How to Clean a Single-Cup (Keurig) Coffee Maker

This post is sponsored by Wagner. All opinions are 100% my own.

We are deadly serious about our coffee around here. Those of you who have been following us for awhile know that you’ll find a coffee maker and an espresso machines on my kitchen counter, plus all the accompanying accessories.

Even though I’ll wipe my machines down with a sponge daily, they still get kind of nasty over time, which isn’t surprising given how heavily we use them. A sponge just can’t get into all the nooks and crannies, either.

Today I decided to try my new Wagner Power Steamer 915 (learn more here or buy here) on my sticky and well-used Keurig coffee maker. The 915 comes with all kinds of accessories so you can use it for everything from cleaning grout to removing wallpaper, so I figured it would be up to the task of getting my coffee flowing freely again.

If you were wondering, we’re still HomeRight ambassadors. Wagner owns HomeRight so you might see us review Wagner products some times and HomeRight products at other times.

The first step was to fill the water reservoir. While you can use tap water in the 915, I try to always use distilled water since we have hard water.

The nylon and wire brushes are stored conveniently inside the unit; I was going to use the nylon brush for this task but (spoiler alert!) in the end, the steam nozzle was more than sufficient to clean without any scrubbing.

While the unit was warming up and generating steam, I filled the coffee maker’s water tank full of half white vinegar, half water. I ran that mixture through the machine until the tank was empty, then rinsed the tank and filled it with tap water, and then ran another four tankfuls through to be sure all the vinegar was gone.

Then I used the steamer to tackle the sticky, dry coffee spatters that were everywhere.

Another really hard to clean place on our coffee maker is the top where the coffee pods are inserted; there are so many small spaces where coffee granules collect. The needle that punctures the coffee pod can get clogged, too, and steam is a great way to clean it out. Don’t forget to put a coffee cup underneath to catch all the dirty water that drips out!

While my newer unit doesn’t have a pool of standing water to get nasty, I also like to sterilize around the bottom of the water tank.

The last step is to wipe down the exterior with a clean, damp cloth.

Now it’s sparkling clean and ready to get back to work!

We love to brew iced tea, apple cider, and other non-coffee drinks in our Keurig and if the inside isn’t clean then everything is tinged with coffee taste. This is a great, chemical-free solution and it only takes a few minutes.

Thanks for stopping by!

Like this project? Pin it for later:

If you enjoyed this post, we’d love to have you subscribe to our Sunday newsletter where we share our content and other fun things we’ve found to inspire your day. You can sign up here: