If a good day becomes evident in the morning, what about a bad day? Well, sometimes, all it takes for your good day to turn sour is a malfunctioning appliance that you can’t figure out. And one such culprit is your coffee maker.
Maybe you wake up ready to start your day only to discover that your coffee maker is painfully slow. What should you do? Should you wait for thirty minutes for it to fill your carafe?
Or should you leave it and look for an alternative drink? Well, a slow coffee machine isn’t broken and can be remedied without the need for a professional. But how?
If your coffee maker brews coffee slowly, then it’s most likely caused by calcium and mineral build-up within the machine, this is often caused by water from the tap, which carries minerals. You can solve this issue by cleaning your coffee maker using vinegar. This will break down the mineral build-up and speed things up.
Today’s article looks at the three best methods you can employ to fix your coffee machine that brews slowly. Let’s get started.
How Long Should a Coffee Maker Take to Brew?
Regardless of the technology, most coffee makers take between 3 and 5 minutes from when water drips onto the coffee to when your cup is ready. Hot water acts as a solvent to wash the ground coffee soluble particles into your brew when brewing.
Here’s a look at the times it takes different coffee makers to make your coffee.
- Keurig machine – 2 to 3 minutes
- Drip coffee maker – 5 to 15 minutes
- Percolator – 5 to 10 minutes
- Nespresso machine – 30 to 60 seconds
- Espresso machine – 20 to 30 seconds
- French press coffee machine – 5 minutes
- Aeropress – 2 to 3 minutes
How Do You Fix a Slow Coffee Maker
When you wake up one morning and realize that you’ve overslept, the last thing that you would want to encounter is a slow coffee maker. And nothing is as irritating as a machine that ought to be working but suddenly starts malfunctioning.
Maybe your previous timeliness had blinded you from realizing that your coffee maker is painfully slow. Here, we’ll dissect the cause of the problem and offer easy-to-follow solutions.
Method 1: Descaling Using Distilled Vinegar
Problem
Many things can make your coffee maker brew slowly, but one main culprit is mineral buildup. If you’re using unpurified water to make your coffee, the chances are that you’ll have to descale your machine at one point in the future.
Unpurified water contains minerals such as calcium and magnesium bicarbonates, carbonates, and sulfates which stick (scale) to the sides of your coffee maker. The scaling affects how fast your coffee maker works and lowers your coffee drink’s quality.
Here are some problems that you can solve by descaling your coffee maker.
- The mineral buildup clogs the coffee maker’s water lines, causing it to malfunction.
- Your coffee maker won’t reach an optimal temperature to extract a flavor from your ground coffee.
- A coffee maker that fails to heat up hence making lukewarm coffee.
Solution
After troubleshooting your coffee maker and realizing that it has a ton of mineral deposits, your next move shall be to descale it. And you can quickly tell a coffee maker with limescale or mineral buildup by looking out for white, chalky residue that accumulates on the inner sides of tubes or reservoirs.
Also, some coffee makers have inbuilt detection systems that notify you if there’s a mineral buildup within the machine. The notification may be in the form of blinking or constant “descale” light.
Here’s how you can easily descale your coffee maker.
- First, study it and note the carafe’s capacity to have a clear picture of the amount of vinegar you’ll need.
- Second, rinse the carafe with cold water and empty any leftover coffee that might still be in the machine.
- Third, add vinegar to the carafe up to the halfway mark and fill up with water. For example, if you have a six-cup carafe, add three cups of distilled vinegar and top up with an equal amount of water.
- Fourth, apply a coffee filter to the coffee maker, much like when making coffee. When the filter is in position, pour the diluted distilled vinegar into the water reservoir and start the machine.
- The vinegar solution will move inside the machine like regular water and effectively eliminate all mineral deposits present.
- After filling the carafe, pour its contents into a container as you might need the vinegar solution for future use, such as cleaning the drains.
- Finally, fill the water reservoir with clean plain water and run the coffee maker two to three times to eliminate residual vinegar.
Alternatively, you can use the method below if you find that your coffee machine has very stubborn mineral deposits.
Here, you’ll set up your vinegar solution, as seen in the section above but with a little tweak.
- After putting the vinegar solution in the water reservoir, run the machine until only half of the solution remains and stop it. In other words, stop the machine when half of the solution is in the reservoir and the other half is in the carafe.
- Let the machine sit for an hour or so to allow the limescale/ mineral deposits to soak. Since you won’t be scrubbing, it’s easier for the vinegar to dislodge the soaked limescale.
- After an hour, start your machine and complete the rinsing process with clean water.
Method 2: Unclogging Valves, Filters, and Tubes
Problem
Sometimes, you may find that water isn’t flowing effortlessly into the coffee maker. In some scenarios, this may result from mineral deposit buildup on the sides of your machine. In other cases, coffee oils can build up on the filter, causing your coffee to drip or fail to get into the carafe or cup completely.
Blocked filters are a regular occurrence in the espresso machine, and you shouldn’t panic.
Solution
There are many different coffee makers worldwide; hence, you’ll find that there’s no one-fit-for-all method for locating the valves and tubes.
Therefore, consult your appliance’s user manual to get a clear picture of where the tubes are located. But in general, here are steps you should follow.
- First, unplug the machine from the power outlet. The standard protocol for repairing all electronic and electrical appliances is to isolate them from the power lines. In doing so, you’ll save yourself from electrocution or even damaging your appliance.
- Second, dump all the water in the machine into the sink.
- Third, look for a fitting screwdriver or a set of screws and open your coffee maker’s base cover to expose the water tubes.
- Next, locate the water tubes and inspect for kinks, clogs, or limescale blockages.
- If the tube has kinks, you’ll only need to straighten it, and regular water flow will resume. If it’s clogged, run a distilled vinegar solution through it to remove the limescale deposits.
- If it has a valve, consult the user manual to remove it without damaging it safely. Some coffee makers have a two-way solenoid or check valves that connect directly to the boilers controlling the amount of hot water that flows into your cup.
- Next, inspect the valves for any deposits and clean thoroughly with the vinegar solution.
- Finally, replace all components and plug in your coffee maker to enjoy your coffee.
Method 3: Regulating the Amount of Ground Coffee
Problem
If you’re new to making coffee or you just bought a new coffee maker that you’re not so accustomed to, the chances are that you might be doing your ratios wrongly. It’s more so with drip coffee makers, known to overflow and spill coffee onto the countertop in some situations.
Causes of overflowing coffee or a slow machine include:
- Adding excess ground coffee into the filter.
- Putting a grind that’s too fine.
Solution
- Use less decaffeinated or flavored finely ground coffee when brewing as they settle in when in contact with hot water. The result is that the finely ground coffee creates a leak-proof layer that slows down water flow to your carafe or cup.
- Alternatively, use medium-ground coffee if your coffee maker blocks regularly. You can know that the filter is clogged when your coffee comes out in drips. Furthermore, you can use two tablespoons for every 8-ounce cup of water.
- If the filter is the source of the problem, rinse the filter basket before brewing. Also, check to confirm that you’re using one filter.
Final Remarks
You can solve most coffee maker problems without needing much expertise. And, as we’ve seen, everyday issues that slow down your machine are clogging, improper usage, and limescale buildup.
You can solve these problems by following the step-by-step guidelines we’ve covered today. However, if none of the solutions works for you, you should consult your coffee maker’s manufacturer for assistance.