Cafiza is toxic in its concentrated form, but it is not dangerous when used as directed and properly rinsed from your espresso machine. The active ingredient, sodium percarbonate, breaks down into sodium carbonate (washing soda) and hydrogen peroxide, both of which dissolve readily in water. After a thorough rinse cycle, no meaningful residue remains in your machine.
That said, Cafiza is a strong alkaline cleaner, and the concentrated powder or tablets can cause real harm if swallowed, inhaled, or left in prolonged contact with skin. Understanding how to use it safely, and what happens if something goes wrong, is worth a few minutes of your time.
What Makes Cafiza Toxic in Concentrated Form
Sodium percarbonate, the main cleaning agent in Cafiza, is classified as harmful if swallowed and harmful in contact with skin. It causes serious eye damage on direct contact. If ingested, it can irritate the gastrointestinal tract and cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The oral lethal dose in lab testing on rats is about 1,034 mg per kilogram of body weight, which puts it in the “harmful” category rather than “highly toxic,” but it’s still not something you want to consume.
The powder is also a strong oxidizer, meaning it reacts aggressively with certain materials. This is what makes it effective at dissolving coffee oils and residue, but it’s also why you need to keep it away from your eyes, avoid breathing the dust, and store it out of reach of children and pets.
Why It’s Safe After Rinsing
When sodium percarbonate dissolves in hot water, it breaks apart into washing soda and hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide further breaks down into water and oxygen. What you’re left with after cleaning is a mild alkaline solution that flushes away completely with water. This is the key reason Cafiza is considered safe for food-contact equipment: its byproducts are benign once diluted and rinsed.
Cafiza holds NSF P152 certification, a standard specifically designed for commercial espresso machine chemical cleaners. NSF International tests both the health effects and corrosivity of the product. Earning that certification means the cleaner has been independently verified to leave no harmful residue when used according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
How Many Rinse Cycles You Actually Need
The manufacturer’s cleaning process involves more rinsing than most people expect. After running the cleaning solution through a backflush cycle, you should reinsert the portafilter without any cleaning powder and run the brew cycle for 10 seconds, pause for 10 seconds, and repeat that sequence five times. Then replace the blind filter with your regular basket, pull a full shot of espresso, and throw it away. That discarded shot is your final check: it flushes any last traces of cleaner through the same path your coffee follows.
If you skip rinse cycles or only do one or two quick flushes, you may taste a bitter, soapy flavor in your next espresso. That flavor is residual alkaline solution. It’s unlikely to harm you in the tiny amounts left after even a partial rinse, but it will ruin your coffee and signals that you haven’t cleaned the cleaner out thoroughly enough. When in doubt, pull another shot and discard it.
What Cafiza Can Do to Your Machine
Cafiza is formulated for stainless steel and chrome-plated brass, the materials used in most espresso group heads and portafilter baskets. It is not safe for aluminum. The strong alkaline solution dissolves aluminum, converting it into aluminum ions and, with repeated exposure, visibly pitting the surface. This is the same chemical reaction that happens when you put aluminum cookware in a dishwasher with standard detergent.
If your portafilter handle or any component has an exposed aluminum surface, Cafiza will dull and eventually damage it. Some lower-cost espresso machines use aluminum in their boilers or group heads. Check your machine’s manual before using any alkaline cleaner. Stainless steel and brass components handle Cafiza without issue.
If Someone Swallows Cafiza
Accidental ingestion of the concentrated powder or a strong solution is a medical situation. Urnex’s safety data sheet advises against inducing vomiting and says never to give anything by mouth to an unconscious person. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal irritation, though these may be delayed rather than immediate.
If you or someone else swallows Cafiza, contact poison control or seek medical attention. Have the product label or packaging available so medical professionals can see the exact ingredients. For skin or eye contact with the powder, flush the area with large amounts of water.
The Practical Bottom Line
Cafiza is a chemical cleaner, not a food product, and it deserves the same respect you’d give any household cleaning product. In concentrated form it can irritate your skin, damage your eyes, and make you sick if swallowed. Once dissolved in water and rinsed through your machine with the recommended five-cycle flush followed by a discarded shot, it breaks down into harmless byproducts that wash away completely. The NSF certification confirms this. Your espresso is safe to drink after a proper cleaning, and the bigger risk to most home baristas is actually not cleaning often enough, letting rancid coffee oils build up and quietly making every shot taste worse than it should.