Cafetto discusses the importance of regular and correct-procedure cleaning and sanitising on both sides of the coffee bar.
It should come as no surprise to most baristas and café owners that coffee equipment requires frequent cleaning to perform at its best. However, the coronavirus pandemic has also brought additional attention to the importance of hygiene.
Christine Song, General Manager of Cafetto, tells BeanScene the Australian company has received an increase in requests from cafés for detailed cleaning instructions.
“Before the pandemic, I think many business or café owners considered it a choice how thoroughly or often they cleaned their machine. Of course, they would and to a healthy standard, but it wasn’t always as structured,” Christine says.
“Having gone through this pandemic, there’s an added level of pressure to maintain hygiene. It’s become a mandatory step to keep their business open and service their customers.”
Christine recommends the daily use of Cafetto Evo powder with the traditional espresso machines most popular in Australian cafés. Cafetto Evo, like Cafetto Espresso Clean, cleans a group head through a simple backflushing process with a blind portafilter. See Figure 1.
When dissolved in water, it produces a foamy solution that removes built-up coffee oils and residue. After rinsing, the group head is ready for use.
“Cafetto Evo is a brilliant product that’s organically certified and safe to use,” she says.
“Creating a schedule will provide a reminder of the daily cleaning that should be in place for cafés. Doing this will provide you with consistent coffee quality and the best hygiene possible.”
Cafetto produces a range of products for cleaning different types of coffee equipment too. This includes cleaners for descaling boilers, brewing equipment, automatic machines, and even domestic units.
Knowing that water and moisture can cause problems for the internal components of a grinder, Cafetto developed a grain-based cleaner that can be run through a grinder, taking leftover coffee residue with it. This also means the grinder can be cleaned without disassembly.
For equipment where the user would prefer not to use hot water, like blenders, nitro brewers, or cold brew makers, Cafetto had developed Polar Clean, which effectively cleans and sanitises with cold water.
Cafetto Inverso was designed as a milk jug cleaner, but Christine says it is good for multiple uses, including crockery, cups, and stainless-steel items. Cafetto Milk Frother Cleaner can be used to soak a steam wand, which only needs a wipe down and purge afterwards.
But in the face of COVID-19, cafés need to be cleaning and sanitising more than just their equipment. Cafetto Spray & Wipe Green provides an easy way to maintain hard surfaces that several people come in contact with.
“All of your surfaces – benches, counters, and tables – pretty much anything you touch, must be cleaned,” Christine says. “This is something that can’t be ignored in the food and beverage sector, which is directly related to people’s health.”
Many venues are also opting to provide customers with access to communal hand sanitiser for an extra precaution.
Using the expertise of its sister company Dominant, Cafetto has developed Premasan hand sanitiser for distribution to its café partners.
“Dominant produces hospital-grade disinfectants and sanitisers, and we wanted to have a product available for the coffee industry as well. That way, whoever needs hand sanitisers can access them,” Christine says.
“Offering hand sanitiser has become commonplace and something customers expect to see. It provides them with peace of mind as well as good hygiene.”
Baristas or servers can also regularly sanitise their hands to reduce the risk of transmission. Figure 2 demonstrates a recommended hand washing procedure.
With the coffee industry showing a desire to learn more about proper cleaning and hygiene, Christine says Cafetto intends to create more educational content to share with the community.
“This will cover daily, basic, and general cleaning concepts, how it’s going to impact the business, and per machine type,” Christine says.
“We’ll provide that content to our distributors and resellers that they can use themselves and to pass on to customers to make a part of their standard operating procedure.
“It will bring things to an easy level of understanding of what’s required and what products to use when cleaning your café every day.”
For more information, visit www.cafetto.com
This article appears in the August 2020 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
