Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Washing Dishes - Getting out Tough Coffee and Tea Stains

I've recently found that even good dishwasher detergents don't always completely clean coffee and tea stains out of mugs and cups. If you also have a rather unappealing collection of stained mugs you'd like to get truly clean, here are a few tips to try:

  1. Lemon and salt - Cut a fresh lemon in half and dunk in some regular table salt. Use this as a little natural scouring pad to get stains out. (This is also really useful on laundry stains, believe it or not!) Keep a few fresh lemons on hand anyway, for a variety of cleaning purposes.
  2. Baking Soda - Dip a damp rag into a bit of baking soda and use this as your natural scouring powder for edging away those tough tea and coffee stains. It may take a little effort, but this can really do wonders for stained mugs.

3 comments:

Michael said...

The baking soda really is good at removing coffee stains, and in a place you might not consider. Use baking soda on a toothbrush to brighten your smile. It is great for removing tobacco if you smoke. I use it about once every 2 weeks and it keeps out stains in between cleanings.

My dentist says it's okay so long as you aren't rough with it, and DO NOT do the old fashioned way and use salt. Just baking soda all by itself works wonders!

Anonymous said...

When I clean my coffee pot or mugs I use 2 table spoons of clorox in my coffee pot and 1 teaspoon in each mug. Let sit for a few minutes and rinse well. Not work at all. It will get stains out of any kitchen items. Also will get stuck food out of hard to get off food in casseroll dishes or pots.
Janet Ferris

Anonymous said...

clorox?
do you know how insanely toxic that is?
why not wash it with comet and arsenic?