How to Naturally Clean Your Drip Coffee Pot

I don't know about you guys, but my husband is OBSESSED with coffee, and before my ego became prego so was I.  I enjoy the frilly coffees that don't really taste like coffee, so I love my Keurig.  My husband on the other hand loves himself some STRONG drip coffee, so of course like any normal household with opposing coffee views, we have two coffee makers.  I set up my husband's Mr. Coffee coffee pot every night and it automatically goes off and preps his coffee before he even wakes up (so I don't have to).  However, I have been informed as of late that the coffee was tasting a little...off.  Normally I would just do my regular cleaning routine (totally uninformed and flying off the cuff) of just putting some dish soap in the glass carafe and running a regular brew cycle, then rinsing out the cup.  I'll be the first to admit it really wasn't all that great of a cleaning routine, but I had NO IDEA how to clean a coffee pot.  So I decided this time around to research the PROPER way to clean a coffee pot with natural ingredients...of course.  I found this great routine from The Creek Line House, and I then added some other suggestions I have received from family and friends and it worked wonderfully! So I decided to give you guys this tutorial to show you how you can easily and effectively clean your drip coffee pot with all natural ingredients.  Please excuse the photos, I wasn't sure if this was going to work so I just took pictures with my phone and I did it in the evening so the lighting was not that great, but again, I wasn't sure this was going to work. So here we go!!!!

Materials:

• Water
• Distilled White Vinegar 
• 1 Tablespoon of salt
• 4-5 ice cubes
• A scrub brush
• All natural multi-purpose cleaner

So first, here are some shots of the carafe and the face of the brewer BEFORE I have cleaned them.  EEEWWWWWW!

Step 1: Fill the carafe 2/3 of the way full with water. It can be straight from the sink and doesn't need to be hot so don't stress about it.

Step 2: Fill the remaining 1/3 of the carafe with distilled white vinegar (my go to cleaning supply).  I prefer to use organic but it's not a requirement. After doing this your carafe should be full to the top.

Step 3: Pour the water/vinegar mixture into the brewer. You will pour it in the same compartment that you normally pour the water when preparing coffee.  The original instructions state to use a coffee filter, however I didn't think it was necessary.  I wanted the solution to go completely through all of the compartments without obstructions to make everything as clean as possible.

Step 4: Run your brewer through a regular brew cycle (like you were making coffee).  I didn't use the "clean" cycle that my brewer has because I wasn't sure if it would go through all of the compartments.  Doing the regular brew cycle worked great!  Once the solution has gone through the brew cycle turn off the machine and let the solution sit in the carafe and cool.  This will take approximately 1 hour, but you can leave it in long if you like.

Step 5: Once the solution has sat for at least an hour and has cooled, pour it our into the sink.  Then fill the carafe with REGULAR WATER only and pour that into the water compartment and run another brew cycle. This will help rinse out any left over grime as well as any vinegar that is still in the machine.  I only did this once but if after the rinse you still smell some vinegar, run another all water cycle one more time.

So now that the internal structure of the machine is clean and disinfected it's time to move onto the carafe and outside of the machine.

Step 6: Put 1 tablespoon of table salt into the carafe.  If your machine is really dirty you can put in more if you want. Then add in 4-5 ice cubes.

Step 7: Once the two ingredients are in the carafe, roll them around the carafe (spin & turn the carafe).  Keep doing this until the ice melts.  It won't take long because the salt will accelerate the melting of the ice.  The ice and salt act as a natural abrasive which will help to loosen the coffee build up and stains that have collected in the carafe.  

Step 8: Once the ice has melted and their is a salt water mixture in the carafe, I use my scrubber to get into all of the grooves I wasn't able to swish the ice into.  This helps to get any of the left over, extra stubborn build up off of the carafe. Once I have gotten the inside of the carafe as clean as I can I dump out the salt water solution and rinse the carafe.

EWWWW! This is what my brush looked like after scrubbing the inside!

Here is the inside after being scrubbed.

Step 9: I now move onto the outside of the carafe and the brewer. I take some of my all natural multi-purpose cleaner and spray the OUTSIDE of the carafe with a couple spritzes.  I then use my scrub brush (rinsed of course) and scrub the outside of the carafe, making sure to get into every nook and cranny to get all of the build up and spill stains off. I then rinse the outside of the carafe and leave to dry (or you can towel dry it).

So nice and clean!!!

Step 10: Now I sprayed some of the all purpose cleaner onto the face of the brewer and wiped it of, making sure to scrub any spots with coffee build up.  I did this for the entire outside of the brewer.  I also opened the top of the brewer and wiped down all of water spots that had built up inside the machine.  I didn't have to use the cleaning solution, just a wet rag.

                                                     Before                                     After

And here is the final result:

My husband was so impressed with how clean his coffee pot was! He said this is the cleanest he's ever seen it since we took it from the box!  I am very proud of myself and the fact that I was able to get such effective result without using a single artificial chemical!  Oh, and the coffee is NOT tasting "off" anymore! From what I've researched, in order to keep your coffee tasting perfect you should do this deep wash every 4-6 weeks, so about every month.  This makes sense so you can prevent any build-up from accumulating. I'm assuming that after your first wash, your other washes should go a lot faster since there won't be so much to get off.  Happy cleaning!!!!