How to descale a Bosch Tassimo coffee machine

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This is another post tagged “sad”.

Does your circa 2009 Bosch Tassimo coffee machine have the red descaling light on? And the red light won’t turn off, even tho you followed the descaling instructions in the manual? (It should look like this:)

The problem is the manual is wrong. I don’t know how they managed it, but it’s plain wrong.

Here’s what to do:

  1. Take out the water filter from the water tank (if you have one). Descaling won’t work with the filter in there.
  2. Mix up 500 mL of descaling solution in the water supply bucket. You must have at least 500 mL of solution in there or it will run out and you’ll have to start over.
  3. Put the cleaning disc into the machine and close the little disc door.
  4. Put a cup that will hold at least 500 mL into the machine (you will probably want to take out the cup stand to make room for it). If the cup won’t hold 500 mL, it’ll overflow and you’ll have a mess.
  5. This is the key: press and hold the brew button for at least 3 seconds. Now wait 20 minutes.

After 3 seconds the green and red lights will start flashing simultaneously – that indicates you’ve started the descaling cycle, which will run 500 mL of the solution thru the machine and into the cup. It goes slowly, in small bursts over about 20 minutes. When it’s done, the red light will go out. Then flush out the machine by running lots of clean water thru it (per the manual), and put back the water filter (if you want, and if your model has one).

If you stop the machine before it’s done with the full cycle, you’ll have to start over.

This procedure is hinted at in icon-speak (no words) on the little booklet that the cleaning disc comes in. It’s totally different from what the manual says, with the key difference that this procedure works.

Enjoy your coffee.


218 thoughts on “How to descale a Bosch Tassimo coffee machine”

  1. I used the 2tbls of lemon juice & 1 tbls of baking soda in 500mls. I could see scale being purged through the cleaning process & the RED light has disappeared. You do need the yellow plastic disc though.
    Thanks for the info.

  2. Thank you very much. The red light came on about a month ago indicating it needed to be descaled. I opened a pouch and descaled the light went off. However a couple a weeks later the red light went on again. I thought something was up. The time in between the previous descaling was over a year. I opened another pouch and descaled. The red light remained on for a couple of weeks until today when I found this very helpful information.

  3. Thanks for clarifying this! I knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong (according to the instructions, at least, which I now understand are incorrect…), but couldn’t for the life of me work out why the red light remained illuminated.

  4. I tried your recommendation and it worked perfectly! Only cost me 85 cents for the lemon – much better and healthier than using descaler. Thank-you so much!

  5. The Healthy Arizonan…
    I have been looking for this info for almost a year! In this exact format as you are correct the manual is 100% wrong all 6 million copies! So thanks a bunch for your posting, now i’m back in the game. As we already know the Tassimo rocks…when its functioning. Thanks many times…
    My next quest is to find out how to re-use the disc!

    Stay healthy mentally, physically and spiritually

  6. I’m just like the others on here followed the instructions and the red light stayed on but thanks to you it has now gone out

  8. I have the same problem. I have now used 5 descaling tablets and I can’t get the red light to stop. This is my second Tassimo after the first one packed up and they sent me a brand new machine. Now another 6 months down the line another machine breaks down again. My biggest problems are that these tabs cost money, secondly I have on numerous occasions used coffee discs and latte milk discs which I’ve had to throw out as the machine wouldn’t push the water through them but Bosch never send you free coffee and milk back to recompense you. It’ll be my last Bosch purchase I’m afraid.

  9. Thank you.! This works. Second time I’m using. It worked great both times. (except I don’g measurement in ml)

  10. Thanks! Used bottled lemon juice and baking soda solution and it worked.

  15. Thanks for the info about lemon juice and baking soda. I didn’t have any descaler left so I’m giving this a try. I usually descale twice a year and don’t even wait for the red light to come on. I can tell it’s time when my latte milk disc isn’t completely emptying.

  16. Used 2 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of baking soda in 500 ml (2 cups) water

    Removed the filter

    Added solution to water container

    Put container at least 2 cups in size to catch the draining water

    Put in cleaning disc

    Pressed and held green start button for 5 seconds

    Will run for about 20 minutes ( run until water container is empty)

    Clean out water container and fill with clean water.

    Run clean cycle until container empty ( Repeat last two steps)

    Put in new filter and fill container with water and enjoy your next cup of coffee

  17. Has anyone ever used CLR? I have used it for the past 2 yrs and don’t know if it is any better than the lemon juice and soda method. I am trying this right now and will get back to you as to the results. CLR is non toxic and rinses very well using a full canister of water. I double check for any residual by adding a tablespoon of whole milk to my last 2 glasses of rinse water to check for clabbering (clumping of fat). BTW, I have very hard well water…

  18. I never use the Bosch descaling tablets. Too expensive. I use a private label descaling solution called Eccellente which only costs 2 pounds. Also for my electric kettle, works great.

  19. Well……I put the commercial descaling solution in the water container but did not remove the filter!! I then looked at the instruction manual online (is that backwards or what!!!) and realized the filter was to be removed. The filter is now removed to put through descaling process but now I;m wondering if I will have to replace the filter as I’m not sure what is in that solution-what to do??

  20. Buy citric acid in most bulk food sections or at Bulk Barn for pennies. Dissolve 2 tbsp in 4 cups of water. Easy and cheap descaler! This post is spot on! I refer to it every time my Tassimo requires descaling!

  21. My machine would not descale at all. I would try to brew a coffee and extra water would come out and coffee grounds too. The descale icons would flash afterwards but would not work when I pressed the button to begin the descaling process. I then put in the plastic t disc and brewed with that in four times with descaling powder in the water and then four times with just water and it worked finally brewing me a coffee. So frustrating, I was about to throw my machine in the dumpster. I had to waste so many coffees and descaling powders before I had this idea. Now I’m drinking a nice fresh dark Italian roast. The aggravation was all worth it.

  22. Thanks so much for this info. Glad that the red light is finally off and my machine is clean!! Koodos to you!!

  23. Thank you so much. The lemon juice and baking soda worked. We live 40 minutes from the nearest town. Our coffee machine displayed the red flashing light on boxing day. Did not want to go to town and fight boxing day shoppers just for descaler. Now we are enjoying our coffee. Happy New year!

  24. My Tassimo doesn’t have a removable filter option. I have descaled my Tassimo twice with descaling solution, ran tons of filtered water through it afterward and the light is still on. HELP

  26. Thanks for the correction on the machine directions. Some how I have figured out how to change the directions to read in english as well. The machince finally gave me the directions to descale properly too. Your directions were a great help

  28. I’ve had my Tassimo coffee machine five months and it required de scaling yesterday. I mixed two teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda in 500 millilitres of water and it did the trick.

  29. Brilliant stuff, I tried this and it worked a treat! I’ve lost the manual and had no idea how to descale it other than running several cleaning cycles (which obvs wouldn’t have solved the red light problem). Ran the cycle with a Bosch tablet, normal service has now resumed. Thanks for the help!

  30. Descaling . I put the solution in the tank, put the disc in the machine, turn on the power, all 4 lights come on, then all go out except the descale light. I push and hold the power for 3-4 seconds and release. Nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?

  31. OMG it worked, I lost my manual and have not used my machine in months, finally today decided to see what that icon was, I stumbled upon this post and 1st try it worked like a charm, Light is off and running water through it now. Can’t wait to enjoy a nice cup of coffee 🙂

  32. It is quite helpful. However, since I couldn’t find any baking soda at home, I simply sqeezed one lemon into water and descaled brewer. The red light went off. So backing soda is not necessary if you cannot find it at home.

  33. I bought another Tassimo machine when I couldn’t get the red light to go out on my first one! Then this same thing happened again. So I’m trying your method right now and am hopeful that I’m going to end up with TWO good, usable machines that only need descaling once in a while — and I’ll KNOW when that once in a while actually is!
    Thanks so much. Hellennemm

  34. Thanks so much for this post. I just cleaned my machine and it seems nicely descaled.

  35. Thanks for this – got mine sorted now. If descaling tablets don’t do the job buy the cleaning tablets – it actually tells you this in the descaling tabs instructions. I find it hard to understand why such a popular machine from a brand like Bosch can have such crap instructions and nothing on their website.

  36. Had light on today
    Used LIME juice & bicarb soda
    Followed above with success
    Anyone know what triggers the warning lamp?
    Time, number of brews, back pressure?
    We have very soft water but lamp on after only a couple of months domestic use
    We have never had to descale any other domestic appliance

  37. I have no idea how they messed the instructions up, but it drove me crazy, thanks for the clarification. I will say this, I enjoy the Tim Hortens coffee disc’s, and Tim’s stopped selling them, now I have to go to Beds Bath and Beyond to buy coffee, big inconvenience.

  39. Used lime juice (strained) 2 tbs & 1/2ltr of water, no baking soda cuz there was none and the process worked liked a Tarantino movie. Thanks for the info!

  40. superb my machine is a Bosch XL purchased this year your instruction worked a treat as i have tried many times over the last 2 weeks to make the cleaning cycle work and turn off the red descale light Many Thanks

  41. This tip saved loads of cash 2 table spoons of lemon juice did the job No more expensive descaling chemicals thanks a lot

  42. Thank you so much! I have been looking at that flashing red light for weeks, finally received my descaler in the post today and the instructions left me bewildered. I found this site and followed your easy to do instructions. Fixed in 20 minutes!

  45. Had a problem with my Bosch Tassimo coffee maker, picked you out of my Internet search, followed your concise steps, voila, problem solved, Well Done, and Thank You!!!!, Jim.

  46. I seem to have lost the disc that apparently lives in the back of the machine. Stores in our town don’t sell them. Any suggestions?

  47. Thank you so much for the info, thought I was doing the descale correct but forgot you had to wait until machine does its own thing. It stops as you say in fits and starts, I was trying to run the de scaler through, glad to find this blog. Happy New Year to you all! X

  49. Do I need te plastic disc to descale?
    Seem to have misplaced mine when we moved.
    Where can I find another?
    Thanks,
    Jane

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