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🔧 Owner's Guides · 2026Three presses on most Vertuos, a maintenance button on the Vertuo Up, a Lungo rinse on Original machines, plus Aeroccino and milk-carafe care, from the manuals.
On most Vertuo machines, press the button three times within two seconds. Fill the tank with fresh water, eject the old capsule, empty the capsule container and drip tray, put a container of at least 1 L under the spout, lock the head and press three times: the cycle runs on plain water for up to 7 minutes. The Vertuo Up uses its maintenance button instead. Original machines such as the Essenza Mini have no cleaning mode: rinse by running the Lungo button without a capsule. Wash milk parts after every use. Cleaning is not descaling, which removes mineral build-up and has its own procedure.
Three ways in, depending on the machine. All of them run on plain water; none needs a cleaning tablet.
Nespresso machines need two kinds of maintenance, and mixing them up is the commonest reason owners think a cycle did not work.
Cleaning flushes coffee residue out of the brewing head and pipes. On Vertuo machines it is a built-in cycle that runs on plain water; Nespresso's Vertuo Pop+ manual says Clean your machine on a monthly basis, when you start having coffee residue inside the machine head or after a long period of non-use.
No tablet or detergent goes through the machine.
Descaling dissolves the mineral scale that hard water leaves behind, using Nespresso's descaling solution, when the machine's descaling alert comes on. That is a separate procedure with its own button sequence, covered in how to descale a Nespresso.
Everything on this page is done from outside the machine.
These three share the same cleaning cycle. Following the Vertuo Pop+ manual:
Press the button 3 times within 2 secondsto start. The light blinks orange while it runs.
Do not put any part in the dishwasher. The Vertuo Next manual is explicit: Do not put in a dishwasher.
Wipe the coffee outlet with a clean damp cloth between cycles.
The Vertuo Up works differently, and the three-press routine does nothing on it. It has a dedicated maintenance button and a removable maintenance module (the capsule basket and drip parts). Following its manual:
The manual asks for this monthly, when coffee residue appears in the cup, or after a long period of non-use, and says the cycle can also be started from the Nespresso app. It also offers a short rinse: eject the old capsule, insert nothing, and press the coffee button once to run about 40 ml of hot water, useful after a flavoured coffee. Its manual asks owners not to put the removable parts in the dishwasher.
The Essenza Mini, CitiZ and other Original machines have no cleaning mode. Their manuals give two routines instead.
Daily: empty the drip tray, the drip base and the capsule container, and wash the water tank and lid with odourless detergent, rinsing in warm water. The Essenza Mini manual asks for this every day.
Rinse: put a container under the outlet and run the Lungo button with no capsule in the machine. The manuals give this as the first-use rinse, repeated three times, and it is the same flush you can run any time.
Wipe the coffee outlet and the inside of the head with a damp cloth. Nespresso's Original manuals warn against brushes, sharp objects and abrasive cleaners, and the Essenza Mini manual says not to put it in a dishwasher.
Milk is where cleaning stops being optional. Each system has its own rule.
put all parts except the base in the dishwasher at maximum 70°C / 158°F.
Do not put the Jug in the dishwasher. Wash the inside, lid, whisk and seal by hand with detergent and warm water, and never immerse the base.
Grounds in the cup are a cleaning problem on Vertuo machines. The troubleshooting tables in the Vertuo Pop+ and Pop manuals give the same answer: Perform the cleaning procedure twice.
If the coffee still tastes flat or bitter after a clean cycle, check when you last descaled: scale, not residue, is the usual cause once the head is clean. If the machine will not start a cycle at all, or a light blinks in a pattern you do not recognise, start with Nespresso not working.
Nespresso's cleaning cycle needs nothing but water, so there is no cleaning product to sell you here. Below are Nespresso's descaling kit, which is the other half of maintenance, and the machines whose procedures this page covers. Each product fact is the listing's own statement, read on the date shown on the card.
Nespresso's own solution, in the single-packet dose its guides call for. Listing states two portioned pouches of descaling solution designed for Nespresso machines, with compatibility given as all Nespresso machines.
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The compact entry into the Vertuo system. Listing states a Vertuo Pop+ coffee machine with milk frother in Liquorice Black, more than 30 coffees with different aromas, intensities and flavors, hermetically sealed capsules, and a machine easy to use and to clean.
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The newest Vertuo, with the biggest tank short of the milk machines. Listing states 6 cup sizes including 5, 8, 12 and 18 oz coffees plus single and double espressos, a 47 oz multi-position water tank, a 3 second start and a Coffee Creations button for a more concentrated brew over ice.
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Vertuo mugs plus one-touch milk drinks from a built-in carafe. Listing states 6 sizes including 5, 8, 12 and 18 fl oz coffees and single and double espressos, one-touch cappuccinos, lattes and hot foam from a detachable, dishwasher-safe 16 fl oz milk tank, and a 30 second heat-up.
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The cheapest current way into the Original line, which is the line third-party capsules fit. Listing states a compact Original-line Nespresso Essenza Mini espresso machine with a 25-second heat-up and an energy-saving automatic shut-off, brewing the full range of Nespresso espresso coffees.
Check price on Amazon →On the Vertuo Pop+, Next and Pop, eject the old capsule, empty the container and drip tray, put a 1 L container under the spout, lock the head and press the button three times within two seconds. The light blinks orange and the cycle runs for up to 7 minutes. On the Vertuo Up, hold the maintenance button for 3 seconds until the coffee button shows steady blue, then press the coffee button once.
Nespresso's Vertuo Pop+ manual says monthly, when coffee residue builds up in the head, or after a long period of non-use. Empty the drip tray and capsule container daily. Milk parts are washed after every use.
Mostly no. The Vertuo Pop+, Next and Up manuals say not to put the machine or its parts in the dishwasher. The exceptions are milk parts: the Aeroccino 4 (everything but the base), the Lattissima milk carafes and jugs, and the Vertuo Creatista's steam wand tip. The Aeroccino 3 jug is not dishwasher-safe.
No. The Vertuo cleaning cycle runs on plain water and Original machines are rinsed with a Lungo run without a capsule. None of the Nespresso manuals we read calls for a tablet.
There is no cleaning mode. Empty the drip tray and capsule container daily, wash the tank, and rinse the machine by running the Lungo button with no capsule in it. Wipe the outlet with a damp cloth.
No. Cleaning flushes coffee residue with water; descaling dissolves mineral scale with descaling solution when the machine's alert comes on. Each has its own button sequence. See how to descale a Nespresso.
Sources for this page: Nespresso Vertuo Pop+ User Manual (North America edition, 2025-06-23), cleaning section and troubleshooting table, nespresso.com/shared_res/manuals/vertuo-pop-plus/ · User Manual of Vertuo Next, Vertuo Pop and Vertuo Plus, nespresso.com/shared_res/manuals/vertuo-pop/vertuo-pop_user_manual.pdf · Nespresso Vertuo Next User Manual (US edition), nespresso.com/shared_res/manuals/vertuo-next/vertuo-next_user_manual.pdf · Nespresso Vertuo Up User Manual (English/Finnish/Swedish edition), nespresso.fi · Nespresso Vertuo Lattissima User Manual, sections 8, 11 and 19, nespresso.com/shared_res/manuals/vertuo-lattissima/ · Nespresso Essenza Mini Instruction Manual (international edition), nespresso.com/shared_res/manuals/essenza-mini/ · Nespresso Lattissima One User Manual (F121, 2021), nespresso.com · Breville Vertuo Creatista BVE850 User Manual (US 120 V), assets.breville.com/BVE850/ · Nespresso machine assistance pages (English, nespresso.com/ae/en) for the Aeroccino 3, Aeroccino 4, Gran Lattissima and CitiZ; the US equivalents load their instructions by script and could not be read. All read 2026-10-30. We have not lab-tested brewers; where a figure is a manufacturer's, the page names the manufacturer, and machine capabilities come from our own published review records.
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