Coffee
The Breville Barista Express Impress Cleaning Schedule We Actually Follow
Every use, every Clean Me light, every month, every two months, every three. The cleaning schedule behind a year of daily shots on our Impress, the chore we like least, and the cheap filters that keep it affordable.
Written by the ShopEssentialsHub team ·
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The Schedule
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Every use | Wipe the steam wand |
| When the Clean Me light comes on | Cleaning cycle with a tablet |
| Monthly | Clean the grinder |
| Every two months | New water filter (soak it five minutes first) |
| Every three months | Descale |
Every Use: The Steam Wand
Milk dries onto the wand fast, and dried milk is the hardest thing on the machine to get off. Wipe it right after steaming, every time. This is the only daily habit, and it is the one that matters.
When the Light Says So: The Cleaning Cycle
The Impress tells you when it wants a cleaning cycle: the Clean Me light comes on. We run it when it does, with a cleaning tablet, following the manual. No calendar needed. Let the machine count.
Monthly: The Grinder
Coffee oils and fines build up in the burrs and the chute. Once a month we clean the grinder, and a year in it grinds as consistently as it did on day one. The brush in our MEWCO kit is handy for it.
Every Two Months: The Water Filter
The filter in the water tank is what keeps scale down between descales. Breville charges around six dollars per filter and says to change it every two months. That adds up over the life of the machine.
We switched to a twelve-pack of third-party filters at about sixteen dollars, roughly a dollar and a third each. They fit the same holder. We have run six of them on Breville's schedule, and our descaling frequency and the taste of the coffee stayed the same. Soak a new one for five minutes before it goes in, same as the originals.
Every Three Months: Descaling, the Chore We Like Least
Descaling is the job we put off. It takes a while, and you have to stay with the machine while it runs. There is no shortcut, so pick a time when you are not in a hurry.
What a Year of This Looks Like
Nothing broken. Two things replaced: the water filters, on schedule, and the drip tray grate, which warped once. The steam wand still works and the grinder is still consistent.
New to the machine? Our one-year review covers whether it is worth buying in the first place.
The products we talked about
Same filter, a third of the price
Solid, well-built tools. Great for home baristas
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