Clean Your Keurig! {Easily}

If your Keurig hasn’t been cleaned in a while or it’s starting not to work as well, it might be time to clean it! It will look good and work so much better after you do so.

First things first, UNPLUG your Keurig first. Don’t forget to unplug it!

Once it’s unplugged, it’s time to disassemble it. Remove the water tank and the lid, along with the stand your coffee cup rests on. Open the top and remove the K-Cup holder. Then wash all of these pieces in warm, soapy water. Let them dry.

Then unclog the needles. You can do this by using a paperclip that is partially unbent. When the top of your Keurig is open, you can carefully insert the free end of your paperclip into the three holes along the needle that pierces your K-Cup. Jiggle the paperclip around a little and then remove it. This won’t harm your machine but if you are worried about using a paperclip you can use a special pod for this step.

Then turn your machine upside down and give the bottom of your machine a few, hard taps with the palm of your hand (while the top is still open). This will help loosen any debris inside. Some build up might come out so you’ll probably want to do this step over a sink.

Now it’s time to clear out the tube. Turn your machine upside down again and put a drinking straw over the spout. Wrap it with a paper towel to make it is as air-tight as possible. Then blow really hard into your straw to force air through your Keurig spout. (don’t worry you will kill the germs later) This will clear out any build up in the water line. Then wipe down your machine and reassemble it.

Fill the water tank with half water and half white vinegar (the vinegar will kill germs). It’s important you mix the vinegar with water though because straight vinegar can harm your machine. You can also use a commercial Keurig descaling product if you would rather. Run the vinegar-water through the machine until you have emptied the entire tank, dumping each cup as it brews. If your machine won’t run without a pod in the holder, just insert a used one.

Now repeat the last step, but this time just run some water in the tank without any vinegar. Check the final cup to make sure it doesn’t have a vinegar taste to it, but if it does, just keep running water through it. If you don’t want to taste it to see if there is vinegar, just sprinkle some vinegar in the cup. If it fizzes it still has vinegar and if not, it’s good to go!

Now just make sure you keep cleaning your Keurig regularly! If you keep up on the maintenance of your Keurig it won’t have as many problems and you might not have to disassemble and reassemble your machine every time. It all depends how often you need to clean it by how frequently you use it. The general rule of thumb is, if it ever brews too slowly or makes smaller cups than usual, then it’s time to clean it.