Follow our easy steps and stages below, and reap the benefits of a clean machine. Not only does a clean machine function better and longer, it will look nicer, meaning your customers will have more faith in your entire business hygiene outlook.
Hopefully by now you have a daily cleaning program in place for the care and general maintenance of your beloved espresso machine. After all with a little luck, its takes care of you financially, so a little love in return would be a good thing.
As with most things in life, there is a right way and a wrong way to clean your machine, and on the whole most operators are pretty good at this. A simple downloadable PDF guide to daily cleaning can be found here But please read on for a more detailed look.
Only a couple of guidelines are required here when it comes to steam arms on your machine and will save you stress, time and also money in the long run. Incorrect use of the steam arms will cause failure at some point and totally avoidable
Before any frothing of milk, its good practice to purge the steam arm by simply opening the steam valve for a second before starting to froth milk. This will purge any condensed steam that has built up since last being used.
Always wipe down the steam arm with a soft damp cloth after every use and purge. This will stop the build up of dried on milk on the outside of the arm and help keep the steam nozzle clear for next use. Wiping down during the course of the day will avoid having to physically scrap off the build up at the end of the day. If your steam arm is of the chrome plated variety, scrapping away dried on milk will damage the plating and result in a new steam arm being required.
If you find that when you do operate the steam valve you have no steam, then remove the steam nozzle from the arm and clear the holes using a toothpick or similar object.
Never ever leave your steam arm sat in a jug of either milk or hot water, as this will result in liquid being drawn up the inside of the arm and getting into the actual valve, which over time will result in the valve failing.
The group heads on your machine do have to work very hard and so require a little love on a daily basis regardless how busy the shop has been. Giving the heads a good clean everyday will stop the build up of coffee oils with the group head and will also help increase the life of the gaskets that the handle locks against.
Equipment suppliers might tell you that the cleaning process should be carried out on a nightly basis, but from an engineering point of view this is the wrong approach. At the end of a busy day and your staff are in a rush to shut shop and hit the town, the cleaning process will be the last thing to have full attention.
Incorrect cleaning can cause the group head solenoid to block overnight, meaning you cant serve coffee until the machine is fixed. A better approach is that the cleaning is always carried out in the morning before service starts, this will stop the cleaning powder gluing together the group head solenoid and also help get all the components of your machine up to serving temperature.
See the video below that will show you all you need to know about correct cleaning of the group heads on your espresso machine using Urnex Cafiza Powder.
Your group handles (portafilter) also need a little care to remove all that build up of coffee oils which can effect the taste of the fresh coffee going through the handle. The video below will demonstrate the cleaning process, but remember to try and stand the stripped down handles up in the container with the plastic handle part clear of the solution. This process should be part of your weekly cleaning procedure.
Try not to use any chemical based products on the chassis or casework of your machine. Some cleaning products can effect the plastics that are used on things like the keypads, switches and trims. Best practice is to just use a microfibre cloth with a little warm soapy water, being careful not let water run into the controls.
As your making coffees during the course of service, there is always some spillage from the cups and also coffee grinds from the group handles. All this spillage ends being washed away down into the drain from the drip tray and away via the waste pipe. Over time this waste can slowly block up the machine waste pipe and then cause leakage onto the counter tops.
If you lift up and remove the drip tray, you will notice there is a plastic cup with a pipe connected to it that goes to your waste water drain. Good practice here is to mix a teaspoon of group head cleaner with hot water and pour this solution down the drain cup every week.