Thank You Google

I've owned two Starbuck's Barista Espresso machines in the last 15 (?) years or so. My first was a Christmas gift and was a pretty forest green. It matched my kitchen at the time (remember the 90's colors of forest green, navy blue and burgundy? They are making a come back except more of a kelly green this time.) Anyway. My first one died in my last move 5.5 years ago. I purchased a used one on eBay. Well that one has been brewing slower and slower. Like drip..... drip.....drip. Over 15 minutes to make a latte. I thought it was slowly dying.

I turned to Google to see if there was anything I could do to fix the problem. After a little reading I realized I had never descaled the machine (which is recommended every 3-4 months). Oops. I ordered the recommended descaler from Amazon (and got a couple more things I really didn't need just to get the free shipping. Do you do that too?)

I also read to use a pin to clean out the holes in the porta-filter. I ran water through it and watched as it just sat there. Hmmm.... maybe that's the problem! Well I found a pin and poked and poked. I used a little vinegar (even though they say not to clean the machine with vinegar but I thought the filter would be OK) and scrubbed and let it sit and poked some more. Then I rinsed for a couple minutes to get the vinegar taste/smell off, put it back together and pulled a shot. It took just seconds (instead of minutes) and had a great creama on top. Success! Thank you Google!