Espresso machine expert says this is the number 1 mistake home baristas make — and you probably don't even realize you're doing it

If you love the art of coffee as much as I do, you'll of course want to know how to take care of your espresso machine. While most of the best espresso machines — De'Longhi, Breville — are intended to last around five years, you can extend that lifespan to up to a decade with proper care.

But "proper care" isn't exactly helpful — what does that actually mean? Should I be descaling every week? Backflushing twice a day? What does it all do? Even as an ex-barista, there are still some things I'm not totally sure about.

So I decided to ask John Holmquist, Seattle Coffee Gear's Customer Experience Manager. John has more than a decade of specialty coffee expertise and is a walking espresso machine encyclopedia. He told me exactly how home baristas should be maintaining espresso machines.

John Holmquist

John is Seattle Coffee Gear's Customer Experience Manager, leading our sales team and making frequent appearances on SCG's YouTube. John brings 11 years of coffee experience, first entering the world of specialty coffee as a barista in a cafe, then following his passion for coffee to Seattle Coffee Gear.

The mistake: Improper maintenance

Maintaining — or not maintaining — their espresso machine is the biggest pitfall John sees home baristas fall into.

John advises that home baristas should consistently clean their machine. This encompasses following the backflush guide and using real products. By this, John doesn't mean espresso-machine-brand products — just real coffee-specialist products rather than multi-use cleaners.

Each espresso machine has a different backflush system. If you have a Breville Bambino Plus — like me — your espresso machine will alert you every 200 shots. However, to keep your machine in tip-top shape, you might want to run a water "cleanse" every day. This means using the cleaning disc but no cleaning tablet to remove any excess coffee oils from inside the machine.

If you're not sure what I mean by cleaning disc and cleaning tablet, don't worry. Every espresso machine should come with one. If it didn't, or if you don't know what you're looking for, Google your espresso machine name "cleaning disc", and aftermarket options will pop up.

If you've run out of the cleaning tablets, again, don't worry. John actually recommended that you not repurchase those provided tablets. Instead, John suggested Urnex Cafiza cleaning powder, which is $11 for a big, 20-ounce container. One of these containers will likely last the lifetime of your espresso machine.

But it's not all about cleaning — water quality is also a big maintenance issue. If you live in a hard water area, you'll need to descale more regularly, or you'll need to purchase a water filter. Similarly, you shouldn't use distilled water in your espresso machine, as the machine needs minerality to function. You can use bottled mineral water or filtered water.

Some espresso machines come with a water hardness test strip, but if you lost it or forgot your results, you can buy a new one for about $5 on Amazon (which is still too expensive, really — just try not to lose your original one!).

If you have hard water, you must use a water filter. You can buy brand-compatible water filters from Amazon and Seattle Coffee Gear. Even with a filter, you must descale regularly. I descale my electric kettle at the same time as my espresso machine, so I can physically see when I need to descale the latter.

If you follow this advice, you might be able to get a few extra years out of your espresso machine. Just remember: be consistent with cleaning, backflush, and descale.

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