How To Clean A Coffee Maker Without Vinegar In 3 Ways

I absolutely love a hot cup of hot coffee in the morning. In this season of life with a young toddler and little baby I find myself having somewhat of a love affair with my coffee machine. To be totally honest with you, and I might be oversharing here, but my husband preparing and setting the timer on our automatic coffee maker every night is hands down one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen.

One of the best ways to get a great cup of coffee starts with a clean coffee maker. Not too long ago I set out to do just that. I was going to clean our coffee maker and wage war on mineral deposits and coffee residue. I started out with the tried and true method of using white vinegar to clean our coffee maker. Spoiler alert: this tale ends in woe.

It turns out that to clean a coffee maker with vinegar you must be willing to either take your life into your own hands or spend roughly seventy-five years rinsing it avoid flavoring the taste of your coffee with vinegar. Needless to say I unknowingly chose the option of taking my life into my hands when Josh and I started our morning with vinegar flavored coffee.

Do. Not. Recommend.

The good news is that you can learn from my deadly mistake. Okay maybe “deadly” is a bit dramatic but at the time it sure felt dire. After I swore to never again let white vinegar anywhere near my precious coffee I had to find new ways to clean a coffee maker without vinegar.

Cleaning Your Coffee Maker Without Vinegar

Before we dive into the three easy ways to clean your drip coffee maker without vinegar we need to take a quick look at why so many people are using vinegar in the first place. Vinegar is a natural ingredient and a natural cleaning agent.

Vinegar is comprised of acetic acid, which will do a great job at removing buildup. It can also kill bacteria and mold. Cleaning with vinegar is pretty popular to be honest but unless you spend the next millennia rinsing out your coffee maker every pot of coffee with be seasoned with eau de vinegar.

Never fear you can absolutely have a squeaky clean coffee maker without risking life, limb, and your precious morning brew. I tested these methods on our drip coffee maker but I would imagine the results are similar for a keurig coffee maker, espresso machine, or french press.

How To Clean Your Coffee Maker Without Vinegar

Lemon Juice

Lemon juice has a similar level of acidity to vinegar but is a much safer choice when it comes to preserving the integrity of your coffee. The citric acid is, in my opinion, the best way to get a clean machine without using vinegar. Cleaning with lemon juice is a popular choice for several household items.

You can use bottled lemon juice from the store or you can juice lemons yourself. Either way is a great option.

Before cleaning your machine, regardless of which method you choose, I suggest to run a brewing cycle with just clean water. You can leave the filter basket in place and just let the hot water do its thing. The water by itself will not completely clean your machine but it will removed a fair amount of buildup and pave the way for the lemon juice to get to work.

After running a brewing cycle with clean water run a cycle of 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cups of water.

When the lemon juice cycle has finished take any removable parts and wash those with soap and water. The put everything back together and run 3 clean water cycles in order to make sure everything is rinsed well.

To sum up:

• 1 clean water cycle
• 1 cycle with 1/2 cup of lemon juice mixed with 1/2 cup of water
• wash removable parts with soap and water
• run 3 clean water cycles

Lemon juice is my favorite cleaning solution for the coffee maker and keeps me far away from the dreaded vinegar disaster of the past.

Baking Soda

Another great option for cleaning a coffee maker without vinegar is to use baking soda. Baking soda is non-toxic and a common way to remove grease and grim.

A benefit of using baking soda over lemon juice is that baking soda is a staple in most kitchens and pretty easy to come by. Lemon juice is not necessarily something that every kitchen has on hand at all times. One downside to cleaning with baking soda is that while it does a good job it is not quite as effective as the lemon juice. That being said it really is the best alternative to lemon juice.

To clean your coffee maker with baking soda again I recommend that you start by running a clean water cycle and let the hot water flush everything out. Next, mix together a quarter cup of baking soda with a cup of fresh water and run a cleaning cycle with the baking soda and water combination.

Finish up the cleaning by using soap and water on any removable parts and running three cycles of fresh water to rinse everything out very well.

To recap:

• 1 clean water cycle
• 1 cycle with 1/4 cup of baking soda and 1 cup of water
• wash removable parts with soap and water
• run 3 clean water cycles

Cream of Tartar

Admittedly, this is my least favorite option out of the three but it still works really well. There are some other options floating in internet land about denture tablets, dishwashing liquid, or tablespoons of borax. Personally, I have never found it necessary to purchase denture tablets just for cleaning and if I cannot be trusted with the vinegar there is no way I am going to experiment with putting borax in my coffee machine. Dish soap also seems like a terrible idea. That is a level of disaster I just do not need in my life.

While I do prefer the lemon juice and find baking soda to be a close second this cream of tartar option is really not a bad way to go.

By now you know the drill to start the brewing process with plain water. Next, dissolve 3 tablespoons of cream of tartar into a full coffee pot of water. Run that cycle with the cream of tartar, wash the removable parts with soap and water, and finally run 3 cycles of plain water to rinse everything really well.

Believe it or not cream of tartar has a level of acidity that is up there with vinegar so it is going to remove a good amount of buildup even if it has been a long time since your cleaned your coffee maker.

How Often Should You Clean A Coffee Maker?

The frequency with which you should clean your coffee maker is going to depend mainly on how often you use it.

Should I Clean My Coffee Maker Everyday?

Everyday is probably over kill honestly.

In my house that little miracle worker is running every day without fail so I opt to clean ours about once a month. The coffee pot and filter basket are cleaned daily by hand and run through the dishwasher about once a week.

If you do not clean your coffee maker regularly the coffee residue and mineral buildup will compromise how well the coffee works. That directly translates to how good of a cup of coffee you are getting and that’s just not a risk that I am willing to take.

I have added “clean coffee maker” to my regular cleaning routine. I talk more about my daily cleaning routine and weekly cleaning routine in other posts. If you do not run your coffee maker like your life depends on it the way my family does then you can get away with cleaning it less often.

Discloser Note:

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.