Ratio Eight Original Daily Care

In this article, we will cover the basics for caring for your Eight Original to maximize its longevity for your morning coffee ritual!

Cleaning the Outside of your Eight

For cleaning your Ratio Eight's external surfaces, including the accessories, we recommend using a microfiber towel. It’s handy for wiping up spills and moisture with a bit of hot water and a touch of soap. You may use diluted Ratio Machine Wash on the metal parts to remove coffee stains. A microfiber towel gently cleans most spills and stains on your machine. Do not put any Ratio accessories in the dishwasher.

Be sure to check the shower head periodically to clean and remove any coffee oils that may have splashed from the brewing process. Lastly, be sure not to leave water or coffee grounds under your carafe when placed on the machine's surface. For the best results, wipe up the water or coffee in this area after using your Ratio to avoid stains. Do not use an abrasive brush or scrub pad on the machine as it can scratch the surface.

Wood care

The hardwood on the Ratio Eight is sealed with varnish that is formulated to handle extreme marine environments. Over time, the wood will develop a patina. To refresh the finish, use a clean towel to apply a natural oil intended for wood surfaces, such as butcher block oil. After 1-2 minutes, use another clean towel to buff the finish and remove excess oil. If you prefer a matte finish, use an ultra-fine steel wool (such as 0000 grit) to remove any gloss.

Removing Coffee Oils from Inside Your Eight Thermal Carafe

Coffee is full of oils – they’re part of what makes coffee delicious, but they also build up in your carafe and dripper. Luckily, removing them is easy. We recommend cleaning the inside of your Ratio carafe using Clearly Coffee from Urnex, which safely removes coffee oil and limescale buildup and helps to prevent future buildup.

Insert a paper filter into your filter basket or dripper. Add one packet of cleaning powder into the paper filter and run 4 cups of water through your Ratio machine.
After the cycle, allow the inside of your carafe to soak for 5-10 minutes, then discard the solution and thoroughly rinse with clean water.
For a deeper clean, use a brush to scrub the inside of your carafe after soaking.

Keeping the Inside of your Water Tank Clean

Maintaining the cleanliness of your Ratio's water tank after each daily use can go a long way to prevent buildup over time. We have some tips to make this easy!

Keep the 'fill lid' to the water tank off for 30 minutes to 1 hour after a brew cycle to allow any excess condensation to air out and dissipate. This will prevent trapping any unwanted moisture for long periods.
Descaling your machine monthly, which typically will prevent any buildup in the water reservoir. You can also buy a non-abrasive, long, bendy brush to gently scrub the inside of your water tank if there is excess buildup in the water tank.
To prevent coffee oil buildup inside your machine's water system, we recommend using a separate vessel from the coffee serving carafe, that can be dedicated to fill the water reservoir on your Ratio. You can differentiate whether the buildup in your machine is limescale or coffee oils by looking at the color of the buildup. Coffee oils will be brown and limescale will be white or appear as a cloudy layer.

If you haven't descaled your Ratio in a long time, or want one of our technicians to thoroughly remove buildup inside your machine, Ratio offers deep cleaning services! Deep cleanings start at the base price of $50, which usually entails the removal of all build-up and scale in the tank, water lines, and finish parts of the machine's aluminum shell. More often than not, we see deep cleaning services be quoted at that base price. To initiate this process, the next step would be to fill out this Warranty Form. In order to agree to Ratio's Warranty Policy, you will need to submit the completed form. Please make sure you select "Deep Clean Service" when you fill out your form.

If you have any questions about cleaning your Ratio, please email us at hello@ratiocoffee.com or call us at (800) 261-8640.