How to Clean an Espresso Machine

Clean coffee oil out of your machine on a fixed rhythm: a one-minute wipe and rinse every day, a brew group or basket clean every week, and a detergent cycle about once a month or when the machine asks. Superautomatics prompt you for most of it. Portafilter machines rely on you. Lever machines need the least chemistry of all.

Cleaning is not descaling. Cleaning removes coffee oil and grounds from the brew path. Descaling removes mineral scale from the water path. You need both, on separate schedules. Our descaling guide covers the second job.

Why coffee oil matters

Coffee beans contain oils that coat the shower screen, basket, group gasket and brew unit. Fresh oil is harmless. After a few days it goes stale and gives shots a bitter, ashy edge, long before anything looks dirty. Built-up oil and fine grounds also add friction to brew unit seals and can block the small holes in a shower screen.

Cleaning schedule by machine type

Task	Superautomatic	Semi-automatic (portafilter)	Manual lever
After each use	Rinse milk system when prompted	Purge group, knock out puck, wipe and purge steam wand	Wipe steam wand, rinse basket
Daily	Empty grounds bin and drip tray	Brush group gasket and screen, rinse basket and portafilter	Leave lever down, wipe group
Weekly	Rinse removable brew group (De’Longhi, Philips)	Water backflush (3-way valve machines), soak baskets	Wash basket and screen with mild detergent
Monthly or on prompt	Cleaning tablet program	Detergent backflush, remove and clean shower screen	Check group gaskets
Separate schedule	Descale, change filter	Descale, change filter	Descale

Heavy use shortens every interval. As an estimated rule, if you pull more than four or five drinks a day on a portafilter machine, do the detergent backflush every one to two weeks instead of monthly.

Superautomatics: what the machine does and what you do

The machine counts drinks and tells you when to run its cleaning program. Your jobs are the bins, the milk system and, on some brands, the brew group.

Every day

1. Empty the grounds container and the drip tray. On Jura machines, do this with the machine switched on, so the counter resets.
2. Rinse the milk system each time the display asks. Our milk system care guide has the full milk routine.
3. Wipe the coffee spouts.

Every week: removable brew groups

De’Longhi and Philips brew groups slide out from a side door. Philips’ support pages say to remove the brew group weekly and rinse it under the tap with lukewarm water. De’Longhi gives the same advice for its Magnifica line. Do not use dish soap. It washes away the grease on the moving parts. Let the group air dry, then refit it.

Philips also calls for a monthly degreasing tablet in the brew group and regular lubrication with its own grease. The lubrication interval depends on cups per day, so follow the table in your manual.

When prompted: the cleaning program

Jura brew units are fixed inside the machine, so you cannot rinse them by hand. The cleaning program does the job instead:

1. Empty the drip tray and grounds container.
2. Put a container under the coffee spout.
3. Start the program from the maintenance menu.
4. Wait for the display to ask for the tablet. Jura’s manuals say the tablet goes into the filler funnel for ground coffee, partway through the cycle, not at the start.
5. Do not switch off until the program ends, then empty the tray and container.

Use the brand’s own tablets in a superautomatic. Jura’s manuals say to use only original maintenance products, because the program’s water volume and soak times assume them. For Jura owners, this Jura brew unit cleaning guide explains when a fixed brew unit needs a technician’s service.

Semi-automatics: daily, weekly and monthly

A portafilter machine never reminds you, so build the routine into your workflow. Machines like the Breville Barista Express have a cleaning light. Most others do not.

After every shot

1. Knock out the puck and wipe the basket dry.
2. Run water through the group for a few seconds to flush grounds off the shower screen.
3. Purge the steam wand for a second, wipe it with a damp cloth, then purge again.

Every day

1. Brush the group gasket and shower screen with a group brush.
2. Rinse the portafilter and basket in hot water.
3. Empty and rinse the drip tray.

Every week

1. Soak the basket and the metal part of the portafilter in hot water with a cleaning tablet. Keep the plastic handle out of the solution.
2. If your machine has a three-way solenoid valve, do a backflush with plain water (see below).

Every month

1. Do a detergent backflush with a cleaning tablet or powder.
2. If your shower screen is held by a screw, remove it, soak it with the screw and dispersion plate, and scrub the area behind it.

How to backflush an espresso machine

Backflushing pushes water and detergent back up through the group and out of the three-way valve. It only works on machines that have that valve. The Gaggia Classic Evo Pro, Rancilio Silvia, heat exchangers and dual boilers have one. Entry thermoblock machines like the De’Longhi Dedica do not, so a blind basket does nothing useful there. Check your manual before you start.

The Urnex Cafiza tablet directions follow this pattern:

1. Fit a blind basket (no holes) in the portafilter and add one tablet.
2. Lock the portafilter into the group.
3. Run the pump for 10 seconds, stop for 10 seconds. Repeat 5 times.
4. Remove the portafilter. Run the group while you rinse the portafilter in the stream.
5. Refit the portafilter with no tablet and repeat the 10 on, 10 off cycle to rinse.
6. Pull one shot and discard it.

Breville machines with a cleaning cycle use a silicone cleaning disc and a tablet instead of a blind basket, and the machine runs the pulses for you. Do not put Cafiza in the water tank. It is a detergent, not a descaler.

Do not backflush with detergent every day. Detergent can strip lubricant from the group’s moving parts over time. Water backflushes are fine daily; detergent belongs on the weekly or monthly slot.

Lever machines: keep it simple

Do not backflush a manual lever like the La Pavoni Europiccola. The group has no three-way valve and is not designed for it. La Pavoni’s manual calls for this instead:

• Wipe the steam wand with a damp cloth after every use.
• Clean the portafilter, basket and shower screen with warm water and a neutral detergent.
• Leave the lever down when you finish, so water in the boiler does not leak out of the group.
• Clean the outside with a soft, damp cloth only. No solvents, alcohol or abrasives.

This La Pavoni cleaning routine adds model notes and photos.

What not to use

Product	Why to avoid it
Dish soap on a brew group	Strips the grease that the moving parts need
Bleach or chlorine cleaners	Can damage seals and leave a taste
Vinegar	It is a weak descaler, not a degreaser, and it attacks seals
Abrasive pads on the shower screen	Scratches the surface and widens deposits
Descaler in a backflush	Wrong job; it does not remove oil
Cleaning tablets in the water tank	Detergent belongs in the brew path only

Signs your machine needs a deeper clean

• Shots taste bitter or stale even with fresh beans and the same recipe.
• You see brown residue on the shower screen or inside the spouts.
• Water from the group comes out in uneven jets.
• The puck sticks to the shower screen.
• A superautomatic shows a cleaning prompt you dismissed days ago.

If a full clean and a descale do not fix taste or flow, our troubleshooting guide helps you find the cause. Clean water also slows the build-up of scale on screens and valves, which our water filter guide explains.

FAQ

How long does a cleaning cycle take? A Cafiza backflush takes an estimated 5 minutes. Superautomatic programs take longer because they soak between pulses, so stay near the machine.

Can I use Cafiza in a Jura? Jura’s manuals tell you to use only Jura maintenance products. Use Jura tablets while the machine is under warranty.

Do I clean a new machine before first use? Rinse the tank, basket and portafilter, then run a few cycles of water through the group and wand. On a superautomatic, follow the first-use steps in the manual. They include rinse cycles before the first drink.