Cleaning and descaling your Nespresso® machine

Why should you clean your Nespresso® machine ?

If you own a Nespresso® machine and you want to get the longest possible service out of it, you absolutely must make sure that you’re regularly descaling your nespresso machine. Indeed, as our colleague Anne-So never tires of telling us: “Limescale is a coffee machine’s worst enemy!” And the same goes for capsule-based machines. But why does limescale appear in the first place? The offending substance is actually present in the tap water that we use for our coffee. As the water is heated, the limescale gradually separates from the water and deposits form on your machine’s pipes. This build-up reduces the extraction pressure produced by the machine and can cause premature wear on the pump. This is why it’s important to regularly descale your machine – roughly every 2-3 months, depending on the hardness of your local tap water.

How to descale your Nespresso® machine ?

First of all, before starting this operation, you need to know that it will take about 30 minutes to descale your Nespresso® capsule machine proprely. Here are the steps to follow to descale your coffee machine:

What you need for cleaning and descaling your Nespresso Machine ?

In order to correctly descale your machine, you will need to get your hands on certain specific products:

• a descaler, to remove the limescale from the pipes
• clean water, used for rinsing
• a cleaning capsule, to clean the brewing unit

You can either opt for a full kit that provides the cleaning capsule and descaler, or simply purchase a dedicated descaler for Nespresso® machines or a universal descaler (for all other brands of machines). The choice of cleaning options for your machine is quite wide so there is no excuse!

Descaling your capsule machine with white vinegar: good idea or terrible mistake?

From personal experience, having dealt with plenty of different machines, we do not advise you to descale your Nespresso® machine (whether it be an Inissia, Citiz or Essenza model) with white vinegar. The reason for this is very simple: white vinegar contains acetic acid, which over time can attack the pipes contained within your machine’s internal mechanisms and potentially cause leaks.

Our recommendations to descale your Nespresso® machine 

Cleaning the brew unit, the bonus step to ensure a long life for your machine

Once the descaling is complete, you will also need to clean the brewing unit. Why? Because after every extraction, oils and particles of coffee get left behind and stick to the group head. This risks adversely affecting the taste of your coffee. The cleaning capsule contains a detergent agent that, on contact with water, is transformed into an active mousse. This mousse spreads throughout your Nespresso® capsule machine’s group head, giving it a deep clean, killing bacteria and dislodging any particles that have become encrusted on the machine. We strongly encourage you to clean your machine, just like this, every 2-3 weeks.

With all this in mind, there’s absolutely no excuse not to clean up your act – and your precious Nespresso® capsule machine! – to ensure that it continues serving a richly fragrant coffee every day for many years to come! Find all our cleaning products for your coffee machine on our website ! And once your machine is sparkling, how about treating yourself to some coffee?!