It’s a busy weekend, orders are flooding in, and suddenly when you pull an espresso shot... the water doesn’t come out. Or it just drips slowly and the pressure completely drops.
Your barista starts panicking. You as the owner start sweating, thinking about paying that RM300-RM500 weekend call-out fee for a technician to come repair the machine.
Hold up, boss. Before you pick up the phone to call the technician, read this first. 90% of the time, your machine isn't actually broken. This is the cafe maintenance secret that technicians don't want you to know.
Short answer: Coffee beans contain natural oils. When you pull hundreds of shots a week without washing the machine properly, these coffee oils burn, harden, and block the tiny holes on your machine's shower screen. The water isn't coming out because your pump is broken; it's because the water path is completely clogged with coffee residue that has turned into tar.
The Solution: You just need a blind filter (the basket with no holes) and some espresso machine cleaning powder to do a Chemical Backflush. This process only takes 5 minutes.
If you are just rinsing the group head with hot water after closing every day, it’s not enough. Hot water cannot melt rock-hard, baked-on coffee oils. You need the help of food-grade chemicals.
Swap your portafilter basket to a blind filter.
Put in half a teaspoon of coffee machine cleaning powder.
Lock it into the group head, press brew for 5 seconds, and then stop.
Repeat this 5 times. You will hear a loud "Pshhh" sound at the bottom of the machine, flushing out dirty water full of black oil and coffee residue.
Take it out, rinse the portafilter, lock it back in, and flush it with normal hot water a few times to get rid of any leftover soap.
Done. Your machine’s water will flow fast and beautifully like it's brand new.
At Biji-Biji, we know how much it hurts to shut down operations for half a day just waiting for a technician to arrive. That’s exactly why we brought in a special care set to prevent this from happening to your cafe.
👇 Meet Your Cafe's "Margin Savior":
For Clogged Water Issues: Use our CM Cleaner Powder. Do a backflush with this powder every day during closing. It will melt all the coffee oils and make sure your group head is always clear. The cost to clean per day isn't even one ringgit.
For Smelly Milk Steam (Basi): Use Sanimilk Liquid Cleaner. If your milk refuses to foam or smells sour, soak your steam wand with Sanimilk to dissolve the hardened milk crust inside the metal pipe.
For Sour Coffee/Scale Issues: Malaysian water is hard water. Use our Kalkill Powder or Cafeva Descaling Liquid every few months to clear out the mineral sludge (calcium) inside your machine's boiler so your brewing temperature doesn't drop.
Stop throwing away hundreds of ringgit paying a technician for 5 minutes of work.
Get your Biji-Biji Maintenance Set right now on our website. It’s basically the cheapest machine "insurance" you can possibly buy.
Brew smarter, don't keep losing money on unnecessary repairs. 😉
Biji-Biji is here to simplify your shopping. elevating your coffee experience. Formerly Hillkoff Solutions, we bring together everything you need ― premium beans, machines, tools, and beverage ingredients, all in one easy place.
Because at Biji-Biji, it’s not just beans. It’s the whole experience.
Posted by Biji-Biji on 13 Jun 26
Malaysia