5 Tips to Get Ants Out of a Coffee Maker

There is nothing more satisfying and energizing than a great cup of coffee in the morning. It’s what keeps us moving on, even on the roughest days. But that morning mood can be easily turned into a horrible nightmare if you end up discovering ants in your coffee maker.

Ants can really ruin your coffee maker and your morning routine. But we got you cover, there are many ways for getting ants out of a coffee maker and we are going to cover them all in this article, so you can do it very quickly.

Many people shared that washing the coffee maker with lemon juice or white distilled vinegar will help you deter ants away from your machine, but without further ado let’s dig right in for the full explanation.

Why Ants Are Attracted to Coffee Makers

Ants infesting a water reservoir from a coffee machine
Coffee machine water reservoir infested with black ants.

Creatures like ants, are in constant search of provisions to feed their colony and a warm place to raise their eggs. And it happens, that your coffee maker is a good water resource and shelter for any ant colony.

Ants usually stay away from coffee grounds because it makes them lose their trail’s scent. If they don’t have any scent to guide them through, they become lost for some time or at least a little bit confused.

If you multiply that by thousands, that means a huge resource delay for the colony. If they are not careful enough, the whole colony might die. This is why ants tend to stay away from these deterrent smells.

Ants might hate the deterrent scent of the coffee grounds, but they do appreciate the nice water reservation and warm shelter your coffee maker can provide. These are the main points that attract them so much.

How Do I Get Rid of Ants in My Coffee Maker?

1. Remove Any Visible Ants Out

First things first, you need to clean your infested coffee maker asap. You can either vacuum it or you can take it to your kitchen sink and shake them out in there. To prevent ants from running away to other places, keep the water running and let ants fall into it.

Do not submerge your coffee maker into the sink water, doing that will damage any electronics that are on the inside of the coffee maker. Water and circuit boards do not combine well.

2. Move It to a New Place

Another thing you need to do is, interrupt the ants’ pattern for a good while. After you’ve cleaned your coffee maker, if you put it right back, ants will just follow any scent left behind by other ants and they will infest your coffee maker again.

You need to move it elsewhere for some time, this will interrupt the ants’ signal that there are resources available in that spot. Move your coffee machine to a new place and make sure there are no ants coming out from it.

This will ensure that the remaining ants won’t alert others to the new placement of your coffee maker. Even if one ant can return, it will be able to tell others that information. If no ants return, your coffee maker is secured.

3. Clean Your Coffee Maker Well

Getting rid of the ants’ pheromones from your coffee maker is another important step to take. You should clean your previously infested coffee maker, in order to prevent future ant visits. When ants infest something they will leave pheromones behind, this helps other ants to identify that there is a valuable resource in there.

When you clean your coffee maker machine, you are ensuring that any ants’ residues are gone for good. This guarantees that there are no scents to signal other ants nearby.

4. Use Natural Repellents to Clean It

You can use lemon juice distilled in water to clean your coffee maker, this will act as a natural repellent and will keep ants away. As an alternative solution, you can also use distilled vinegar with water.

Don’t mix lemon juice and the vinegar together as their high acidity may damage your coffee maker esthetic’s. Use a clean cloth to apply the solution and let it dry. The strong smell will dissipate after a few hours.

5. Keep It Always Clean

The best strategy to keep your coffee maker machine always free from ants is to practice active prevention. If you keep it clean and waterless (when not in use), you will guarantee that ants will lose interest in camping around and in your coffee maker.

Always change old filters and keep your coffee recipient clean from anything that might attract ants to it. It is a good idea to clean the grabbing handle if you touched something sweet and stayed stuck to it.

Do not forget to empty any dip trays and pipes, this way you are doing a full revision in keeping and maintaining your coffee maker clean.

Does Coffee Attract Ants?

Contrary to popular belief, there are no conclusive studies that can show that. Ants feel compelled and attracted to coffee residues, but on the other hand, coffee grounds are capable of disorientating ants.

When ants caught the smell of coffee, they become confused and end up losing the trail scent left behind. This makes them useless and unproductive for the colony’s work.

Bonus: Ants can be highly attracted to sperm, this is the main reason why. 🤢😲😲😲

Do Coffee Grounds Attract Ants?

Coffee grounds do not attract ants, they are very susceptible to caffeine. When you leave coffee grounds in an ants path, they will carry it to the nest and eat it. But this will make them very confused and disorientated.

Chances are, ants will not follow that path again, at least for the next few weeks.

Can Drinking Coffee With Ants Make You Sick?

It is never a good idea to drink coffee with ants in it. Ants can carry bacteria and fungal organisms that can make you sick. Even if you filter your coffee out you are still putting yourself at risk.

Another problem with that is, if some ants are contaminated with pesticides you can become contaminated too, there is no way to know that. If your coffee is full of ants, do not take a risk. Do another one, or go to a coffee shop near you.

What Happens if I Accidentally Drank Ants With My Coffee?

If we are talking about an ant now and then, you will probably be fine. Our organism is capable of fighting the bacteria attached to ants in small quantities from time to time, as long as it isn’t something too serious.

Sometimes ants fall accidentally into coffee mugs and we only realize it near the end after drinking it. But don’t be alarmed by it, if we are talking about one ant or two, you just got yourself a reinforcement of fiber and minerals.

Pro tip: If you are stepping on ants barefoot you need to stop immediately! Here’s why. 😱😨😨😨

Can I Use Pesticide in My Coffee Maker?

Using pesticides in your coffee maker will contaminate it. It’s very hard to clean pesticide residues from a coffee machine because you cannot submerge it in hot water or wash it in a washing machine.

When a coffee maker becomes contaminated with pesticides and you make coffee with them, you are ingesting those chemicals in yourself. This may lead to all sorts of health problems. The best advice in this scenario is to stay away from it. Natural deterrents work fine with ants, so there is no need to go after the aggressive stuff.

Do You Have to Buy a New Coffee Maker if You Can’t Get Ants Out?

You do not need to buy a new coffee maker machine if you can’t get the ants out the first glance. But you also will not be able to use it soon enough. If you have ants inside your coffee maker and you are unable to get them out start by cleaning it very well and let it rest in another place.

Ants when faced with deterrent smells, will make themselves out. If you have some time and can wait, leave the coffee maker to rest overnight, and with some luck, the majority of them will all be gone by the morning.

Conclusion

These present tips will prevent actively an ant infestation in your coffee maker machine. If you do this right, ants will be long gone before you’ll notice anything different. Take care of your coffee maker, so it will take care of your coffee the right way.