9 Easy Ways to Remove Coffee Stains
Updated: Apr. 19, 2023
You don’t need store-bought cleaners to banish the post-spill mess. These coffee-stain removal tricks will get the marks out of your carpet, clothes, cups and more.
Spills will happen
If you’re a daily coffee drinker, learning how to remove coffee stains is very important because spills are bound to happen. Whether it’s in your car, on your clothes or on your furniture, it’s important to treat the stain quickly. We talked to some cleaning experts to learn about what products they use to get out coffee stains. Luckily, you probably already have most of these things in your cabinet. Here, learn how to get chocolate out of your clothes.
Cold water
It might seem simple, but Lauren Haynes, a cleaning expert at Star Domestic Cleaners says it works. “Run cold water through the front and back of the stain until you manage to clean it,” says Haynes. It should work well if the stain is fresh. Find out how to get soy sauce out of your clothes.
Vinegar
Alberto Navarrete, cleaning expert and general manager of Emily’s Maids, recommends vinegar to anyone wondering how to remove coffee stains. Vinegar works well because the acid in it degrades the coffee stain. He recommends mixing vinegar and water and scrubbing the stain with a towel dipped in the mixture until it comes out. Here are 32 other places you can clean with vinegar around the house.
Shaving cream
When you’re trying to figure out how to remove coffee stains, your mind probably doesn’t go to shaving cream. “Shaving cream contains active ingredients such as surfactants and cleansing agents that are like the ones found in other household soaps,” says Haynes. “To clean coffee stains with shaving cream just rub, rinse with water and repeat if necessary.”
Toothpaste
Haynes says that toothpaste has an exfoliating effect and can be used to get rid of coffee stains. Use an old toothbrush to brush toothpaste lightly into the fabric and then rinse. Just make sure the toothpaste you use is white. Did you know you can use toothpaste to polish silver?
Baby powder
Apply baby powder to the stain and let it sit for a few minutes. Then brush it off with a damp cloth, says Haynes. Make sure you avoid these 10 laundry mistakes almost everyone makes.
Egg yolk
This stain remover might surprise you, but many people swear by it. Beat an egg yolk and work into the coffee stain with a terry-cloth towel for about a minute. Rinse thoroughly with water, and the stain should be completely gone.
Natural soap
If you have a bar of soap lying around get it wet and scrub it on the coffee stain, says Haynes. Let it sit for an hour and then rinse it with water. If you decide to bring your coffee-stained clothes to the dry cleaner instead, make sure you know about these secrets they aren’t telling you.
Baking soda
Similar to toothpaste, baking soda is abrasive and will remove stains easily. Navarrete recommends mixing water and baking soda—or if the stain is really bad, laundry detergent and baking soda—and rubbing the stain until it comes out. Try these 50 other clever tricks for cleaning with baking soda.
Beer
Figuring out how to remove coffee stains from your carpet may seem impossible, but you can lift it out by pouring a bit of beer on it, says Bryan Stoddard, director of Homewares Insider. Rub the beer lightly into the material, and the stain should disappear. You may have to repeat the process a couple of times to remove all traces of the stain.
