If you’re a coffee enthusiast, you know it’s essential to clean your coffee grinder to achieve a fresh and delicious cup of coffee. With frequent use, grinders retain coffee oils and debris that can affect the quality of your drink.
Bodum recommends you clean your grinder after every use. This initial step minimizes residue buildup before you perform a deep clean.
To clean your grinder, use a damp cloth to wipe the grinding container. When cleaning the burrs or blades, it’s best to use cleaning tablets. They’re non-abrasive but can effectively refresh your appliance. Pour 30-40 g of the cleaning tablets and grind as you usually would coffee beans. Discard the crushed tablets and run a tablespoon of beans to remove the residue.
Now you’re ready to grind your favorite beans in time for a fresh brew.
In this post, we’ll provide step-by-step instructions on how to clean your appliance so you can enjoy a delectable cup of coffee every time.
Why Listen To Us? Well, because we KNOW coffee! In fact, we make our own coffee, coffee machine cleaners, and reusable capsules which we've sold to over 41 countries. Our team ouf experts include Tristan (an engineer), Claire (a food writer) and Richy (a barista). So, whether you're looking for a recipe or repair guide, we've got you covered 💚
Table of Contents
Why You Need To Clean Your Coffee Grinder?
If you’re a home barista, you most likely grind beans often. With frequent use, coffee oils and residue accumulate, resulting in rancid flavors carrying over into the next grind.
Cleaning your coffee grinder ensures your machine is at its peak performance. Not only do coffee residues lead to flavor transfer, but they can also clog your appliance, making it difficult to grind the next set of beans.
When your device rotates slower than usual, or jams, it’s an indication you need to clean it.
How Often Should You Clean Your Bodum Grinder?
You’ve just collected your ground beans and peek inside the grinding container. It looks relatively clean.
It’s safe to say you can go another day without cleaning the grinder, right? Not quite.
Here’s how often you should clean your grinder.
Perform A Light Clean After Every Use
Bodum recommends you clean the machine after every use. It helps remove any grounds that might otherwise clog your appliance. Using a soft brush, dust off any debris in the hopper, burr, or blades. Then wipe the grinding container with a damp, clean cloth.
If you use models with a collecting container, like most burr models, you can wash the container in warm, soapy water. The lids and glass containers are dishwasher safe. Don’t wash the plastic container in the dishwasher.
Perform A Deep Clean Every Month
Depending on how often you use your grinder, a deep clean is preferable once or every second week.
Below we share how to perform a deep clean for both the burr and blade coffee grinders.
How To Clean Bodum Blade Grinder
The blade models include those with removable and unremovable metal containers. These include:
- Bistro electric blade grinder
- Bistro rechargeable coffee grinder
- Bistro adjustable blade coffee grinder
- C-mill
What You’ll Need:
before you start, gather together some cleaning supplies you need
- A clean cloth or paper towels
- Methylated sprits or rubbing alcohol
- Rice or Cleaning Tablets
1. Wipe down
Using a damp cloth, wipe down the outside of the grinder. If you’re using a model with a removable bowl, gently lift it out, and wipe it clean.
When using one without a removable container, like the C-mill, dust the container with a soft brush and wipe clean to remove excess residue.
2. With rice or tablets
You can use rice to clean the blade grinders. Provided it’s not regular rice. Regular rice is much more solid and can dull the blades.
Opt for instant rice. It’s parboiled, slightly softer, and less likely to damage the electrical components of your machine.
The safest bet is to use coffee grinder cleaning tablets like Grindz. Most cleaning tablets are made from plant-based ingredients, making them gentle yet effective at drawing out the coffee residues.
3. Avoid water
Your coffee grinder is an electrical appliance. As with most electrical appliances, you shouldn’t submerge it in water. Avoid placing the body or cord in water.
How To Clean Burr Coffee Grinder
If you own any of these models:
- Electric coffee grinder with a plastic container
- Electric coffee grinder with a glass container
Follow the guide below to clean your grinder.
1. Wipe down
Using a damp cloth, wipe down the outside of the grinder. Wipe the coffee hopper and collecting container with a moist cloth after every use, or wash it in warm water once a week.
2. Use cleaning tablets
A common complaint amongst burr coffee grinder users is that dismantling the machine is labor and time intensive.
In this case, we suggest you use cleaning tablets.
They allow you to clean the device without disassembling it, and they absorb all oils and residue.
Here’s how to clean your grinder using cleaning tablets.
- Remove any coffee beans from the grinding container.
- Pour 30-40g of the tablets into the container.
- Grind on the coarsest setting to loosen the large particles.
- Turn to the finest grind to remove the remainder of the residue.
- Pour a tablespoon, or two, of coffee beans to remove the excess tablet residue. Discard the mixture.
- Wipe the container with a damp cloth.
3. Avoid water
Your coffee grinder is an electrical appliance. Similar to most electrical appliances, it shouldn’t be placed in water. Only wash the water-safe parts like the lid and hopper. Wipe the burrs with a damp cloth.
4. Don’t use rice
We don’t recommend you use rice. It can result in dull burrs. The rice tends to cake up and can damage the electrical components of your grinder.
5. Cleaning the hopper
To clean the hopper, vacuum or dust off the debris. Also, wipe it with a damp cloth or wash it in warm soapy water. Dry the hopper well and reattach it to the machine.
6. Cleaning the container
Wash the plastic or glass container in warm soapy water. You can also wash the lid in water. It’s water and dishwasher-safe.
The glass container models are made of durable borosilicate glass – the heat won’t damage those parts.
Avoid washing the plastic container in the dishwasher.
Bodum Coffee Grinder – Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Should you wash the coffee grinder after every use?
Bodum recommends you clean the machine after every use. It helps remove any grounds that might otherwise clog your grinder. You can dust off any debris in the grinding container, hopper, burr, or blades. Then wipe the grinding container with a damp, clean cloth.
If you use models with a collecting container, like most burr models, wash the container in warm, soapy water.The lids and glass containers are dishwasher safe. Don’t put the plastic container in the dishwasher.
Q. Can I use rubbing alcohol to clean the grinder?
You can use rubbing alcohol or methylated sprits to clean the grinder. However, doing so will require an additional step from you: re-seasoning the burrs or blades with oil to prevent rust.
Rubbing alcohol does contain amounts of water, no matter how small. When metal interacts with water, it does lead to rust.
The best option is to use cleaning tablets. They don’t require additional effort from your side. You add the tablets and grind as you would when grinding coffee beans.
Conclusion
Cleaning your Bodum coffee grinder is a simple task you can accomplish in just a few steps. It’s also a terrific process to enhance the longevity of your device.
You can use a soft brush to dust off the coffee debris and wipe it with a damp cloth to complete the cleaning process.
Doing so prevents the build-up of residue and coffee oils. When performing a deep clean, you can utilize cleaning tablets to clean the crevices a brush would otherwise have difficulty reaching.
Most cleaning tablets require little to no additional effort from you. You add them to the container and grind as you would when grinding coffee beans.
