Espresso Machine Maintenance 101: A Guide for Coffee Addicts

After countless hours of research, seeing it in-store, and then bringing it home with you: you finally have your own espresso machine! But... how do you take care of it and make sure it keeps making amazing coffee 5, 10, 20 years from now?

Turns out that a coffee machine is a lot like a car; it requires maintenance along the way so that you can expect it to perform at it's most optimal level. 

We've compiled some of the best home care tips for your machine that act as a guide you can come back and visit as you continue on your coffee journey. We've also made it easy to follow without getting too "coffee snobby" so that everyone can follow along with it!

We've organized it into the following categories: Daily Maintenance, Weekly Maintenance, and Yearly and Beyond Maintenance. 

Here's our big disclaimer: as much as we'd love to make a blanket "Home Care" post, we can't. It really depends on how often you use your machine - our home care tips will be different from a straight-espresso maker to a latte lover, a one cup a day to a 6+ shots of caffeine fanatic! Use this as a guide, and adapt as you need!

Let's get into it!

Fresh Out of The Box Considerations:

• First things first, keep your box! If anything goes wrong with your espresso machine, it may need to be shipped back to us for repairs. Turns out, having the original box is super handy for shipping and safety of the machine! 
• If your machine needs to be transported, be sure to empty all of the boilers to avoid any damage to the machine. Each machine is different, so if you aren’t sure how to do this, please check with us!
• Please, please, please don't use hard water! The arch nemesis to any espresso machine is all of the mineral deposits in hard water: save yourself the risk of your machine simply not turning on one day and pick up a water softener that can hang out in the water reservoir of your machine (Our BILT Oscar 90 is perfect for 1.0L - 2.0L reservoirs; Oscar 150 is for 2.5L - 4.0L) 
• In the same vein, please don’t use distilled water either! It is too corrosive for your machine and may cause wear down of internal parts over time.
• Invest in cleaning tools to help set you up for success. What are the basics? A backflush/blind disk, a brush, espresso cleaner, and descaler. Grind cleaner is highly recommended for home grinders, and our milk rinser is great for our latte/cappuccino lovers!

Our Daily Use Maintenance Routine:

• After you've pulled your espresso machine, keep your shower head squeaky clean by flushing your brew head after every shot. Especially if you don't use a puck screen, a quick few seconds of water flush keeps old grinds out of your machine. To be extra clean, a quick wipe of the shower screen is also helpful for left-over grinds.
• Knock your grinds out of your portafilter after every use. Espresso grinds are a one-use-only operation, and it keeps old grinds out of your machine and keeps your basket a lot cleaner!
• If you love your steam wand, please wipe it off after steaming milk. A damp cloth is perfect for ensuring there are no leftover calcium deposits on your wand. Quick horror story: bacteria thrives in any hot environment, and a steam wand is the perfect place - I'll pass on that in my flat white, thank you. 
• Still on steam wands; purge your steam wand before and after every use to ensure that old and new milk stays out of your machine (talk about gross!)

Our Weekly Maintenance Routine:

• • We recommend backflushing your machine ("backflush" is just a weird way of saying cleaning your shower screen, brew group, and three-way valve simultaneously) to ensure the internal coffee-making bits are free of any grinds and coffee oils that would have snuck up through your daily use. 

  What's our recipe for backflushing? Here's what we do!

  1. Turn your machine on and let it heat up (we like to do cleaning after our last coffee of the day!)
  2. Place your backflush disk into your portafilter. You may have to use a flathead screwdriver to take out your standard basket.
  3. Add one serving of backflush powder or tablets to the backflush disk (you’ll find the dosing on the package!)
  4. Lock the portafilter into the grouphead
  5. Run the pump until the grouphead is fully pressurized, which may take 10-20 seconds. If you have a group head pressure gauge you can see when the pressure maxes out, but if your machine has a vibratory pump you should hear it quiet down. You may also hear a trickle of water redirected back to the reservoir from the OPV
  6. Turn off the pump. You should hear the pressure being released into the drip tray
  7. Remove the portafilter and rinse off the backflush disk
  8. Reinsert the portafilter and do a few more backflushes with no detergent 

• Now is a good time to also empty your drip tray. Some machines have a bit more leniency than others (*cough* Silvia *cough*), so make sure to empty it and give it a good scrub in your sink while you're at it!
• After you are done doing a backflush, it is a good time to clean your portafilter. Pop out the basket and let it soak in some soapy water or espresso cleaner; take your brush and scrub out old grinds, and make sure you give the portafilter some love too!
• While you’re at it, it’s a good idea to remove the shower screen to clean as well.
• Disclaimer: we should note that your drip tray, portafilter, and shower screens do not do well in the dishwasher. Hand-washing gives it the good clean it deserves!
• If you are an espresso-only barista, it's a good idea to run water through your steam wand and hot water tap to keep each of these parts working functionally and to make sure to clear out any old stale water (especially on heat-exchangers and double boilers). 

Yearly And Beyond:

• Even with soft water, a little bit of scale build up is totally normal! It happens to the best of us. The frequency of descaling will vary with machine use and water quality, but we tend to recommend descaling every 6-12 months or so.
• Every year or so, you may want to consider replacing your shower screen, as they can warp over time. Be sure to inspect it every once and a while to make sure it is clean and undamaged.
• At this point, you may want to come visit us for a maintenance check-up (unless you are also an espresso machine service technician!) and ensure that it is working optimally. Plus, we’d just like to chat with you about all things coffee (:

There you have it; your very special guide to espresso maintenance! Let us know what you think in the comments below, and we wish you all the best with your espresso machine journey!

Happy Coffee-ing  ♡