You know the smell. Someone forgot to turn off the coffee maker and now you’ve got burned-on coffee stuck to the coffee pot until the end of time if not longer. Relax. I’ve got the inside trade secret on how to get that ooey gooey stinky stuff out.
How to Clean a Coffee Pot
- Allow the coffee pot to cool completely. This is important, so you skimmers and shortcutters better not skip this step. You’ve been warned.
- Toss in two or three spoonfuls of salt, a handful or two of ice, and a couple splashes of lemon juice.
- Swish it around—you know, hold the coffee pot and swish; don’t bother getting a spoon and stirring or anything as complex as that. That only results in more dishes needing washing.
- Watch in amazement and awe as the goo loosens.
- When finished, rinse with cool water.
- Repeat if necessary, depending on how long your coffee pot was neglected.
No lemon juice, no problem. Any acidic kitchen liquid will do just fine, like plain ol’ cheap ol’ white vinegar. In the restaurant biz we used lemons because we always had them on hand and already sliced at the end of a shift, so it was easy to grab, squeeze, and toss the whole shebang into the pot…almost every night…because we were so-not-good at remembering the coffee.
I knew my restaurant experience would come in handy. Now if I could only find a use for my college degree.
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