Our DeLonghi KG89 coffee bean grinder is one of the most hardworking electrical appliances in our house, coming in third after the refrigerator and the television. It’s used almost daily to feed my caffeine addiction and has been working reliably for many years.
Since I had made the decision to start being more precise and consistent in making my daily cup of pour over coffee, I thought that it would be good to do a deep clean of the grinder before dumping a new bag of beans into the hopper.
Hmm… come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever taken apart the grinder to clean it. I know it sounds gross, but please don’t judge. And also, better late than never.
I dug out the user manual to avoid doing something stupid and end up accidently breaking the trusty grinder.
The most important step was extracting the removable burr grinder, which was done by following the instructions:
- Unplug from the mains (always a good idea)
- Set the grinding selection dial to the “FINE” position
- Take hold of the top of the grinder with your fingers
- Turn it clockwise and then pull vertically to remove it
To re-insert the grinder:
- Set the grinding selection dial to the “COARSE” position
- Insert the grinder and turn it once in an anti-clockwise direction
After the grinder was removed, it was obvious that I should have done this much earlier because the inside of the hopper was, let’s just say, not very clean. After wiping things down with a damp cloth and using many cotton buds to get into the gaps, things looked much more presentable.
Likewise for the grinder, which actually didn’t look that bad when looking straight-down at the burrs, but the side view was a totally different matter. Nothing that a good scrub with soapy water couldn’t fix though, and everything looked good as new.
The dispenser end of the hopper was a bit tricky and required more cotton buds.
Soon, everything was right as rain and the grinder was re-assembled to receive a new bag of beans.
In case you’re wondering, I decided to write this post to record the cleaning instructions and, more importantly, to shame remind myself to clean the loyal grinder more frequently. It’s the least I can do for such a faithful workhorse.
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