TIP OF THE DAY: A Clean Coffeemaker
It will make your coffee taste better. Photo |
You should clean your coffeemaker every 2-3 months. So admit it: When was the last time you cleaned yours?
If your home-brewed coffee doesn’t taste as good as it should, it may be due to coffee oils and mineral deposits from the water that build up. Fortunately, it’s easy to remove them using a time-honored technique with distilled white vinegar. 1. Fill the glass carafe (or whatever receptacle your coffeemaker has) to the maximum cup level, using one part white vinegar to two parts water. If the carafe makes 12 cups, that’s 24 ounces of vinegar and 48 ounces of water, since coffeemaker “cups” are 6 ounces, not 8 ounces. 2. Pour the solution into the water reservoir of the coffeemaker. Turn on the appliance and let the solution run through (the basket that holds the ground coffee should be in place). 3. When the solution is completely back in the carafe, turn off the appliance. Allow the pot to cool for 20 minutes. Then pour the solution down the drain and rinse the carafe well with water. 4. Next fill the carafe with cold water, pour it into the reservoir and run it through the coffeemaker. Pour the cycled water out, rinse the carafe well, and repeat this step with a second pot of cold water. |
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| 5. Go to the kitchen calendar and write down the date of the next cleaning—in two months if you use the coffeemaker daily, in three months if you use it less often.
If you use a single-serve coffee system with pods or cups, read the product manual to see how often (and how) it needs to be cleaned. How To Make A Great Cup Of Coffee
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