Do you clean your tamper base periodically?

#1: Post by **Sideshow** » July 9th, 2017, 9:19 pm

I have a silly question to which I couldn't find the answer in the threads. Do folks clean your tamper bases? We clean all the parts that touch coffee because the oils grow rancid over time. I know that the tamper base doesn't stay in contact with the coffee for that long, but it frequently touches it. I was just curious as to whether people clean the bottom of the tamper base every so often as part of their maintenance schedules.

#2: Post by **RockyIII** » July 10th, 2017, 10:36 am

After each session, I wipe my tamper base with a dry paper towel, and occasionally I use a moist paper towel. When it was new, I cleaned it with alcohol prior to using it.

Rocky

#3: Post by **opother** » July 10th, 2017, 11:56 am

Yes I do.

#4: Post by **bluesman** » July 10th, 2017, 1:05 pm

I wipe it with a microfiber towel after each use. Once I noticed a faint brownish discoloration on the "mat" in my tamper rest (which happened many years and tampers ago), I realized that a tiny bit of coffee and/or oil was still on the tamper even though it looked clean. One wipe proved me correct when I saw the discoloration on the towel, and I've been doing it ever since.

I keep separate toweling for the PF and baskets, the tamper, the steam wand, and general cleaning up so that I don't cross-contaminate with milk, stale coffee, or debris. I buy microfiber towels in bundles (like these from Amazon at $11.77 for a pack of 5 each in 4 different colors) and do my best to reserve a different color for each task. Sadly, my wife and our housekeeper do their best to thwart my best. When I discover a coffee towel in the pile of cleaning rags (or anywhere else that suggests it's been used for evil), I throw it out and add a new one from my stock. I may break down and have them embroidered with a skull & crossbones over the legend "NEVER USE THIS TOWEL!"

Maybe I expect too much - I can see how confusing a statement and policy like "the blue ones are yours to use as you wish" can be.

#5: Post by **Stanic** » July 10th, 2017, 2:12 pm

I wash it with water and washing up liquid once a week at least

#6: Post by **LATrapp** » July 11th, 2017, 1:35 am

Nope!

#7: Post by **tohenk2** » July 11th, 2017, 4:13 am

I wipe it after each use on leather (got the idea from a leather strap for a razorblade)

July 11th, 2017, 10:50 am

Yeah? That works better than a cloth?

#9: Post by **desmodici** » July 11th, 2017, 12:29 pm

I haven't cleaned my Reg Barber in 12 years, may be due for a cleaning

#10: Post by **mlim18** » July 12th, 2017, 3:21 am

Nope! Never thought to.