How to Deep Clean a Mr. Coffee Espresso Machine (in No Time)

Do you know how to deep clean Mr. Coffee espresso machine? 

We all know how great Mr. Coffee espresso machines are; they’re easy to use and the coffee they make is simply great. But it’s so important to keep them clean and expand their lifespan without you needing to fork out cash on a new machine. Stick around, I’ve compiled a guide about how to clean thoroughly a Mr. Coffee machine in a simple yet effective way. 

Let’s get started. 

Key takeaways:

• How to clean your Mr. Coffee step by step
• How to descale your Mr. Coffee and how often you should go about it
• An easy way to discover whether the water in your area is high in hard minerals

Why should you clean your Mr. Coffee regularly? 

It’s vital to clean your Mr. Coffee machine regularly for three reasons: 

1. Enjoy great coffee

f you don’t make it a habit of cleaning your brewer, the taste of your espressos is going to be spoiled. Keeping the used espresso grounds in the espresso filter for hours turns your coffee bitter and unpleasant – you’ll soon notice that it doesn’t taste as good as it used to be

2. Help your machine function properly

An espresso machine that isn’t frequently cleaned leads to clogged up pipes with coffee residue and hard water minerals which in practice means your machine is going to work harder every time to pull an espresso shot and this inevitably damages your brewer. 

3. Avoid health issues

Bacteria spread quite quickly on the outside and inside of a machine that hasn’t been cleaned for a while which causes contamination. If you use it to pull an espresso, you might have health issues including stomach aches. 

How to clean your Mr. Coffee? 

First off, it’s equally important to clean the inside as much as the outside of your coffee machine. 

Cleaning the inside includes: 

• Cleaning 
• Descaling

Luckily, many of the Mr. Coffee machines have removable water tanks which makes it easier to clean this part thoroughly. 

These are:

• Mr. Coffee 10 Cup Thermal Programmable Coffeemaker
• Mr. Coffee Steam Espresso
• Mr. Coffee Automatic Dual Pump

The good news is that you don’t need fancy gadgets to clean and descale a Mr. Coffee espresso machine. In the next section of the article, we go over how to go about it and keep your machine in top condition. 

How to clean the outside surface of your Mr. Coffee machine

Let’s go over how to clean the outside of your Mr. Coffee espresso machine. 

What you’ll need

• 2 dry cloths (you can even use a fibre cloth)
• White vinegar
• Kitchen roll

How to go about it

Here are the steps to follow to clean the outside of your Mr. Coffee machine: 

• Turn off your machine and unplug it.
• Take off the dripping tray, portafilter, coffee basket and water tank (if it’s removable)
• Wash all these parts with washing-up liquid (you can add a splash of vinegar for better results), rinse them, let the dry and put them back on.
• Dip your cloth in vinegar and wipe the outside of your espresso machine
• Use the 2nd cloth, dip in hot water and go over the surface one more time to get rid of the vinegar from the surface of your machine (if you don’t do it, it will turn sticky)
• Use kitchen roll this time to wipe your machine and remove all the water left on the outside that might leave stains. 

Why should you use vinegar? 

Vinegar is acidic and changes the pH of coffee stains on the surface of your machine which makes it easy to remove them without needing much rubbing. 

How to descale a Mr. Coffee machine?

Let’s draw a line between cleaning and descaling: 

While cleaning an espresso machine has to do with removing coffee oils, lipids and residue that is built up in the coffee machine because of coffee grounds, descaling is about removing the hard minerals including chlorine cause the machine malfunction over time due to the water used for brewing. 

What’s the best way to descale Mr. Coffee? 

These are 2 effective ways to descale your Mr. Coffee

1. Descaling your Mr. Coffee with a descaling solution

This is recommended for Coffee makers and not espresso machines. 

Here’s how to descale your Mr. Coffee coffee maker: 

• Order the Mr. Coffee coffee maker solution and fill up the water tank with fresh water
• Add 2 tbsp of the solution to the reservoir
• Put a mug where coffee comes out and run a cleaning cycle
• Let it finish with the cycle and throw the contents away
• Run cleaning cycles until the water tank is empty
• Fill the water tank once more and run cleaning cycles without adding any of the descaling solution and coffee grounds either. 
• Once the tank is empty you’re good to go

2. Descaling your Mr. Coffee espresso machine using vinegar

Let’s have a glance at how to descale a Mr. Coffee espresso machine with vinegar.

• Mix equal parts of vinegar and bottled or filtered water in a container (you can go with 3/1 water and vinegar ratio, but the mixture is going to be weaker, meaning that you’ll need to run more cleaning cycles) 
• Add this blend to the reservoir and place an empty mug on where coffee comes out
• Run a cleaning cycle and throw away in your sink the contents
• Run more cleaning cycles until the water in the tank runs out
• Fill the water tank up with fresh water (no vinegar needed this time)
• Run cleaning cycles until the water runs out and you’re good to go

How often should you descale your Mr. Coffee? 

The answer is: it really depends.

As mentioned above, descaling has to do with water hardness. Obviously. If you use bottled or even filtered water that doesn’t contain much hard minerals you won’t need to descale your Mr. Coffee espresso machine too often. But if you use tap water (especially if the water in your area is high in hard minerals) for pulling espressos, chances are you’ll need to repeat the descaling process often enough to keep your machine in good condition.

But what does hard water mean? 

Water that is rich in calcium and magnesium is considered hard; calcium and magnesium deposits build up in the pipes of your machine making them clogged up over time. On the other hand, soft water is enriched with sodium and salt and it doesn’t necessarily cause damage to your espresso machine.

To avoid the hassle of descaling your machine all the time, especially if the water in your area is hard, make espresso by using filtered or bottled water.

By the way, the brand recommends cleaning your machine every 90 brews. It’s wise to think about how many espressos you brew every day and work out how often you need to clean it (it’s difficult to keep track of exactly how many espressos you pull). For example, if you brew 2 espressos a day, this means that you have to clean it every 45 days.

How can you tell that the water in your area is hard? 

There are a few ways you can tell that the water in your area is hard. 

• The water pressure has gone down over time which means deposits have been built up in the pipes
• You see noticeable stains in an empty glass of water 
• The stamps of your favourite t-shirts wash away with only a handful of washes
• Reports of water hardness in your region

To put things in perspective I’ve created this table that shows how the hardness of water is classified in different categories: 

Milligrams per Liter (ml/L)	Level of Hardness
0-60	Soft
61-120	Moderately Hard
121-180	Hard
180+	Very Hard

Mr. Coffee espresso machine red light

There’s no doubt Mr. Coffee machines are smart and easy to use. 

When the red light goes on it means that your Mr. Coffee is ready to use and pull an espresso shot. 

Another feature the machine has is its green light, when it’s illuminating it means that your espresso is ready and the brewing is completed. 

Mr. Coffee espresso machine blinking lights

What if the lights keep blinking? 

It typically means that your espresso machine needs cleaning. Particularly, constant blinking means that needs descaling as water minerals have been built up in the inside of the machine. Another indicator that gives away that your machine needs descaling is if it takes longer to pull an espresso or even if it’s making loud noises while brewing. In case you completed several cleaning cycles but the blinking hasn’t stopped, turn off the machine, unplug it, give it about an hour and plug it back in.

If the problem persists it’s wise to contact Mr. Coffee customer service by calling at: 1-800-672-6333

You can also have a look at the Mr. Coffee FAQ page.

How much vinegar do I use to clean my espresso machine?

I personally use equal parts of vinegar and water.

Think about it, vinegar is a natural product, you can use it to clean your machine and you want to get the cleaning and descaling done as effectively as you can. There’s no harm going for a 2/1 water and vinegar ratio or even 3/1, to be on the safe side. But this means that you’ll have to run a few more cleaning cycles to clean your machine deeply, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it takes longer. 

For my machine, the equal parts work, but if it’s the 1st time you’re descaling your machine, I suggest you go for a 2/1 or 3/1 ratio. 

Let’s wrap it up 

I know, you can’t wait to clean your Mr. Coffee machine, right? I get it, cleaning is deadly boring, I personally avoid it as much as I can, but the reality is if we want to drink top coffee we have to look after our espresso machine, and the good news is that Mr. Coffee machines are easy to clean and look after. Read about how to use a Yabano coffee brewer or how to thoroughly clean a Philips espresso machine. Do you know how to descale your Wolf coffee machine?