Of all the appliances in the modern kitchen, your coffee maker probably has a special place for you. It’s not hard to see why; we all need our coffee, after all.

Here are some tips to get the best use out of your AFRA coffee maker and get a great tasting brew every time.

Try to use the best quality coffee available.

The most obvious way to get a delicious coffee is to use the best beans you can get. This can actually get tricky, however, especially if price is a concern: better coffee usually means higher costs. But just because you’re short on cash, doesn’t mean you have to be short on great coffee. If you have different types of cheaper beans around, you can easily try blending them together to get the best of their attributes. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

Keep It Clean

Most people don’t quite grasp how coffee makers can get clogged with oils and debris from all that brewing. This can create problems and can cause a perfectly good cup of coffee to taste strange and burnt.

Fortunately, keeping your coffee maker clean is quite simple. Make sure your pot is washed and dry. If your filter basket is removable, take it out and make sure it gets a good wash. Most of the time, this part often gets overlooked, so be extra thorough.

If you really want to get into the nitty-gritty, you can even make a cleaning solution of your own: use a fifty-fifty mix of vinegar and water. You can safely use this mixture on your coffee maker’s internals, but make sure to run a few cycles of water to eliminate any leftover vinegar.

Make Sure Your Filter is Pre-Rinsed

Some paper filters can give your coffee an unpleasant papery taste. This happens because of leftover particles from when they were manufactured. You can get rid of them before you brew; place the filter in the basket and pour some hot water over it to rinse off that annoying papery taste. The rinse water will drain into your coffee pot, so be sure to discard it ASAP before you start brewing.

Watch Out for Scaling

Depending on your water supply, your coffee maker’s functions can become affected by mineral deposits called ‘scaling’ that builds up inside them. This scaling clogs up the channels that disperse water over your coffee and causes your brew to become uneven. The best way to counteract scaling is to use filtered water for your coffee maker. Filtered water is generally free of mineral deposits and has less chance of causing scaling. And as an added bonus, filtered water can even improve the taste of your brew.