Everyone wants to have a bright, delicious and well rounded cup time and time again. However this is not possible if we keep working your machine and denying the love it deserves!
So why is using coffee cleaner and coffee grinder cleaner SO important to delivering you delicious results? We’ve spent all this time perfecting our skills so we can make that perfect coffee, you and your machine make a good cup, let's keep it that way. Taking care of your equipment is just as important as making each cup. By keeping your machine clean and well maintained you’ll be sure to get a long lifespan but also consistently delicious coffee, every-time.
We consider espresso coffee machine cleaner as one of the essential barista tools in the tool-bag. Keeping your machine clean, sterile and constantly well kept means you'll not only be tasting better coffee but you'll be getting a longer lifetime out of your machine. Our staple Cafetto espresso clean is and has always been the baristas choice. Simply place your Blind Filter Basket into your Portafilter and place some coffee cleaner into the basket before you begin your back-flush!
Keeping your workstation clean has always been a priority and we stock a wide range of cleaning products, cleaning brushes for your group head and a tonne of Filter Baskets to suit your back flushing and brewing needs.
By back-flushing using a blind filter and coffee machine chemical cleaner such as cafetto espresso clean which removes the coffee oils and residues in and around the group head shower screen. In busy cafes this process should be daily, while at home it might be common to do every 2-4 weeks.
The group head cleaning brush is used to clean the group head seal before and after back flushing the group head with coffee cleaner. By cleaning the seal, coffee grounds are removed and allow for a clean join between the filter basket in the portafilter and the group head seal, avoiding leaks, and further cleaning the coffee oils and residues.
Using the coffee machine cleaner you can also soak portafilters, simply grab a large Milk Jug, place 500ml of hot water and a scoop of espresso coffee machine cleaner and allow to soak for 15 minutes. Give a thorough rinse, clean and run a few shots before use.
Next on the to do list is to descale the coffee machine. The frequency in which you need to descale will depend on many factors such as water quality (huge variance in water quality throughout Australia) and whether or not a water filter is being used. And which water filter is being used, as not all water filters are the same. Our go to cleaning product is Cafetto Restore, a safe and effective powder descaler for removing hard water scale from espresso machine boilers, coffee and milk delivery lines!
These items form part of the espresso machine cleaning kit, which consists of espresso cleaner, coffee descaler, a group head brush and grinder brush as well as a steam wand cloth. For us, keeping the machine clean is a key part of the baristas love and passion for coffee.
HOW DO I CLEAN YOUR GROUP HEAD ON MY ESPRESSO MACHINE?
- Remove shower screen with a screwdriver, place a towel underneath so it drops onto the towel once removed.
- Use espresso machine chemicals in a bucket to soak the screen, screw and portafilter spouts. If you are not using a spout you can just soak the basket. Soak for 30 minutes.
- Take your brush, scrub gasket and everything up under the group head with water running.
- Once items have finished soaking, give the portafilter and spout a scrub with the brush. Rinse basket, shower screen and screw (scrub items if they have residue on them). Put back together and into the machine.
- Start back flushing process, insert blind filter basket into portafilter and add espresso chemicals as per required for machine
- Insert portafilter into the group head and run back flushing either for 10 seconds or on a machine specific program. Repeat 4-5 times, with the portafilter being untouched.
- Run the machine and move the portafilter backwards and forwards (tighten and loosen motion) to allow the water to flow throughout the gasket.
- Run 5x more times with just water to ensure all chemicals have been flushed, also repeat the backwards and forwards motion to flush gasket from previous chemicals.
HOW DO I SERVICE MY ESPRESSO MACHINE?
- Always turn off the machine with plenty of time to cool down before commencing maintenance. Begin with giving the group head a scrub. Use either style of brush with hot running water to clean out old grounds and remove any oils hanging around in the seal or in the shower screen.
- Once clean use the screwdriver to remove the screw, shower screen and dispersion plate within the group head (Skip step if your machine has a E61 group head)
- Once clean, remove the old seal by using either the edge of the screwdriver or a picking tool to wedge the gasket out. Once you remove the screen and seal, give the head another scrub to remove any remaining residue.
- Inspect the shower screen and determine if it needs replacing. You can do this by holding the screen up to the light and see if all the fine holes are clear. Replace any blocked or partially blocked screens, thoroughly clean the shower screen if replacement is not required.
- Now time to reverse the order. When installing a new seal, use the flat edge to the top of the machine and the curved edge facing dowards. For E61 group heads you will be combining all 3 parts in order of; spacer, gasket then shower screen. For the rest of you, installing the gasket first, dispersion plate second and finally fasting the shower screen back in.
- Use a flat, blunt surface to help you push the seal in, then use the portafilter to lock the seal in completely by inserting and locking it into the group head 2 or 3 times.
- Purge with water check there are no leaks from the portafilter and enjoy your brewing.
As we know by now, there’s a little more to brewing coffee than just putting a coffee capsule into a machine and hitting a button, well for a quality cup of coffee anyway. All of our accessories are meant to complement and significantly enhance your brewing experience and ability! Usually, you’d begin your espresso process by using a Dosing tool to weigh the appropriate amount of beans with your Coffee Scales before grinding your fresh coffee!
Your coffee grounds will be put back into your dosing cup and transferred into your Portafilter Basket which may be a single, double or triple! The Distribution tool will help you to evenly distribute the grounds within the Filter Basket prior to using a coffee tamper to compress the grounds. By placing your portafilter onto a Tamping Mat you’ll prevent damage to the portafilter handle or bench, simply place 10-30kg of even pressure down on the tamper and twist to polish. Lock the portafilter into your machine, use the scales under the spout with whichever cup, glassware or reusable cup you prefer and commence brewing.
Now when texturing milk it's important to use the correctly sized milk jug for the amount of milk you require. Once you texture the milk, use a milk Thermometer to get the ideal steaming time for whatever milk you’re working with and if in a cafe you might have the option of a Milk Jug Rinser which is incredibly convenient for the post brew clean! A chocolate shaker is a must for those mocha or cappuccino lovers. When the shot is pouring, make sure to use a barista timer or your scales to measure for the perfect extraction, we recommend 23g in and 46g out at an extraction time of 25-30 seconds. Knock the puck out in either a Knock Box at home or a Standing knock tube or in bench shoot if you’re in a cafe!
Now every machine deserves a good clean, check out our range of Blind Filters, cleaning brushes, cleaning products and chemicals! Everyone loves having a few beans up your sleeve so be sure to check out our favourite Coffee Storage units for home or cafe! If you've got a passion for coffee, well there's nothing tastier than some cupping, use some of our coffee Cupping Tools, such as bowls and spoons to bring this professional experience into your own home!
