Backflushing

Backflushing is a process done to espresso machines to clean them, where water is forced back into the machine to flush out coffee residue.: Backflushing is a process done to espresso machines to clean them: a filter basket with no holes (a “blank” basket) is inserted into the portafilter so that when the machine is activated, pressurized water cannot escape and is instead forced back into the machine to “flush” it. Often, backflushing is done with some type of coffee cleaning detergent in the basket.
A typical backflushing protocol is to put coffee cleaner in the blank basket and backflush 5 times, then rinse the cleaner out and backflush 5 times without no cleaner.
Note that not all machines can be backflushed.

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