You can descale your Keurig coffee machine with a descaling solution or white vinegar and water.
You should perform this cleaning process every three to six months, depending on how regularly you use your machine and how hard your water is.
In this guide, you'll learn how to descale your Keurig coffee maker and how to clean and maintain it regularly to ensure every K-Cup you brew produces barista-level coffee…
What You Need to Descale a Keurig Coffee Maker
There are a couple of options when it comes to descaling your Keurig coffee maker. You can either use a mixture of vinegar and water or Keurig’s descaling solution.
There are a few other things you’ll need for descaling if you want to give your machine a thorough, deep clean.
Here’s what you need to descale a Keurig coffee maker:
- White vinegar or Keurig’s descaling solution
- Water (for rinsing)
- Mug (to catch any runoff)
- Mild dish soap (for cleaning removable parts)
- Paper clip or needle (to descale stubborn areas)
- Small bottle brush or toothbrush (for cleaning hard-to-reach areas)
How to Descale a Keurig Coffee Maker: Step-by-Step

Descaling your Keurig is a simple process. However, you should set aside around an hour if you want to thoroughly descale and deep clean your machine.
Here’s how to descale a Keurig coffee maker in a few simple steps:
1. Disassemble Your Keurig
Take apart your Keurig coffee maker, remove the drip tray, water reservoir, lid, and K-Cup holder. If your Keurig has a water filter, remove that as well.
2. Clean the Parts
Clean the separate parts with warm, soapy water and rinse well. Use a paperclip to gently dislodge any grounds or mineral buildup from the needles that puncture the K-Cups. Give the outside of the machine a wipe with a cloth, dry the separate parts, and reassemble the machine without the water filter (if your machine has one).
3. Add the Descaling Solution
Fill the Keurig’s reservoir to the fill line with a solution of one part white vinegar and one part water. Alternatively, use the Keurig descaling solution and water at a 1:1 ratio.
4. Start the Descaling Cycle
Lock in the reservoir and place a large coffee mug on the drip tray.
Press the brew button for a large cup and wait for the mug to fill with water. Discard the water and repeat the process until the “add water” light turns on.
5. Leave the Keurig to Sit
When the water light switches on, do not add water. Instead, leave your machine to sit for 30 to 45 minutes.
6. Flush the Machine
After 30 to 45 minutes, remove the remaining solution from the reservoir and refill it with fresh, clean, filtered water.
Brew several cups of water until the reservoir is completely empty. Repeat this process two to three times to ensure that any vinegar or descaling solution is removed from the machine.
7. Reassemble Your Keurig
Give your machine a final wipe down and reassemble the reservoir with a fresh water filter — if applicable.
Now your freshly descaled machine is ready to brew coffee.
Maintenance Tips: Keeping Your Keurig Clean
It’s important to clean and maintain your Keurig coffee maker regularly to keep it working at its best and making great-tasting coffee. If you spend a bit of time every week to keep your Keurig in good condition, you won’t have to descale and deep clean your machine as often.
Here are a few Keurig cleaning and maintenance tips you should make part of your routine:
1. Clean Removable Parts Weekly
Wash the drip tray, water reservoir, and K-Cup holder with a mild detergent every week. This will prevent stubborn coffee residue and mineral buildup, ensuring the machine works efficiently.
2. Clean the Needles Regularly
Check the machine's needles — the three prongs that puncture the K-Cups — regularly. Remove any grounds or coffee residue with a paperclip or needle and wipe clean. Doing this after every few brewing cycles prevents clogging and any stale flavors from making their way to your coffee.
3. Run a Water-Only Brew Cycle
Once per week, run a water-only brew cycle. Brew one or two cups using just water without a K-Cup. This will flush out any recently built-up coffee residue and help keep the machine's inner workings clog-free.
4. Descale Every 3–6 Months
Alongside the weekly maintenance tips above, get into a routine of descaling your Keurig coffee maker every three to six months. Descaling the machine regularly prevents potential long-term damage and ensures the lines within the machine stay clog-free.
A clean Keurig makes the best coffee. Leaving it too long to descale your machine can lead to unnecessary wear and produce unevenly extracted brews.
Why It’s Important to Descale Your Keurig Coffee Maker

It’s important to descale your Keurig coffee maker because mineral buildup from hard water can clog internal components. This affects the performance of the machine and, in turn, the quality of the coffee it produces.
If you don’t descale your Keurig semi-regularly, calcium and limescale deposits can lead to:
- Slower Brewing Times — Mineral buildup leads to clogs, and clogs lead to reduced water flow, making your Keurig take longer to brew a cup of coffee.
- Under-Extracted Coffee — Mineral buildup can block the needles on your machine. This can prevent proper extraction, leading to bland, watery, under-extracted coffee.
- Machine Malfunctions — If you leave your Keurig for too long without descaling, the Keurig may stop brewing properly, show error messages, or stop working completely.
- Bacteria and Mold Growth — A dirty Keurig machine can become a breeding ground for bacteria and mold. This not only impacts the taste of your coffee, but it can also be dangerous.
- Reduced Lifespan — If you don’t descale your machine regularly, parts will wear more quickly, leading to a reduced lifespan of the machine.
FAQs: Descaling Your Keurig
Want to learn more about cleaning and maintaining your coffee machine and using a Keurig coffee maker?
Check out the answers to the frequently asked questions below:
1. What is a Keurig Coffee Maker?
A Keurig coffee maker is a single-serve pod brewing system that uses pre-filled “K-Cups” to make a variety of different coffee beverages. The Keurig works by pumping pressurized hot water through a coffee-filled K-Cup — resulting in freshly brewed coffee in a matter of minutes.
2. Can You Use Vinegar to Descale a Keurig Coffee Maker?
Yes. You can use white vinegar to descale a Keurig coffee maker. Vinegar is cheaper than Keurig’s descaling solution, and it works just as well. However, if your machine is heavily scaled, you may need to use a liquid descaler.
3. How Can I Prevent My Keurig From Getting Limescale?
You can prevent your Keurig from calcium and limescale buildup by only using filtered water in the reservoir. Regular cleaning also prevents mineral buildup and clogging from coffee deposits.
4. Is a Keurig the Same as a Nespresso Machine?
No. The Keurig is not the same as a Nespresso machine. However, they both use a pre-filled pod system to brew fresh coffee. K-Cups and Nespresso pods are not interchangeable between machines.
5. How Do I Descale a Drip Coffee Maker?
You can descale a drip coffee maker in a similar way to descaling a Keurig coffee machine. Use white vinegar or a descaling solution and rinse all the components thoroughly.
6. How Often Should I Descale My Keurig Coffee Machine?
You should descale your Keurig coffee machine every three to six months, depending on how often you use it and how hard your water is. If you use filtered water and only brew one K-Cup per day, you may not need to descale your machine as regularly.
7. Can You Make Iced Coffee With a Keurig?
Yes. You can make iced coffee with a Keurig coffee maker. Simply brew a strong, dark K-Cup over ice, add milk and syrup to taste, and enjoy.
8. How Many Different Keurig K-Cup Flavors Exist?
There are over 400 different Keurig K-Cup flavors from 60 different brands. A variety of large and small companies manufacture K-Cups, from Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts to Punk Bunny Coffee and Cambio Roasters.
9. How Much Caffeine is in Keurig Coffee?
The amount of caffeine in a Keurig coffee depends on the K-Cup used. Different brands and K-Cup varieties contain different caffeine levels. However, you can expect a Keurig coffee to contain somewhere between 75 and 180 mg of caffeine per serving.
10. Are Keurig K-Cups Recyclable?
Yes. All Keurig K-Cups, regardless of the brand and type, are 100% recyclable. However, they require proper disposal to be processed correctly. Always empty the spent grounds from your K-Cups and rinse them before placing them in your plastic recycling bin.