How to Clean a Coffee Maker With Baking Soda (10 Easy Steps)

In this post you’ll learn how to clean a coffee maker with baking soda to remove any nasty buildup that might get in your way of making the perfect cup of joe.

Ready?

How to clean a coffee maker with baking soda

Using baking soda to clean a coffee maker is easy if you follow these 10 simple steps:

1. Disassemble your coffee maker.

2. Wash each part of your coffee maker with natural dish soap to remove as much of the buildup as possible before going further. This will make all other steps more effective. We recommend steering clear of conventional dish soap because they leave behind a chemical residue that will mix in with your next cup of coffee. (Here’s where you can find the most natural dish soap there is).

3. Reassemble the coffee maker.

4. Mix one cup of warm water with a quarter cup of baking soda (see here for a great all-natural baking soda). Stir well to ensure the baking soda dissolves entirely.

5. Pour the mixture into the coffee maker’s water chamber.

6. Start the brewing cycle.

7. Once the mixture begins flowing into the coffee pot, stop the cycle and let it sit for 30 minutes.

8. Restart the cycle.

9. Once the cycle is finished, discard the mixture.

10. Repeat steps 4-9 if necessary.

Done – and that’s how to clean a coffee maker with baking soda!

If you’d like to learn more about how baking soda cleans your coffee maker, just keep reading.

Can baking soda kill microbes?

One group of researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine tested the cleaning ability of baking soda and found it to be nearly as effective at killing harmful bacteria as toxic household cleaners.

They found that apply baking soda to a surface for just five minutes was able to kill Staphylococcus aureus, salmonella, and E. coli.

A research team from the University of Minnesota found that baking soda proved to be effective at killing 99.99% of certain viruses within one minute of contact, and that it became even more effective when combined with hydrogen peroxide.

Another study from the University of Iowa showed that baking soda was so useful for reducing bacteria that they recommended it for use in human oral care.

But if you’re nor sure if baking soda is for you, here are some alternative cleaning methods for your coffee maker.

Alternative to baking soda

If you don’t have any baking soda handy, here’s an alternative to try:

Vinegar works very well for cleaning coffee makers and several studies confirmed the antimicrobial powers of vinegar. Read more about this method here and learn the steps you need to follow.

Alternatively, there are professional coffee maker cleaners you can use. However, we don’t recommend them. Most brands don’t reveal their exact ingredients, and that’s often a sign that they may contain potentially toxic chemicals. You don’t want that kind of residue ending up in your coffee. Better stick to all-natural methods.

Many posts out there write about sanitizing coffee makers with bleach. If you want to learn more about why that’s the worst possible method you can read our post about the dangers of bleach.

Importance of cleaning your coffee maker

Coffee makers are packed with bacteria.

A study conducted in the airline industry discovered that if coffee makers aren’t cleaned on a regular basis they are prone to grow bacteria surprisingly fast.

The researchers found up to 37 different kind of bacteria inside the coffee makers in their study.

Since those findings came as a shock to the world of morning-brew enthusiasts a similar study was conducted only to confirm the results by and large.

In so many words, if you don’t want your coffee to get spoiled by colonies of microbes, you should clean your coffee maker with baking soda at least once a month.

Now you know how to clean a coffee maker with baking soda

Way to go!

Once you’ve got a squeaky-clean coffee maker, you’ll want to take steps to keep it that way.

Don’t forget to take the coffee maker apart at the end of the day and give it a good wash with natural dish soap (check out the most natural dish soap there is).

Why natural dish soap?

Here's why:

Let the parts air dry overnight, resisting the urge to dry them with a towel (learn why that’s a bad idea in this post).

We recommend doing a deep clean – following the steps in this post – about once a month.

And that’s how it’s done!

Did you know that, besides the coffee maker, there are lots of other nasty areas most people forget to clean in their kitchen?

Here’s where you can learn more.

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