Chances are if you’re serious about your coffee you use a kettle of some sort. Whether Fellow Stagg or one of the many other kettles out there. After using them often and perhaps on trips, out in the field, at a relatives home or your own you’ll likely begin to notice a build up on the bottom of your kettle.
This is mineral scale and is the result of heating up water and is mainly calcium carbonate. Depending on the minerals in your water there can be more or less. If your water is straight from a well you’ll likely notice A LOT of mineral build up.
If your water is filtered or come from a quality water source like northern Lake Michigan then you’ll have minimal mineral build up in your kettle.
Regardless, it’s a good idea to clean your kettle every now and again to keep mineral build up to a minimum and keep it from impacting flavor.
Cleaning these bad boys are pretty straightforward and easy. If you’ve got baking soda, white vinegar and a soft cloth you’re set!
Heat up the water in your kettle, not too hot, maybe 120 degrees. Pour the water into another container with the white vinegar creating a 50/50 solution and mix in about a tablespoon of baking soda. Stir it together and pour it into your kettle and let it soak for 30 minutes.
Pour it out and give the inside of your kettle a good wipe down. Rinse out the inside with more water and fill it up and bring the water to a boil to get rid of any left over vinegar and baking soda solution.
Once you’re done with that your kettle is clean and good to go for several thousand more miles.
What if you’ve got severe mineral build up? Your water is heavy with minerals and they get caked on relatively quick causing the bottom of your kettle to look like a salt bed.
Well, I’ve got just the solution for you. Cafeza.
This is a heavy duty detergent meant for cleaning espresso machine groups that see heavy use in coffee shops.
I generally heat up the water so it’s hot and let the water set for little in the kettle before mixing in the Cafeza and giving the bottom of the kettle a light scrub with a soft brush.
Let the Cafeza soak in the kettle for 30 minutes to an hour and give it a final scrub before dumping out the water and giving it a rinse with hot water and a soft cloth.
After this, you should be good to go!
Clean for another few hundred miles.