How to Clean a Drip Coffee Maker Without Vinegar

Fresh tasting coffee comes from clean coffee makers.

While cleaning the exterior of a drip coffee maker requires no more than an occasional wipe with a damp towel, cleaning the inside of the appliance is a little more complicated. You can't open up the coffee maker and carefully wipe down all of the parts, but you can run a cleaning solution through the machine to rinse away any old coffee or residue and leave each freshly brewed cup tasting its best. Vinegar is often used for this purpose but if you are concerned about it leaving behind an unpleasant sour taste, you do have an alternative.

Things You'll Need

• Water
• Denture cleaning tablets

Instructions

1. Fill the coffee pot of your drip coffee maker with warm water.

2. Drop two denture cleaning tablets into the coffee pot. Allow them to dissolve completely in the pot.

3. Pour the contents of the coffee pot into the tank of the coffee maker.

4. Turn the coffee maker on as if brewing a pot of coffee. The mixture will run through the coffee maker and drip into the coffee pot to thoroughly clean the appliance.

5. Empty the contents of the coffee pot when the brewing cycle is complete.

6. Rinse and refill the coffee pot with clean water.

7. Run the clean water through another brewing cycle in the drip coffee maker to rinse away all traces of the denture tablets.

References

• Reader's Digest: Extraordinary Uses for Denture Tablets
• Gevailia Coffee Club: How to Clean a Coffee Maker