Marco! Pallo! Cleaning Brush.

While sometimes you may have to look high and low for your cleaning brush, especially if you have little children that think everything is made for them, there are probably winners and losers among brushes for cleaning your espresso machine. One of those clear winners I can say with just using it a few times this afternoon is the Pallo Espresso Machine Brush.

This sentiment while eccoed by others could also be due to the fact that I was doing something probably not recommended... using an old tooth brush...

Now the tooth brush actually didnt do too bad of a job, but due to it's shape and bristles didn't last too long before it took on the look in the photo, I replace my tooth brush every three months so it didn't look like that before I started using it! I didn't notice any of the bristles melting, but they obviously didn't retain their shape. Another big problem with the tooth brush is due to it's design hot water would stream down it right to your hand while cleaning. So really not a great idea, but it worked in the pinch of not having one when my other one went missing, (child laughing in background).

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One of the great things about the brush is the removeable head as seen in the far picture, comes off really easily and you pick up replacement heads in three packs for about ten dollars, the same cost as the single brush. Nice feature that I believe in time will save a bit of money from always having to buy a single brush for that same price or a dollar or two above it, like the tooth brush, the bristles did start out as white...

Speaking of bristles they are very thick, which makes them good for cleaning. They were able to fairly easily dispose of some of the grime that the tooth brush couldn't get to easily. And to top it off I believe it was designed to be used in a cafe environment so it should last a while too!

Another nice feature is the shape, it keeps hot water from falling on your delicate hands during cleaning, very important when nearly boiling water is coming out. In that regard it's also long enough to reach all the way to the back of the ground without getting your hands any where near the hot water.

Overall it does a great job that an espresso brush should do, keep your hands free of boiling water, and clean the machine well then it has the pluses of the removable bristles. Oh and did I mention it has a little scoop at the end to put your back flush detergent in your portafilter?

You pick this up at any of your well stocked espresso supply stores.