How to Clean An Automatic Coffee Maker Carafe

Occasionally, automatic coffee maker carafes need a thorough cleaning. If left unattended, your coffee can take on the not-so-enjoyable flavor of liquid cardboard. In addition, you may notice some additives floating around your cup that you, yourself, did not add! While some might enjoy a full-bodied cup of caffeine, coffee pot floaties are most likely not what creates the substance we yearn for!

Unlike ovens, automatic coffee makers do not tend to come with a self-cleaning feature. Therefore, to save precious time and quite a few bucks, here is the quickest and most inexpensive method for cleaning an automatic coffee maker carafe. Enjoy!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Lemon Juice (bottled is fine)
• table salt
• Ice, crushed
• Carafe in need of a good cleaning

1. 
    
   Top it off!

   Remove hinged lid from top of coffeemaker carafe.

2. 
    
   Ice, ice...yeah

   Add 1 cup of ice. Crushed ice works better than ice-cube tray ice, as it's rougher and will loosen up debris with more finesse!

3. 
    
   Saved by the bouyancy of citrus!

   Add 1/2 cup of lemon juice and roughly 1 TBS of table salt. Generic products are exceptionally suited for this purpose, as you're definitely not going for flavor here!

4. 
    
   Patience, grasshopper

   Bend arm at a 45 degree angle (This step is brought to you by the letter "L") and keep it in that position. Pick up carafe by handle and start moving your wrist,and thusly the carafe, in a level clock and counterclockwise motion. Think "Wax on, wax off...", just don't try winging it over your head. You'll have a mess.

5. 
    
   Slough this!

   Allow ice and lemon juice and salt to meld nicely, forming a delicate exfoliating scrub for your coffeemaker carafe. Swirl vigorously, tilting the pot to and fro occasionally to reach sides and upper rim. Continue the swirling festivities for 3-4 minutes at most, allowing lemon juice and salt to naturally scrub the carafe.

6. 
    
   Coffee Break

   Stop swirling once you're satisfied that all the floaties have been sloughed off sufficiently. Dump contents of carafe into sink, and then fill pot with tepid water. DO NOT ADD VERY HOT WATER at this stage, or you will be left with a handle to clean! Gently swirl the non-hot water around to thoroughly rinse the inside of the carafe. Dump this water down the drain.

7. 
    
   Tiny Bubbles

   Wash the coffeemaker carafe thoroughly with warm, soapy, sudsy water. Use a sponge to remove any clingly coffee barnacles that remain. Rinse well. Rinse again. Wait. Rinse again. No point in such a splendid cleansing ritual if you're going to leave the wonderful taste of Green Apple-flavored dish soap behind to enhance your next pot of coffee.

8. 
    
   Shiny and new!

   Allow to air dry. No need to create new lint floaties. Replace hinged top, and place back on warming plate of coffeemaker.

Tips & Warnings

• For home use, repeat this step at least 2x a month, if not weekly
• For office use, repeat this step no less than 1x a week! Office coffee barnacles are much more stubborn and clingy!
• You can use fresh lemons and squeeze in juice, but it's just a waste of good cash, as you only need the acidity, not the loverly aroma of the lemons for cleaning your carafe!
• As Norm the carpenter always says, the most important tool is your safety goggles!
• Lest you may have forgotten, let me remind you: DO NOT ADD HOT HOT WATER to the carafe directly after dumping the lemon shakeup! If you do, you'll be swirling your hiney to Wal Mart for a new carafe!

Resources

• Tree-Hugging Coffee Goodness!
• Good Things to Make with a Clean Coffeemaker Carafe!
• Wax on, Wear this!
• Take Your Coffee Break Here!

[Miragi]

on 1/12/2009 Thanks, Chameleon for the link and mention in your blog. I'm glad you liked it, and flattered that you would link to it! Happy Caffeine-ing :)

[chameleon]

on 1/12/2009 Love this article on how to clean a coffee carafe! I'm linking to it from my coffee blog at http://coffeebreak.today.com! Thanks!

[Miragi]

on 10/13/2008 Know what you mean, Katie. Coffee runs thru my veins :)

[KatieDean]

on 10/13/2008 Great information. I didn't clean mine for a long time and then finally one day before I left for class I found that it was broken, now I have a Tassamo that I LOVE, I can't go to class without my coffee, no way. Great 5* article.

[Miragi]

on 10/13/2008 You just have to commit to the brain-rendering experience of a real, clean, floatie-free cup of heaven. Just do it. Print this out and paste it beside your monitor to remind yourself of just how wonderful it will be, when you just commit to it. .....

:DYou rock.