Cleaning your Ratio

Brewing coffee involves extracting lots of lovely flavors out of roasted coffee, but it also creates a fair amount of oily residue that can build up over time. On top of that, minerals in your water supply can leave behind an unsightly coating of calcium and magnesium. We recommend descaling your machine every 3-4 weeks.

Follow these easy steps to keep your Ratio as pristine as the day you brought it home!  

Halefresh Wash

1. Run 1 teaspoon of Halefresh through the machine once a month to keep the glass reservoir and supply lines clear of any mineral or scale build-up. The frequency that you should do this will vary depending on water quality and filtration. Read our article on water quality to learn more.

 

 

2. Let the Wash soak in the machine for 20-30 minutes after running half of the solution through the machine. When the cleaner has had time to work, you can restart the brew.

 

 

3. Run 2-3 cycles through the machine with fresh cold water to rinse the glass lines of any residual cleaning solution.

 

To prevent coffee oils transfering into your machine water tank, either:

Avoid using your Ratio carafe to fill the water tank with water

-or-

Rinse and wash the carafe regularly after use with a drop of dish soap and hot water.  

 

 

4. Retaining the crisp aesthetic of the Ratio Eight’s surface can be done by using the microfiber towel that came with your machine to wipe residual moisture from the top surface, around the shower head, and base of the machine.

 

 

You can also gently use a "Magic Eraser" or similar to remove stubborn coffee stains.

 

 

5. The condensation around the shower head will contain a lot of coffee oils, and over time can build up coffee oils that can damage the surface of the machine.

Wipe the bottom of the carafe after pouring your coffee to be sure that leftover coffee won’t be sitting on the machine surface. Sitting water can damage the surface over time.

 

 

6. You can set the fill lid that seals off the water tank to the side after brewing to allow the reservoir to dry out. We often place the lid in sideways for an hour or two to allow airflow.

White Vinegar 

Just follow the steps below when running a descaling cycle through your machine:


1. Add 10oz vinegar and 30oz cold water.

2. Start a brew cycle.

3. Midway through the brew cycle, turn off the coffee maker and let it sit for 30 minutes.

4. After 30 minutes, turn on the coffee maker and let the brew cycle finish.

5. When it's finished let the machine cool off for 10-15 minutes.

6. Pour out the vinegar-water solution and fill the water chamber with fresh water (no vinegar). Run a new brew cycle just with the water. Repeat once more to rinse. Resting between each cycle.

Please note: more is not always better when it comes to suds.  Using too much cleaner will over-bubble during the cleaning cycle and clog the heater, which can make the heater overheat and trip the internal fuses. This will mean a trip to Ratio for a repair, so please be careful when using a descaling solution that bubbles up.

Don’t want to do this yourself? No problem; we can do it for you.