Today I am exposing a dirty little secret about my husband. Don’t worry I asked permission and he said he didn’t care. Probably because he sees nothing wrong with his habit and I, on the other hand, think it is gross.
(Links in this post are affiliate links. I will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking those links. See my disclosure page for more information)
Several years ago for my birthday, my husband surprised me with 2 Starbucks mugs, a 20-ounce venti for me and a 16 oz grande for him. I loved them so much that later in the day we bought another pair using some Swagbucks earned gift cards I earned.
We have used those mugs almost every day since then, and mine stay sparkling white while his are always full of stains from his favorite brand of earl grey tea. I have shown him numerous times this trick I am about to share with you and raved about how quick and simple it is, and yet he just rolls his eyes and says “who cares.”
I tried explaining that a sparkling clean cup makes the tea taste better, and he merely laughs and says “whatever.” Funny thing is usually it is me who is the messy in our relationship. You should see the man sweep and mop laminate floors. Once he is done it is so clean I can use it as a mirror! (by the way, he says this is the best cleaner for laminate flooring. He uses a 1:2 ratio with water)
He does wash his mug with soap and water; he just doesn’t use my quick method to remove the stains. I am guessing he knows that it bugs me so much that eventually, I will just do it for him like I know that if I don’t sweep he will because it bugs him to walk on crumbs whereas me…not so much.
How To Remove Tea And Coffee Stains From Mugs In Under 30 Seconds
Erasing these coffee & tea stains is simple and requires ingredients 99.9 % of homes have in their cupboards right now. Not that I did a formal poll or anything, but I know that these ingredients are familiar to just about all households.
To remove a minor stain all you need is baking soda and some dish soap but when you (or your hubby) have let tea and coffee stains get bad, it helps to add a bit of vinegar.
- Take a dirty mug over to your kitchen sink
- Dump 1 tablespoon baking soda into the bottom of the mug
- Add a drop or two of dish soap
- Add a drop of vinegar
- Fill the mug halfway with warm water
- Scrub sides of the mug with a kitchen cloth
And in less than 30 seconds your mug will be sparkling clean.
Interested in how to brew the perfect cup of coffee without a coffee maker in that now sparkling mug? Read this post on how to start brewing coffee so good you will not want to stop at a coffee shop anymore.
Here are a few more stain removal tips:
Want more tips that solve common everyday problems? Check out these posts:
- How Got Rid Of The Tangles In My Daughter’s Hair: Naturally
- How I Tamed Our Dirty Dishes Pile
- How I Maximize Trunk Space When Packing For Road Trips
If you are like me one of the first things you do each morning is grab your mug and fill it with a hot cuppa something to start your day. Find out what to do next that will skyrocket your energy and productivity by spending 15 minutes for 14 days in Crystal Paine’s course Make Over Your Mornings. Seriously! See those hours multiply.
Grab your copy here!
Become A Snail Pacer
Receive a monthly newsletter full of tips for making life changes at a realistic pace.
What a great trick! We have some nasty looking mugs here at work – we need that solution here! I bring my special tea mug home once a week to wash it in the dishwasher, because I agree that tea tastes better out of a clean mug!
Great to hear you agree with me! Now I can tell my husband I am not the only one who thinks so. LOL
i sometimes just use a tablespoon of dishwasher detergent with a couple of tablespoons of water. Swish it around and the stains are gone.
I pour liquid cascade to cover the bottom of the mug and fill with HOT water. Let it sit for a few seconds, swipe with a brush and rinse with HOT water. A quick swipe with a paper towel will remove anything left behind. I buy a small bottle of the liquid for just such uses. Works on my travel thermos too. Sparkling!
This is great!! I use milkglass coffee cups. I think they retain the heat very well and my coffee doesn’t get cold on me. As much as I scrub before putting them in the dishwasher, there are still stains!!
I hope that this works for your milk glass mugs as well as it does on mine. Mine too come out of the dishwasher stained, even when rinsed out right after I finish my coffee or tea. I hate it! but now that I have found a method that works it isn’t so bad.
I use a Magic Eraser on my stained mugs and it works better than anything I have ever tried.
I clicked on this tip through Pinterest, because my tea mug had hard to remove stains, but as I was reading I happened to fill my mug with diet Pepsi, instead of using a glass like I usually would, just because it was handy, and when I went to rinse it I noticed that the stains came right out, so…I guess that the citric acid and carbonation in the soda worked the same way the vinegar and baking soda does? They weren’t quite as bad as his mug and maybe it’s just a fluke? I’ve never tried drinking soda from a mug before. Anyway, I just thought it was weird coincidental timing.
Okay, how about my teaspoons? I think they’re all stained from the tea I drink all the time. Should I just toss them into one of my mugs with this solution?
Oops, I just saw that I typed in the wrong email address, sorry!
I don’t think it would hurt the spoons any to try dipping them in the solution but being metal and not ceramic I don’t know if it would work or not. Worth a shot though.
Recently, I have discovered that the Mr. Clean Erasers work just as well. However, seeing as I have run out of those, this will be a great tip to try. Thanks for sharing!
You’re a Blessing!
Thank you…this works great!!!
Your welcome!
Doesn’t work, still brown!
How old are you coffee stains? Do you have hard water?
Try denture cleaning tablets such as Sterademt: soak overnight.
I use bleach to get stains out, but this seems much safer, thanks!
It worked ! I tried other remover methods with mediocre results. This one was successful on my chemex.