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Can You Wash a Coffee Grinder with Water? How to Clean and Maintain Manual and Electric Coffee Grinders?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Last week, FrontStreet Coffee summarized nine important details to pay attention to when brewing coffee, including the importance of regular cleaning and maintenance of coffee grinders. This prompted a curious question: Can you wash a coffee grinder with water? Before answering this question, we need to first understand why we should clean coffee grinders. On the market today,

Last week, FrontStreet Coffee summarized nine important details to pay attention to when brewing coffee, including the importance of regular cleaning and maintenance of your grinder. This prompted a curious reader to ask: Can grinders be washed with water? Before answering this question, we need to first understand why we should clean our coffee grinders.

Types of Coffee Grinders

Coffee bean grinders on the market mainly fall into two categories: lightweight and convenient manual grinders, and electric grinders that require power. Different brands and price points not only determine their appearance and grinding performance but also determine differences in each grinder's burr structure and particle size distribution. However, regardless of the type of equipment, daily cleaning and regular maintenance of the grinding chamber are key to maintaining its service life.

Why Clean Your Grinder?

When the grinder is finished being used, static electricity generated by friction causes fine powder particles to adhere to the metal burrs and powder chamber. The more frequently it's used, the more accumulated residue will build up. This is especially true for darker roasted coffee beans, which have more noticeable oil content. When using the burrs to grind, the accumulated oil stains will also be greater.

If the grinding chamber is not cleaned for a long time, the old powder accumulated in the gaps will not only make the inner walls smell rancid, but when operating, it will also be mixed into the fresh powder, causing flavor contamination in the coffee. It may also lead to clogging of the grinding channel, thereby shortening the equipment's service life.

Daily Quick Cleaning

Each time after using the grinder, we can rotate the burrs or tap them a few times to let the residual coffee particles fall down. Then use small tools such as brushes or blowers to sweep away visible residue, including the bean hopper, powder outlet, and collection container. Store it in a dry environment to prevent moisture. For electric grinders, pay attention to issues such as aging wires and plugs, and rodent damage.

However, such operations usually only deal with residues that aren't strongly adhered. For those more stubborn particles that are finer, lighter, and accumulated over time, when FrontStreet Coffee gently wipes the inner wall of the powder chamber with a finger and finds a significant powder layer, it indicates that our grinder needs deeper cleaning.

Cleaning Without Disassembly

Due to the different precision of each equipment and many people not being familiar with mechanical assembly, many dare not disassemble their grinders randomly, worrying that if they take it apart, they might not be able to put it back together, or accidentally have a few small parts left over. In this case, we can use special cleaning tablets (cleaning pills) for grinding cleaning.

The method of use is very simple - just throw a few tablets into the bean hopper and start grinding as usual. The debris stuck in the burrs can then be easily brought out. This cleaning method doesn't need to be too frequent - if the home usage frequency is about 1-3 cups per day, performing it every 2-3 months is sufficient. However, it's important to note that when using cleaning tablets, the grind setting shouldn't be too fine (raw sugar consistency), otherwise the cleaning powder may also remain in the burrs.

Regular Deep Cleaning

When you experience unsmooth jamming while grinding coffee beans, the ground particles are uneven in size, or there's a significant increase in extremely fine powder, causing serious blockage during the later stages of brewing, this indicates that your grinder may need disassembly for cleaning.

Many manual grinders on the market are fully disassemblable with simple structures. The main purpose of disassembly is to thoroughly clean the residue on the bearings and burrs. After disassembling the assembled parts, we first use a brush to sweep out the powder, then use paper towels to wipe away the grease stuck on the burrs. If the grinding core uses conventional stainless steel materials, it can be simply rinsed with water and wiped dry before reassembling. Otherwise, it will affect subsequent use.

As for the more complex disassembly of electric grinders, FrontStreet Coffee recommends having professionals check them to avoid damage or loss of core components of the grinder.