Removing tea and coffee stains from cups can be tricky, but one cleaning lover has a super simple trick to make it easier.
Removing certain stains from surfaces can be tricky, and one that many people battle with is tea and coffee cup marks.
If your favourite mug has become a canvas of stubborn brown rings, it’s those pesky tannins from tea and coffee that are to blame.
These natural plant compounds might be responsible for the rich flavours of our cherished hot beverages, but they’re infamous for leaving difficult-to-remove marks.
Fortunately, cleaning enthusiast Lese Mmolorsi has come to the rescue with a clever trick to tackle those persistent tannin stains in a video on her Instagram page @homewithlese.
She guarantees this is the “easiest” method to banish those stains, using some common household items – white vinegar and baking soda, reports the Express.
Lese captioned the clip saying: “This is one of the easiest cleaning hacks I have been using to get rid of tea/coffee stains in cups.
“I don’t need to take the time soaking and scrubbing them for so long.”
White vinegar proves to be the star of this cleaning tip; its acetic acid content ruthlessly breaking down the chemical bonds the tannins so love to form on your cup’s surface.
A splash of vinegar combined with baking soda and some boiling water can make light work of even the most neglected mug stains.
For this tip, she recommended starting off by adding half a tablespoon of baking soda to the stained cup before adding in double the amount of vinegar.
Then fill the rest of the cup up with hot water and leave it to sit for a few minutes – three minutes is more than enough time. Once the time is up, simply empty the cup, give it a rinse and, voila, all the stains will have vanished.
She then showed her followers the before and after results, revealing a completely stain-free interior that looked as good as new.
The hack was met with rave reviews in the comments section, with one user, @lous_home_, saying: “Fab hack! Feel like I’m forever scrubbing tea stains out of mugs.”
Another, @clean_with_gemma2, said: “Wow great results.” While @following_edyta wrote: “This was fabulous! I will need to try.”