HTCI Life Hack: Cleaning the K-Cup Chamber

Here’s a handy tip for all of you House That Cleans Itselfers who also happen to be coffee lovers. 

If you’re a Keurig fan like me, chances are you’ve faced the dreaded “4 hole clog” issue before. Maybe it’s the type of K-cup I use most often (Grove Square Cappuccino French Vanilla—yum!) but after almost every cup I find that there’s gunk clogging the 4 bottom holes of the primary chamber.

By “primary chamber,” I’m talking about the black removable piece into which you place the disposable K-Cup, as shown in this photo:

At the bottom of this chamber are four holes through which your coffee is supposed to pour when you run the machine. But when you take your chamber out, hold it up to the light, and try to look through it, if you don’t see four open holes at the other end, then you’re clogged.

A quick rinse or soap-and-water wash doesn’t always clear the problem, but you shouldn’t stick anything down inside the chamber such as a washcloth because there are dangerous and specifically-positioned needles in there.

Fortunately,  I figured out one simple trick that always works:  Turn the chamber upside down and poke the holes clear with a corn holder!  The prongs of the corn holder are an exact fit for the holes in the chamber and they don’t go anywhere near the needles. Simply slide the prongs through the holes from the bottom, wash and rinse the chamber, and you’re good to go.

Seems like an extremely minute issue in the big picture of things, but to my mind any cleaning method that saves time and trouble is one worth mentioning for a House That Cleans Itself.  Hope it helps!