What is Urnex Cleancaf?
The other half of coffee machine maintenance, and the half people skip.
Urnex publishes a powder sold as two packs of six packets in total, action on residual coffee oils and buildup that turn rancid, gentle removal of lime scale and oil residue in automatic coffee makers and espresso machines, a method of running it through a brew cycle and rinsing twice, biodegradable and non-toxic composition, unscented, OMRI listing, Star-K kosher certification and manufacture in the USA. It publishes compatibility with De'Longhi, Ninja, Hamilton Beach, Mr Coffee and Braun among others.
Why coffee oils are the problem
Coffee is oily, and oil goes rancid.
Roasted coffee carries lipids that dissolve into the brew and coat everything the coffee touches on the way through: the basket, the spray head, the tubing, the carafe. They are invisible and they do not rinse off with water.
Left there, they oxidise. Rancid oil tastes bitter and slightly sour, and because it is upstream of every brew it flavours all of them. This is the usual explanation when somebody says their machine used to make better coffee and nothing has changed: nothing has, and that is the problem.
Cleaner and descaler are different chemistry for different deposits
This is the most useful thing to understand about maintaining a coffee machine.
Scale is mineral, alkaline, and lives on the water side. You remove it with an acid, which is what Dezcal is.
Coffee oil is organic, and lives on the coffee side. You remove it with a detergent, which is what Cleancaf is. Running a descaler through a machine full of rancid oil accomplishes nothing on the oil, and running a cleaner through a scaled boiler accomplishes nothing on the scale.
Cleancaf does take some light scale as well, which is genuinely useful for a low-maintenance drip machine in a soft water area. It is not a substitute for a proper descale on a machine that has gone years without one.
The certifications, and whether they matter
OMRI and Star-K are unusual to see on a cleaning product and they tell you something.
OMRI listing means it has been reviewed for use in organic processing, and Star-K is a kosher certification. Neither makes the coffee taste better, but both mean the formulation has been examined by somebody other than the manufacturer, which for a substance you run through the thing you drink from is worth having.
Urnex also publishes it as biodegradable, non-toxic and unscented. The unscented part matters more than it sounds: a perfumed cleaner leaves its perfume in the machine.
Is it worth it?
Yes, and it costs less than the beans you are wasting by not using it.
Six packets is six deep cleans. For a drip machine used daily, that is a year of maintenance for the price of a bag of coffee, and the improvement in the cup is immediate and obvious.
What is not published is a shelf life or a per-packet dose figure, and Urnex sells several cleaning products with similar names, so check you are buying the cleaner rather than the descaler.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
Buy it if you own a drip machine or a pod machine and have never cleaned it.
It suits De'Longhi, Ninja, Hamilton Beach, Mr Coffee and Braun machines, which Urnex names, and automatic coffee makers generally. If your coffee has slowly got worse and you have changed nothing, this is the first thing to try.
Espresso machine owners with a portafilter should also look at a backflush detergent, which is a different formulation for the group head. And this is not a descaler, so a machine with visible scale needs Dezcal as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Cleancaf and Dezcal?
Cleancaf is a detergent that removes coffee oils from the coffee path. Dezcal is an acid that removes mineral scale from the water path. Neither does the other's job.
How do you use Cleancaf?
Add it, run a brew cycle, then rinse all components and run two more cycles with clean water.
Is Cleancaf safe?
Urnex publishes it as biodegradable, non-toxic and unscented, OMRI listed for organic processing and Star-K kosher.
Will it descale my machine?
It removes light scale as a secondary effect. A machine with real buildup needs a dedicated descaler.
