Bean to Cup Machines

Bean to Cup Machine Maintenance & Cleaning

Regular maintenance prolongs the lifetime of your automatic coffee machine. Here's everything you need to know:

Steam / Frother maintenance
Brew Unit Cleaning
Adjusting the grinder and the quantity of ground coffee
Use of ground coffee
Cleaning
Descaling
Brita water filter

Steam / Frothing

When you finished using your steam you need to cool the water system down by closing the water knob (steam) first, press the hot water button then open the water knob fully and let the steam out (approx. 10 seconds). Close the water knob.

You need to do this with twin boilers equipped machines as well (Gaggia Titanium, Syncrony Compact Digital, Saeco Incanto S-Class range). On some models it is done automatically by the blowdown valve (Gaggia Platinum range, Saeco Odea Giro).

Brew unit

(brewing compartment black or grey behind the door)

Before removing the brew unit you need to make sure it has reset itself. Allow the machine to finish the coffee making cycle (rinsing cycle) at all times and wait 5-10 seconds after you think it stopped.

If you want to remove the brew unit when the machine switched off, please turn your machine on first and let it do the selftest and then remove the brewunit.

Never force the Brew unit in or out.

The brewing area, behind the door where you have the brew unit and the dregdrawer must be clean at all times.

You must lubricate your brew group once in a month.Here is a video how to go about it.

Weekly cleaning (let it dry after cleaning)

Adjusting the grinder and the quantity of ground coffee

Inside of the coffee container you have 2 adjustment options. Some models come with 1 only as the quantity measured by the CPU and not adjustable for example: Gaggia Platinum range, Saeco Odea range etc.

Others have the quantity knob above the the door on side for example Saeco Royal and Magic range, Gaggia Syncrony Digital.

The first knob (in the coffee bean container) has numbers or spots on it which can be set only while the grinder operating. If you set it towards smaller number you get finer and stronger coffee as result. Towards bigger number it works the other way around, weaker coffee. To reach your settings you need to make 3 cups of coffee.

The second knob or lever (inside the coffee container or on the right hand side) is for the quantity (middle 7g, maximum 9g).

Please do not use it on the maximum (+) as it might damage the gear box on the long run.

Note: If you set it too low the coffee powder will be too fine and no coffee will be dispensed.

Use of ground coffee

(if optional)

You have to be careful with ground coffee as the quantity of ground coffee you add is not measured by the machine so if you put too much it could harm your machine as much as if you put too less.

If you see much ground coffee around the brew unit you probably add too much of ground coffee and you need to use less.

Cleaning

Please clean your brew unit under runing warm water once a week.

Behind the brew unit, when you remove it you see a hole and a light brown valve, under the valve there is a waste water reservoir and on its bottom you see a hole (above the drip tray ), well this area and inside the reservoir must be clean at all times otherwise the waste water overflow and get in to the gearbox.

Descaling

Descale the machine on regular basis, every 2 months time and use only Gaggia descaler (liquid).

You can buy the Gaggia Descaler (250ml) here >

If your machine is not featured with descaling program, you can follow our guidance how to descale your machine manually here >

NEVER use vinegar or descalers with formic acid.

Brita water filter

If you use a Brita water filter cartidge please replace the filter every 2 months to prevent limescale builds up. In this case you only need to descale your coffee maker 1-2 times a year.

IMPORTANT: you need to remove the brita filter before starting descaling/filling up the water tank with descaler.Once you have finished descaling clean the water tank with clear water then insert the brita filter back.

If your water tank is designed for taking birta filter cartridge start using it now!

Do not leave the machine switched on for a long time,when you finished with it switch it off.

Using a Saeco/Gaggia Coffee clean tablet

You need to run the coffee clean cycle on your coffee maker at least once a month to remove greasy coffee residue from the dispensing system. Unfortunately only the high end machines have the program for it such as Gaggia Accademia, Babila, Saeco Xelsis, Exprelia etc.

With the rest of the machine you need to do it manually as per our step by step guide below

Set one of the coffee buttons for at least 300 ml by pressing and holding the button down,
Put the cleaning tablet inside the brew unit where the coffee goes,
Select pre ground option and press the button you preset previously to start the cycle
Let ("brew") about 100 ml through the coffee dispenser and then either open the door or pull out the drip tray to interrupt cycle which would stop the machine`s water pump in mid cycle and would allow the chemical to soak. Wait a minute then close the door or put the tray back
At the second interval let about 30 ml through and interrupt the cycle again as described above and wait a minute
Repeat this 30 ml interval until the brewing cycle finished and the brew unit returns to its neutral position.
Remove and rinse the brew unit then put it back
Select pre ground coffee and press the preset coffee button again
run this "rinsing cycle" uninterrupted twice.