Clean Your Coffee Grinder

Clean Your Coffee Grinder

No one likes a grimy grinder, not only is it bad barista practice, but it can leave your espressos tasting less than perfect. The build-up of coffee oils over time can mean your grinder giving a poor performance, and it means a chance that your future coffees will be tainted by the taste of previous ones from all that built-up residue.

You may be tempted to get out the towels and hot water to give your machine a wash, but this is not necessary, and it’s not advisable to get any moisture inside your machine. Instead, if you just want to do a quick clean, simply use a soft grinder brush to clean away any minimal debris. If you feel like the machine would benefit from a good wipe down, then do this with a slightly damp cloth, and make sure you let any parts dry completely before you put them back to use.

For a deeper clean, we would advise that the best method for a clean grinder is to empty your hopper and run a grinder cleaner through your machine. You only need to use around a tablespoon of the grinder cleaner pellets to give your grinder a good clean. To ensure that the remains of the espresso is out of your grinder before making a useable coffee grind, we suggest you run a quick grind of a few coffee beans to give the machine a good clear out.

If you want to go a step further, then you can certainly give your grinder a deeper clean. Make sure you have unplugged your grinder, remove the hopper and any other parts that you need to access the burrs. Here you should use a grinder brush to clean out any build-up inside. To get a deep clean, use the hose attachment of your vacuum cleaner to pick up and dislodged bits of ground build –up inside your grinder.

There’s a lot of advice out there that suggests using organic products such as rice to clean grinders, rather than paying for more expensive grinder cleaners. Actually this method can lead to problems with your grinder health, as the hardness of rice can be stressful for your grinder motor, and most grinder manufacturers do not cover the use of rice as a cleaner in their warranties. For this reason it’s probably better to stick to the approved grinder cleaners on your machine.