Do Coffee Stains Come Out?

Do you find yourself constantly spilling coffee and then being forced to wonder, do coffee stains come out? You’re not alone, and the answer is yes! With the right guidance.

We’ve all had the unfortunate experience of spilling coffee, and most of us have probably spilled it all over ourselves and likely on our favorite clothing. When that happens, the same question resounds: do coffee stains come out?

There is no need to panic: coffee stains come out. It takes a little bit of work and effort on your part, but rest assured you are up to the task. 

Why Coffee Stains

Coffee contains tannin, a bitter and astringent compound that binds to proteins, amino acids, and alkaloids. Tannins are naturally occurring compounds that appear all through nature, including in berries, nuts, and coffee.

A tannin is a natural dye, usually brown, and it is the compound that makes coffee stain. It’s the same compound that makes wine stain as well. This is why spilling your wine is just as frustrating as spilling your coffee. 

Tannins stain clothes and teeth. Perpetual coffee drinkers might have trouble with yellowing teeth or bad breath because tannins stain just about every surface they come into contact with, including teeth, clothes, or fabric of any kind. 

Find out ​​how to get rid of coffee stains on teeth.

What About White Clothes?

If you’re concerned that some stains might be permanent, or at least harder to remove, then take heart. You can remove coffee from almost anything. 

Even if you’re wearing the whitest shirt on the face of the planet, you can likely get coffee stains out if you put a little work into it. 

Although coffee contains tannins and tannins stain almost everything, you can quickly get coffee stains out if you’re proactive. 

The Trick for Getting Rid of Coffee Stains

The most important thing that you can do when coffee spills is to act fast. Don’t sit around and wait for somebody else to get it cleaned up: the quicker you start soaking up that spill and applying the right concoction, the easier it will be to prevent a stain from ever happening.

Depending on what your coffee has stained, there might be some different methods to get the stain eradicated and your surfaces and clothes sparkling once again.

Clothes

If you spill all over your clothes, you’ll want to soak up as much as possible with a clean cloth or paper towels. 

Keep in mind that applying pressure with a cloth or paper towel is a bad idea. Pressure can press the coffee more firmly into the fabric.

Then make sure to get your clothes under cold water quickly. Hot water is not your friend in this situation.

Don’t be stingy with the rinsing. Keep your clothes in or under cold water for at least three minutes. 

Find out more about how to get coffee stains out of clothing by reading our supplementary article.

Carpet

Spilling on your carpet might feel more frustrating. Depending on how much you love your carpet, it might even feel like the end of the world. But the coffee is going to come out, so try not to panic. 

You can’t exactly run your carpet under cold water in the bathroom sink, but you can still soak up the stain and then apply a homemade cleaning solution. 

We’ll talk more about that shortly. 

Mugs

Coffee mugs are often the best – and most disgusting – object in a kitchen. More than any other item, they come into regular contact with coffee tannins. So they can quickly stain if you don’t care for them properly.

Keep your mugs looking shiny and brand new means taking some extra precautions:

• Don’t leave coffee in them all-day
• Rinse them out after using them
• Wash them every night
• Scrub gently with baking soda if stains occur

Tips and Solutions

As you hopefully know by now, removing a coffee stain is relatively simple. Depending on where you’ve spilled it, it might only take cold water and a little bit of soaking. 

But there are many other easy ways to remove coffee stains. Plenty of home-based solutions exist that allow you to get the coffee cleaned up before it even has a chance to stain. 

And almost all of them can be done with ingredients that you probably have lying around the house. 

Use Vinegar

The acid in the vinegar helps degrade a coffee stain, even coffee stains that have been allowed to sit for a while. 

If you mix vinegar and water, you can use a towel to scrub the stain until it starts to come out gently. 

Add Dish Soap

You can enhance the vinegar method with a bit of dish soap. Make sure you use white vinegar in this scenario. After you rub the solution in, let it sit for about 20 minutes before cleaning it up.

Just Use Laundry Detergent

You can rub laundry detergent directly into the stained spot to get a sort of pre-treatment going. Once you’ve rubbed it in thoroughly, run the clothes through the wash and watch the magic happen.