How do you maintain your piston machine?

Use these 5 tips to maintain your piston machine. That way, you can enjoy your semi-automatic coffee machine for longer and you treat the machine properly when you make coffee:

• Tip 1. Use various cloths.
• Tip 2. Brush the brew group clean.
• Tip 3. Remove coffee residue from your portafilter.
• Tip 4. Use your milk pitcher after use.
• Tip 5. Brush the grinding discs clean.

Keep several cloths at the ready when you make coffee. With these, you can remove coffee and milk residue right away. Choose microfiber cloths or the yellow cleaning cloths they sell in the supermarket. Use at least 2 cloths, 1 for the drip tray and 1 for the steam wand. Make sure you don't use them interchangeably. That might cause coffee residue to end up in the steam wand.

Make sure to always rinse the machine shortly before and after you prepare a coffee. We recommend you to brush off the water outlet of the piston machine. Let water run through it for about 20 seconds and brush away the coffee residue. Do you want to know what kind of dirt comes out of the brew group? Place a cup beneath it. That way, you can see how dirty the water is and you can tell if the brew group needs to be brushed out again. You can also clean the brew group by putting an empty portafilter in the machine. Let water run through it shortly to rinse away the residue.

Note: if there's a lot of water in the drip tray, you have to empty it. Remove the grid, pour out the coffee residue in the sink, and rinse all parts.

Your portafilter consists of 2 parts. There's the filter basket and the separate portafilter. Wipe the filter basket clean after each use. We also recommend you to take the filter out of the portafilter every now and then. How often you should do this depends on how much coffee you make. A lot of coffee residue builds up below the filter basket, which can affect the taste of your fresh coffee. Clear away the residue with the soft side of a sponge or a wet cloth.

Always use a clean milk pitcher when you froth milk, and clean it right after use. You heat up milk at high temperatures that can go up to 70°C. As a result, the milk in the pitcher can start to build up. You can easily clean this if you rinse the pitcher with water after use. Especially if you want to put it in the dishwasher after. Make sure all of the built-on milk residue is cleaned off before you put it in. The best thing you can do it clean the milk pitcher with some soapy water and a dish brush or sponge.

It's important to clean the coffee grinder every once in a while. If the bean hopper is empty or if you can close the hatch underneath the funnel, you can reach the grinding discs. On many coffee machines, you first have to loosen a screw or pin. Brush the grinding discs clean, because they'll be covered with coffee residue. You can easily clean the empty bean hopper with a moist cloth. Do this once every 3 months. The more often, the better.

Note: make sure you always unplug the machine first.