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Mould in the coffee machine: how to find it, remove it and avoid it
Not just moka pots: more and more people also have automatic coffee machines, pod machines or American coffee machines in their homes. If you are one of them, remember that constant maintenance is essential to avoid the formation of mould. What to do if you find it and how to prevent it from appearing? Here is everything you need to know.
For us Italians, coffee is a sacred ritual, especially if prepared with the moka pot. But the presence of other tools for preparing coffee is becoming more and more widespread in homes, for example using new appliances such as the automatic coffee machine, the pod machine or the American coffee machine.
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These are tools that certainly make your life easier but you need to pay a certain amount of attention to them because, if you don’t take care of them, they can become a threat to your health. Why? Because of the presence of mould, which often forms in hidden corners of the machine.
Nothing unusual, because mold always develops naturally in humid and warm places, but it is good to learn where it could nest. We explain where you need to check, how to clean your machine in case of mold and what to do in terms of maintenance to avoid its formation.
How to clean the espresso machine
Why mold forms and where it nests
As we mentioned, mold tends to develop naturally in very humid and very warm places: for this reason the electric coffee machine is the ideal place for it to appear. The high temperatures needed to prepare the coffee, combined with the water that stagnates between the gears, favor the formation of mold not only in the visible points of the appliance, but above all in the most hidden points.
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The topic of mold in electric coffee machines was the subject of an investigation conducted by the American broadcaster CBS. The experiment conducted highlighted the most common points where the appliance develops mold, which are the housing of the capsule or pod (or the filter container in the case of the American coffee machine), the spout where the coffee flows and the container where you insert the water.
How to understand if mold is developing? You just need to get a cotton swab and pass it over the sensitive points (those indicated by the research, but also other more hidden and invisible to the naked eye): if you notice greenish traces it means that the mold formation process is starting and that it is necessary to intervene. In fact, prolonged exposure to mold can cause respiratory diseases and allergies, or exacerbate the symptoms of already existing diseases of this type.
How to remove mold
If you have found mold in your electric coffee machine, don’t worry: you can clean the affected parts effectively and naturally, using ingredients that you surely already have at home. Your first and most useful ally is white vinegar, a powerful natural antimicrobial.
A good cleaning method is to mix it with water, add the mixture to the machine’s tank and start the appliance as if you were making coffee, but without inserting capsules or coffee. Repeat the operation two or three times, rinse the tank and pass only clean water through the system to eliminate the vinegar residues.
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You can do the same operation using baking soda, another very effective remedy for eliminating the bag. In this case, you will have to dissolve two tablespoons of baking soda in a liter of water and then proceed in the same way, pouring the solution into the tank and starting the dispensing cycle. At the end, as in the case of vinegar, rinse thoroughly with clean water.
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