GENERAL CLEANING: a very important issue ...

Many of you will wonder how important it is to clean the various accessories, the devices for grinding the coffee and our Espresso machine, well know that it is very important precisely in order not to leave residues that could ruin the "purity" of our coffee; they could somehow worsen the flavor, taste or aroma of our precious extract, bring burnt, bitter notes or even (to those who have never happened !!) coffee residues in our cup ...

This is why we will now see the recommendations for the general cleaning of our "BAR corner", assuming you have created one!

First of all, the utensils that we are going to put away after use must be carefully washed and dried so as not to leave any residual moisture.

What are our tools usually:

• filter holder and filter
• tamper and / or dispenser

and of course, cup and spoon!

 We now come to our coffee grinder; professional or beginner, expensive or cheap, the principle is always the same, and that is that the appliance must be kept clean !!

Following a certain order, and possibly on a daily basis, we will have to respect a certain number of steps:

• at the end of the day, empty our hopper or container of coffee beans, placing any leftover coffee in a cool and dry place, away from heat sources but above all in its airtight bag, where we will have taken out the residual air "pressing" it gently or the TOP would be to keep it in vacuum containers!

After that:

• eliminate any residual beans from our coffee grinder, disassembling, if necessary, the coffee hopper which is usually interlocking with its release button;
• clean the hopper from oil residues, washing and drying it thoroughly (this phase can be carried out once a week, together with a thorough cleaning of the millstones);
• clean and wash our coffee container, taking care NOT to leave any residual moisture;
• always once a week, clean the grinders of the machine thoroughly, disassembling the hopper and using, if necessary and upon availability, special products such as the granular ones on the market, among other things there are also completely natural ones.

These are the basic steps, but now we come to the most interesting and challenging part: cleaning our Espresso coffee machine!

The main stages are:

• clean well, possibly using a brush, the filter holder guides of our brew group and let water flow from it for a complete dispensing, taking care to clean our brew group with a cloth specially dedicated to the purpose!
• Clean the steam wand, taking care that there are no milk residues; at the end of each steam cycle, wipe with the cloth, dispense both steam and water empty for a few seconds, remove the lance, the gasket usually contained in the spout, and put it in hot water immediately after dispensing, or at the end of the cycle, to facilitate cleaning;
• disassemble the grill / support tray or drip tray, and clean it carefully with water + detergent, at least once a week, as there tends to be quite "muddy" dirt due to coffee residues!
• Last, and not least, periodically or upon notification from our home machine (see instructions!), We will have to descale our coffee machine and consequently the tank and its brewing unit.

NEVER FORGET that in the food sector hygiene and cleanliness always come first!

I hope this article has been useful, and I recommend, do not miss the opportunity to taste an excellent Espresso coffee with quality and ALWAYS roasted fresh blends, of Coffee Code!

Coffee Code