You use your coffee maker every day. You grab a cup in the morning and then maybe a cup from the Keurig at work - but your cup of joe could be a cup of gross if the machine isn't cleaned properly.
CBS's Pittsburg affiliate, KDKA-TV, decided to see what sort of clingers-on those machines have. Keurig owner, Amanda Busch, allowed her machine to be swabbed. KDKA-TV also swabbed eight other machines. Local CBS stations in Dallas and Chicago took samples from an additional 20 machines.
"I'm nervous to find out what's inside there," Busch said.
What was in there? About 4.6 million colonies of bacteria and mold!
"It makes me want to cry," Busch said. Almost makes you want to give up coffee (almost).
The CBS affiliate in Dallas, Texas found E.coli, staphylococcus, streptococcus and pseudomonas aeruginosa and other things that are not on Dunkin Donuts' or Starbucks' flavor shot menus.
"I thought you would find something, but not something that could make us sick," another volunteer Stephanie Brink told the Dallas station.
If you don't already clean your coffee maker regularly, you probably should. Not only will it take care of bacteria (that love warm, wet places like a coffee maker's water tank), but it will make your coffee taste better. (You have an excuse to buy the $25 per pound specialty roast you've been eyeballing at the fancy supermarket. You know, to test out the ol' taste buds once the machine is clean.)
To clean your machine, run distilled vinegar through it once and follow up with a brew cycle with water. Some suggest using filtered water for your coffee instead of tap water and changing the water in the tank after each use. Once you've made your cup, leave the lid off so the machine can dry out.
The makers of Keurig, according to KDKA-TV, say if the machine is not used for a few days, you should run several cleansing brews to remove any internal standing water.
A little extra work, but your mouth - and intestines - will thank you.
