenance tutorial puts it simply: if you make two to five coffees a day, clean most parts once a week, and clean the grinder and water tank every two or three weeks.

Cleaning cycle vs descaling: what is the difference?

A cleaning cycle removes coffee oil from the group head, and descaling removes mineral scale from the boiler and pipes inside. They use different products and you need both.

The Breville Barista Express manual describes its cleaning cycle as a back-flushing cycle that is separate from descaling: you fit the cleaning disc and one tablet in the portafilter, lock it in and run the cycle. The same manual says to clean parts by hand with warm water and gentle dish soap, and not to use abrasive cleansers or the dishwasher.

Descaling uses an acid descaler that dissolves calcium. Breville’s cleaning guide reminds you to take the water filter out first, since it would soak up the solution. Do not use cleaning tablets to descale, or descaler to backflush.

How to clean a De’Longhi espresso machine

Clean a De’Longhi pump espresso machine the same way day to day (puck out, rinse, purge the wand), then descale with De’Longhi’s own descaler when the descale light comes on. Many De’Longhi manual machines have no backflush cycle (check your manual), so you brush the shower screen and soak the filters instead.

For the Linea Classic, De’Longhi’s descaling instructions say the machine lights an orange light when it needs descaling and the program takes around 25 minutes. You empty the drip tray and tank, remove the water softener filter if fitted, pour the descaler into the tank up to the first mark, add water up to the second mark, and run the solution through the coffee spouts and steam wand into a large container. Then you rinse the tank and repeat with fresh water.

De’Longhi recommends its EcoDecalk descaler and warns that an unsuitable descaler, or descaling the wrong way, can cause faults its guarantee will not cover. That is why this guide does not suggest vinegar for De’Longhi machines. Automatic bean-to-cup models (Magnifica, Dinamica, Eletta) run their own guided descale and rinse programs; follow the prompts on the display and your manual.

Other brands and pod machines

Every manufacturer has its own descale program and recommended products, so check the manual before you use anything other than water and dish soap.

• Breville machines have a guided clean and descale cycle; see our Breville espresso machine guide for model-by-model steps.
• Pod machines have no group head to backflush; descaling is the main job. See how to clean a Nespresso machine.
• If you grind your own beans, clean the grinder too: old coffee oil in the burrs turns rancid and ruins a clean machine’s shots.

Mistakes to avoid

• Using cleaning tablets to descale, or descaler to backflush; they remove different things.
• Leaving the water filter in the tank while descaling, which wastes the filter and the descaler.
• Letting milk dry on the steam wand, then poking the tip with a metal pin that can widen the holes.
• Running the portafilter, baskets or drip tray through the dishwasher when the manual says hand wash only.
• Using vinegar in a machine whose manufacturer says to use its own descaler, which can void the warranty.
• Skipping the fresh-water rinse after descaling, so the next few shots taste sour.