Cleaning & Care: Machine, Grinder & Milk System

← Back to First Aid overview

Most «defects» in your espresso machine, grinder, and milk system aren't defects at all — they're maintenance backlog. Rancid coffee oils, gummed-up burrs, dried-on milk proteins: all of it can be prevented with a few minutes of routine, instead of repairing it later or even calling in service. Especially with a high-quality setup, this pays off twice over — care is the simplest way to protect your investment. Here you'll find, for each device, what to clean, with what, and how often — plus where to find the matching troubleshooting page if something does get stuck.

1. Espresso machine: backflushing against rancid coffee oils

With every shot, tiny amounts of coffee oil stay behind in the brew group and valves. Over days and weeks, these oils turn rancid and give every following espresso a musty aftertaste — even if the beans themselves are perfectly fresh.

1. Prerequisite for a true backflush: a three-way solenoid valve (most E61 or portafilter machines with a saturated brew group have one). Without this valve, the soak method for portafilters and filter baskets works instead.
2. Blind filter into the portafilter, add half a teaspoon (3 g) of Cafiza.
3. Lock in the portafilter, 10 sec. extraction / 10 sec. pause, repeat five times.
4. Remove the portafilter, rinse it clean under the brew group, then flush again 5× 10/10 seconds without powder.
5. Remove the blind filter, insert the standard filter, pull a test espresso and discard it.

Recommendation: plain water daily without cleaner, plus once a week (or every 50 shots) with Cafiza. Details, the soak variant, and stop lines: First Aid: Espresso machines — «Espresso tastes musty».

Materials: Urnex Cafiza (industry standard) or the plant-based alternative Urnex Biocaf cleaning powder. Both exclusively for the machine, not for aluminum moka pots.

2. Grinder: releasing coffee oils from the burrs

Coffee oils also build up over time on the burrs and the inner wall of the grinding chamber — the result is a musty aftertaste regardless of bean freshness, plus increasingly inconsistent dosing.

1. Empty the hopper, use the brush to get the last beans out of the chamber.
2. For espresso grinders, 1 cap (35–40 g) of Grindz into the hopper; for large grinders, 2 caps (70–80 g).
3. Set the grind size to «medium», let it run through completely.
4. Wipe down the hopper, spout, and doser with a brush/cloth.
5. Flush through with double the amount of beans until no more yellowish powder comes out, then recalibrate the grind size back to espresso.

Recommendation: the manufacturer's guideline is weekly (or every 15 kg of ground coffee) — with one to two shots a day, in practice three to four weeks is usually enough. Details and stop lines: First Aid: Grinders — «Grinder clogged».

Stop line: Not for grinders integrated into automatic machines with a brewing chamber — there, Grindz swells with water and can clog it. SuperGrindz exists for that, which we don't carry.

Materials: Urnex Grindz grinder cleaner.

3. Milk system: steam wand, pitcher & frother

Milk proteins and fats dry onto the steam wand, pitcher, and frother quickly — this doesn't just smell rancid, it also noticeably worsens foam quality. With plant-based milk (oat, almond, soy), acid-based cleaners are risky: they can cause plant proteins to flocculate and clog lines — which is why an alkaline formula is used here.

1. Steam wand/pitcher: mix 30 ml of cleaner with 500 ml of warm water in the pitcher, submerge the wand, let it sit for 15–30 minutes (overnight for heavy buildup).
2. Automatic frothers: mix 30 ml of cleaner with 500 ml of cold water, run it completely through the system.
3. Rinse thoroughly with clear water, run a short steam burst or rinse cycle without cleaner.

Recommendation: a quick cold rinse after every use, plus a weekly deep clean with cleaner. Accessory troubleshooting (NanoFoamer, Flick, Rhino thermometer) and detailed steps: First Aid: Milk & foam — «Smells rancid or feels sticky».

Materials: Urnex Biocaf Alkaline Milk Cleaner — one formula for cow's milk and plant-based milk, biodegradable and phosphate-free.

4. Water & limescale: the biggest lever of all

Limescale is problem driver number 1 in Switzerland — and the only point here where prevention matters more than cleaning. Descaling is also brand-dependent: some manufacturers (e.g. La Marzocco) don't approve it at all, others (e.g. Profitec) advise against it.

Check water hardness, install a filter, descale according to your brand's guidelines (or not) — the full, manufacturer-specific guide: First Aid: Water & descaling.

5. Cleaning schedule at a glance

Guideline values for home use, based on Urnex's manufacturer information and our own product pages. For intensive or commercial use, clean correspondingly more often.

Bestellnummer: #
Gerät (Marke + Modell):
Seriennummer (siehe Typenschild):
Gekauft am:
Problem seit:

Was genau passiert:

Das habe ich bereits probiert (Schritte von der Erste-Hilfe-Seite):

Anhänge: Foto Typenschild / Foto oder Video des Problems

Still not running smoothly despite cleaning? Espresso machine help · Grinders & scales · Milk & foam · Water & descaling · Back to overview