Proper coffee machine maintenance starts with clean equipment.

At Varesina Caffè we’ll never tire of saying how important it is to clean everything you use for preparing coffee on a day-to-day basis.

Often the quality of espresso coffee is affected by the fact that the coffee machine has not been looked after properly or the fact that the grinder is old and not completely clean.

There’s also a huge range of coffee-related equipment to consider such as cups, milk jugs, trays, and work counters.

Whether lever-operated, electronic or automatic, professional  espresso machines are delicate implements and should be treated as such.

They require different types of regular maintenance work, which should be carried out daily, weekly and annually.

Most producers provide baristas with a handy instruction and maintenance booklet that clearly explains what manual or automatic procedures should be followed in order to take care of and clean your coffee machine   properly.

A number of different cleaning products are available that are specially designed for cleaning professional coffee machines and work to remove oil residue build-up inside the circuits and filters.

These residues give the coffee an unpleasant lingering bitter taste (quite burnt-like), which combines with a rancid taste from the oxidisation.

So, who still thinks you shouldn’t clean your coffee making equipment as it will end up losing “the taste of coffee”? Try sniffing the bean container of your dosing dispenser a few days or weeks in from the last clean and you’ll realise what unpleasant smells you could be adding to your espresso.