Why grinders need cleaning

Each time you grind, a little coffee stays behind on the burrs and in the grinding chamber. Coffee is oily, and over weeks those oils and fines build up and go stale, which shows up as a flatter, more bitter cup and a less even grind size. A brush clears loose grounds, but not the particles and oil stuck around the burrs. Grinding cleaning tablets through reaches those surfaces without taking the grinder apart.

How to use it in an espresso or shop grinder

1. Empty all beans from the hopper and grind out what is left in the grinding chamber.
2. Pour the SuperGrindz tablets into the hopper, set the grinder to a medium setting and grind them through.
3. Purge with coffee beans, grinding and discarding them until the grounds show no yellow specks from the tablets.
4. Wipe any dust from the hopper and spout, for example with the Profitec Barista Towels, then set the grinder back to your usual setting.

Grinding the tablets can produce some dust, which is harmless. Keep the jar tightly closed and dry between uses. Check your grinder’s manual before the first clean, as a few manufacturers advise against cleaning tablets in their grinders.

Also safe in bean-to-cup machines

Standard grinder tablets should not go through the built-in grinder of a bean-to-cup machine, because the ground tablet continues into the brew unit. SuperGrindz is made to repel water so it can take that path safely. For these machines Urnex specifies emptying the hopper and brewing two large cups to clear the chamber, then adding 26 g of SuperGrindz (one jar cap) topped with 78 g of coffee beans, and brewing about five large cups until the pucks show no yellow specks. The video below shows the process.

SuperGrindz cleans the grinder only. If you also run a portafilter machine, the group head needs its own backflush cleaner, such as Cafiza 2.

Specifications

What’s in the box

• 1 × 330 g jar of Urnex SuperGrindz (the cap holds 26 g)