How To Banish The Plastic Taste From Your Keurig Coffee Maker

First thing in the morning, with sleep in your eyes, you head to your kitchen to brew a cup of rich coffee in your Keurig coffee maker. You've selected the pod of your choice and pressed the button, waiting to savor that first delicious sip. Yet, when it comes to that first sip, you get hints of vanilla roast and.... plastic? That startling flavor may wake you up, but it also has an unpleasant taste. Don't worry, because if you're wondering, "why does my Keurig coffee taste like plastic?" you may need to clean your coffee maker to remove it.

Whether you just bought the machine or it's been a long-time resident of your kitchen, your Keurig may need cleaning to get rid of that plastic taste when brewing coffee. Sometimes the culprit is outgassing, a process where the new plastic smell seeps into every component of your Keurig, eventually developing into a plastic-like taste in the coffee. When this happens, you need to treat the individual components of your coffeemaker to remove the smell. The process is easy but essential, and here's how to do it.

First, unplug your coffee maker, and, if it recently brewed coffee, wait until it's cool to the touch to avoid burning yourself. Next, disassemble your Keurig according to the owner's manual to get it ready for cleaning. You can then wash each piece with soap and warm water. Ensure you rinse the soap out thoroughly with fresh, clean water. You'll next need some distilled white vinegar, that versatile cleaning tool that's good for nearly any task in the home. Use the vinegar to fill the brewer's water reservoir, stopping at the fill line.

Once the vinegar is in the reservoir, run the brew cycle like you would if it were water, repeating the cycle until you have an empty tank. Wash out the tank again to remove any vinegar residue, then follow the same steps with water on this round. After a second cycle, brew your coffee normally. If you still taste plastic, repeat the process. Once it's gone, make sure you follow a regular cleaning schedule to precisely clean your Keurig and discard pods after use instead of letting them sit inside the machine. In addition, if your Keurig model features a water filter, replace it every three months for best performance and taste.