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How To Remove Coffee Stains

Coffee as a drink is good for a lot of things ranging from being healthier to being more awake when tired.

However, the bean-extract drink is horrible when it comes to leaving stains.

In fact, coffee is so powerful in leaving a stain, archeologists have found traces of coffee left on vases, cups and containers dating back hundreds of years earlier to ancient cultures in Mesoamerica.

That’s some pretty good staying power considering just about anything else on those artifacts has been stripped with time, the elements and being buried underground.

In modern times, coffee stains typically happen with accidents or leaving a cup in the wrong place and the liquid finding its way out of the containers and onto something absorbent.

That includes linens, fabric, clothing and even wood in some cases. Coffee staining is so powerful, it can even get into ceramics if left long enough.

The thing to remember, however, is that coffee is at its weakest when in liquid form. If the liquid spill can be cleaned up prior to drying, there is a far greater chance of getting most or even all of it before the damage is done.

Once coffee dries, it becomes 10 to 100 times harder to remove, even being an organic stain. So, time is of the essence.

Dealing with Carpet Stains

Most coffee stains on carpet tend to be from spills. Some moved to fast, they were walking with the coffee, and it splashed out of the cup, or someone dropped a container.

In any case, the spill is erratic, in small and big drops and directly onto the carpet from above. Once the spill has happened, secure the cup so that it’s put in a safe place and your hands are free.

Don’t try to clean up a stain with the coffee still being held. You’ll just end up making another spill in the panic and more of a mess.

Use water, paper towels or an absorbent cloth, dish soap, white vinegar, laundry detergent and ultimately a portable fan to remove the stain. The first step involves blotting.

You want to absorb as much of the excess liquid as possible from the wet carpet, including the coffee itself. Move from the most concentrated part of the spill to the outer edges.

Don’t rub the towel or cloth into the carpet, however, as this just grinds the coffee in deeper. Continue blotting and soaking up until there is no more moisture and coffee coming up with new towels.

Next, use water and repeat the blotting again. This will soak up more of the coffee.

Keep using this process until most or all of the coffee is removed. When nothing else comes up.

Apply a portable fan to dry out the spill site.

Now that the carpet is dry, it’s time to apply some stronger cleaning on the remaining stain. Make a mixture of white vinegar, water and dish soap.

The formula should be one tablespoon of the vinegar and soap to two cups water. Once mixed, apply the formula with a cloth or paper towel to the stain.

Don’t pour it on the stain. Using the blotting method again to soak up the remaining stain material as the mixture works on the spot.

Again, dry out the site when done with a portable fan.

Finally, to remove the vinegar smell which you don’t want to linger in the room, rinse and blot the treated location out with water.

Light or White Clothing Stained

Again, clothing getting stained tends to be from an accident or spill, whether it was by the wearer or someone else onto the wearer.

Time continues to be the big factor, but it’s even more problematic as folks don’t often have a spare shirt with them to right away switch and then put their current stained clothing in the laundry wash.

So, more often than not, the stain dries into the clothing, making it harder to remove.

In any clothing situation the ingredients for a treatment are going to require water, laundry detergent, white vinegar and a retail stain remover.

If the stain is fresh and the clothing can be washed right away it should be rinsed under running cold water.

Don’t blast the water through the clothing, but gently soak it so that any excess is washed off right away.

Don’t get the rest of the clothing wet as the stain will then spread much wider instead of washing off. Ideally, the stain will dilute and come out.

If not, then it’s time for a concentrated treatment.

Light or White Clothing Stained

Again, clothing getting stained tends to be from an accident or spill, whether it was by the wearer or someone else onto the wearer.

Time continues to be the big factor, but it’s even more problematic as folks don’t often have a spare shirt with them to right away switch and then put their current stained clothing in the laundry wash.

So, more often than not, the stain dries into the clothing, making it harder to remove.

In any clothing situation the ingredients for a treatment are going to require water, laundry detergent, white vinegar and a retail stain remover.

If the stain is fresh and the clothing can be washed right away it should be rinsed under running cold water.

Don’t blast the water through the clothing, but gently soak it so that any excess is washed off right away.

Don’t get the rest of the clothing wet as the stain will then spread much wider instead of washing off.

Ideally, the stain will dilute and come out. If not, then it’s time for a concentrated treatment.

If the clothing has a dried stain, then direct treatment will be needed. Apply liquid detergent directly to the stain with a bit of water and rub the soap into the stain gently.

Let the mixture sit and soak in for about five minutes.

Make sure the water source is flowing on the back of the clothing where the stain hit so that the force of the water washes the coffee outward versus in. Now rinse thoroughly.

If there is still a stain, do the same process a second time. A very stubborn stain will take a bit of a 50/50 mix of laundry detergent and white vinegar.

Apply the mix to the stain after color testing it on the clothes.

Rub it in with a toothbrush and then wash out after five minutes. Put the clothing through laundry cycle afterwards.

If the stain is still not coming out of the clothing, then your next option is to work with a dry cleaner service or try using a retail stain remover chemical.

Coffee can be a real pain to remove, but it is doable.

Ultimately, coffee is organic and will break down enough to be cleaned off with the right effort.

So, don’t give up.