title_body: How to clean Delonghi Caffe Corso's pre-ground coffee funnel?
upvoted_answer: Such automatic machines have a mechanism inside that tamps the pre-ground coffee (put through the funnel) and then pulls an espresso automatically.
  
  I cannot say if it really harms the mechanism, but I'd rather don't continue using the machine before removing the beans from the pre-ground coffee funnel. Very probably, the mechanism cannot adequately temp whole beans and may got scratched, crack, etc. I wouldn't take the risk.
  
  I don't have that exact machine, but after looking at it's photo, by intuition I could say that it should have a door to access the mechanism on the left side. Remove that door and also remove the mechanism*. Simply remove any beans if you could see some and preferably rinse any coffee residue off the mechanism.
  
  Then, you should have access from the funnel to the brewing mechanism to move the pre-ground coffee to the tamping area. There should be an upward hole somewhere. Very probably close to the mechanism, so you can see after you remove the mechanism. If it is not there, also remove the drip tray and check if you could find that hole from inside the machine. When found, you should be able to remove the beans from that hole.
  
  I hope all goes well and you could continue using the machine.
  
  (*) The mechanism should be modular for cleaning. Most of the time you could remove the whole mechanism by pushing a lever or something similar, then rinse it under tap water.