How To Clean A Coffee Grinder | Reviews By Wirecutter

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If you’ve taken Wirecutter’s advice to invest in a good burr coffee grinder — most experts agree it’s as important as good beans — you have to learn how to clean it.

Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as brushing out the loose grinds every time you use it. I got a hands-on tutorial from Kaleena Teoh, the co-founder and director of education at Coffee Project New York. She told me that even when you use grinder cleaning tablets every week or two — per her recommendation — you still need to give your burrs a scrub once a month.

If you’re busy, you can let this deep-clean slide for a few weeks or so, she said, but it really depends on how dark a roast you brew. Roasted coffee beans are covered in aromatic oils and the darker the roast, the oilier the beans are. Those oils build up with powdered coffee and coat or even clog the burr and chambers of your grinder. Teoh — and most coffee experts — like to use the analogy of an artery and cholesterol.

Coffee oils can also go rancid or oxidize within a few months, and once you acquire those bad flavors, they literally stick around. (Teoh has a grinder purposefully used with rancid beans, and trust me, the smell was not subtle.)

Here’s how to clean your coffee grinder so it gives you good-tasting, consistently ground coffee for decades. (Our top pick can technically last a lifetime, which is why it’s our top pick.)

What you need

• Your grinder’s manual or a YouTube video: Keep the instructions handy so you know how to remove the top half of your burr.
• Possibly a screwdriver: You might need one to open your grinder.
• A clean, soft toothbrush or a small, bristled grinder brush: Some grinders, like the Baratza Encore, come with one.
• Grinder cleaning tablets: These are made of edible grains that bind with coffee oils to help remove them. Teoh uses Urnex Grindz Grinder Cleaning Tablets, which are gluten- free, organic, and less expensive than a similar retail version.
• Coffee beans: They don’t need to be fancy or fresh, but make sure they’re not stale or rancid. (Bad beans can transfer unpleasant flavors to your newly cleaned grinder.).
• A clean cloth or rag: Barely dampen it on one side and keep the other side bone-dry.
• Compressed air, a keyboard air blower, or a vacuum cleaner: These are optional but nice to have for removing powderized coffee.

How long will this take to clean?

Give yourself at least an hour the first go-around. Going forward, it’ll probably take less than 30 minutes.

For basic maintenance

Photo: Rachel Wharton Photo: Rachel Wharton Photo: Rachel Wharton Photo: Rachel Wharton

• Run the grinder until it is completely empty. Give it a gentle tap to make sure you’ve gotten all the grinds out of the machine.
• Measure out 30 grams of the grinder cleaning tablets and 30 grams of coffee beans — that’s about a ¼ cup of each. Run the cleaning tablets through the grinder until it is completely empty. Then run all the coffee through the grinder on the same setting.
• Use the barely damp side of the rag to wipe out any yellow specks from the hopper, bin, and body of your machine. Then use the dry side of the rag to dry it.
• Unplug the grinder. Following your model’s instructions, remove the top half of the burr. You might want to take photos or notes of the order of disassembly.
• Pick up the top part of the burr and use your brush to brush the tines of your burrs (just like teeth) and remove the coffee caked inside. Be careful not to press or wipe the very sharp burrs with your fingers. Work over a sheet pan or paper for easier cleanup. This should take just a few minutes of focused brushing until no more little coffee bits fall to the paper or counter.
• Now brush the half of the burr that’s still in the machine in the same manner. Use compressed air, an air blower, or a vacuum to remove any coffee bits from the burr still in the machine.
• Follow your model’s instructions to put everything back together and replace the burr properly.

What to avoid

• Hurting yourself: Unplug the coffee grinder before you take it apart and don’t scrape your fingers across the burrs. They literally cut hard coffee beans into tiny particles. Imagine what they’d do to your digits.
• Hurting your grinder: Some people say you can use dry rice instead of tablets, but Teoh doesn’t recommend it. Be careful not to drop anything else hard in there, either.
• The temptation to wash the burr with water: They easily rust.

This article was edited by Amy Koplin, Brittney Ho, and Sofia Sokolove.

Meet your guide

Rachel Wharton

What I Cover

I am based in Brooklyn, New York, and I write about refrigerators, ranges, ovens, microwaves, cooktops, kitchen ventilation, and any other large appliances that relate to cooking, eating, or food. This work includes conducting hands-on tests and researching the best products. It also requires staying on top of environmental, health, and safety regulations, as well as related trends in cooking, smart home, accessibility, tech, and kitchen design.

Mentioned above

• We’ve been testing coffee grinders since 2015 and have yet to find a better value than the consistent, reliable, and repairable Baratza Encore.The Best Coffee Grinder 
• The Baratza Encore burr grinder is possibly the most important tool in my morning coffee-making arsenal.The Baratza Encore Transformed My Morning Coffee (and Turned Me Into a Lowkey Barista) 

Further reading

• 

  Making Espresso at Home Is Kind of a Nightmare—But If You Insist, Here’s How to Do It Well

  by Brian Lam

  Making home espresso is hard to do right. But if you really want café-quality drinks, here’s what you need to know.

• 

  5 Cheap(ish) Things to Upgrade Your Coffee Experience

  by Joanne Chen

  In addition to a grinder and good beans, a good storage container, a scale, a dripper, and two other things can make a big difference.

• 

  Perk Up a Coffee Lover with These Smart Gifts

  by Mari Uyehara and Samantha Schoech

  We recommend kettles, carafes, beans, and some inspired surprises for your favorite caffeine fiend.
• 

  The Best Cheap Coffee Maker

  by Ever Meister and Justin Vassallo

  Of all the coffee makers under $100 that we’ve tested, the Ninja CE251 makes the best-tasting coffee, and it is easy to use.

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