With the arrival of autumn, more people are clutching warm drinks to stave off the chill, leading to a pesky issue: stubborn stains on mugs.
Tea and coffee lovers may find cleaning their mugs frustrating due to tannin, a natural compound that clings to heated surfaces and seems impervious to scrubbing.
Yet, cleaning guru Courtenay Hartford of Creekline House has divulged her go-to natural method for removing these annoying stains “easily without using harsh chemicals.”
As, reports the Express Courtenay said: “There have been several occasions in recent years where I’ve heard people talking about needing to bleach their coffee mugs. Let me just say, the fact that this is a ‘normal’ way of taking care of this problem totally freaks me out.”
Forsaking bleach, she advocates for white vinegar as the simplest and most effective cleaning agent, thanks to its acetic acid content which tackles alkaline tannin stains head-on.
Courtney advised: “All you’ll need is some hot water, some white vinegar and some scrubbies.”
Besides softening stains, vinegar doubles as a natural disinfectant ensuring your mugs come up “sparkly clean” with minimal muscle.
How to get rid of tea or coffee mug stains naturally
- Just fill the mugs halfway with boiling or tap-warm water. Then top off the mug with white vinegar to full.
- Leave the mugs to sit for 10 minutes with the solution inside them to allow the vinegar time to tackle the stains.
- After the time is up, dispose of the vinegary water and administer a quick scrub to each mug.
- Once you’ve rinsed and dried the mugs as you would normally, they ought to be entirely free of stains without the employment of severe chemicals.
Courtney remarked: “Why would you waste your time and potentially your health messing with bleach or other harsh cleaners when vinegar works so well so quickly?
“I so appreciate having nice, shiny clean mugs when I go to make my tea in the morning, but I appreciate not being slightly paranoid about drinking bleach even more!”