In this video National Barista Champion Runner-up, Jade Jennings will share with you the barista secret to great tasting coffee at home.
Even when you backflush your machine, coffee grinds can build up in the group head and shower screen, affecting the flavour of your coffee. So if your coffee is tasting dirty, try our Barista secret for cleaning your machine.
1) If you look under where you load your coffee handle (portafilter), you will see a small disc where the water comes out – this is your shower screen.
2) Look to see if your shower screen needs a flat head screwdriver, or Allen key to remove the screw.
3) Remove the screw, placing in a secure place like a ceramic cup on the bench so you can see this at a glance, as you don't want to loose this or accidently tip into the sink!
4) Remove the shower screen – this should easily come off.
5) Place shower screen in a separate ceramic cup (notthe one with the screw) with some hot water and cleaning tablet – soak for as long as needed depending on how dirty it is.
6) Using a cleaning brush, scrub around the group head and finish by wiping the area with clean cloth.
7) Remove shower screen from ceramic cup - be mindful if the water is still hot. Rinse the shower screen under some water to remove the cleaning solution as it can be slippery.
8) Position shower screen back, and secure with the screw – no need to over tighten.
9) Do this weekly and taste the difference in your coffees!
NB - It's a good idea to throw out the first espresso base you make after using a chemical solution. This is known as seasoning your machine. The chemical solution is food safe - perfectly harmless, it probably just doesn't taste very good.
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