at my work we use brown coloured chux multi-cloths to wipe out the handle, yellow multi-purpose cloths for the steam wands only, and pink multi-purpose cloths for bench surfaces only - and occasionally a micro fibre cloth for the group handles which is rinsed thoroughly throughout the day - and all cloths used are either laundered daily (well at least they go into the basket daily for a once a week visit to the laundromat) - or if the chux are too used and abused we just chuck em out and start over fresh the next day Personally I'm of the point of view that you dont want any contact with the group handle and water immediately prior to making coffee - as residual water may lie in the handle under the basket, and come into contact with the basket during extraction, causing channelling of the puck (uneven extraction where some of the coffee is over extracted and some is under extracted) And every hour or so I place the empty handles back in the machine and run some hot water through them - while giggling them from side to side - to clean out the handles, and to remove any build up of grinds around the shower screen - the I leave them for a minute or so to (if possible) to drain properly before inserting them back in the machine Something that I've found has enhanced my coffee routine tremendously is setting up the machine so that on the volumetrics I have a purge button which runs a two second flush of water through the group head between extractions, followed by my single shot, and double shot buttons - so when I'm in the swing of things I just hit the purge button before inserting the handle, so that it practically happens automatically, and I dont have to manually hit on / off each time I want to clean out the group head likewise with my hot water buttons - I have one set up for pre-heating the cup / glass - one set up for my long blacks, and one set up for making tea - takes a lot of guess work out of the process especially when you're busy!
