The Best Way to Clean a Coffee Maker -by Donald J., Yahoo! Contributor Network

If you are like me your coffee maker gets a whole lot of use. Over time the minerals in your water along with coffee residue can build up in your coffee maker and make your coffee taste stale. Not only that, but if you don't remove the mineral build up from your coffee maker it can eventually cause it to break. Giving your coffee maker a good, thorough cleaning is easy and will help not only to allow your coffee maker to keep working longer, but to give you great, fresh tasting coffee. Here are some tips on how to clean your coffee maker.For the best tasting coffee and to keep your coffee maker healthy you should attempt to clean it about once a month.

The most effective cleaner to remove the hard water build up from inside your coffee maker is vinegar. The mild acid will help to dissolve the hard water deposits and remove any build up. One of the best things about using vinegar to clean your coffee maker is that it is very cheap and you probably already have some on hand in your kitchen.

To start cleaning your coffee maker, mix a 1:2 vinegar to water mixture (that's one part vinegar to two parts water). You want to mix enough of the vinegar and water solution to fill your coffee pot. Once you have mixed your vinegar and water, put in an empty coffee filter and pour the solution into the water reservoir on your machine.

Then, turn the coffee maker on and let the vinegar and water brew through your machine. Once all of the vinegar and water has gone through your coffee maker you can dispose of it by dumping it down the drain in your sink. If you haven't stayed on top of cleaning your coffee maker and it has been a long time since you cleaned it (if ever) you will want to repeat this whole process again using a fresh batch of vinegar and water.

After you are done running the vinegar solution through the machine you will want to run clean, clear water through to rinse out the vinegar. After all, nobody likes the taste of vinegar in their coffee! Rinse the coffee pot thoroughly and fill it with clean water. Put a fresh, empty filter in your coffee maker and pour the water into the reservoir. Allow the water to run through the machine. To ensure that all of the vinegar has been rinsed from inside your coffee maker repeat this process one more time with fresh water and a fresh filter.

That's all there is to it. Cleaning your coffee maker is an easy process. It is inexpensive, doesn't take very long to do and can greatly help to extend the life of your coffee maker. Not only that, but using a clean coffee maker will keep your coffee tasting delicious and fresh.by Donald J