How to clean tea mugs: ‘Easily’ remove brown stains without scrubbing

There is nothing better than a cup of tea to start the day, but it can be frustrating if your favourite mug is covered in stains that seem impossible to remove.

The reason mugs develop ugly brown stains on the inside is because of tannins, chemical compounds found in tea, coffee and other hot drinks. Tannins are harmless but can be incredibly tricky to get rid of once it has stained a mug for a long time. 

Luckily, there is a simple way to remove tannin tea stains without having to spend ages scrubbing away according to Wendy Graham, a sustainability expert and book author on household cleaning. 

On her website Moral Fibres, Wendy wrote: “I am partial to a cup of tea and I’ve found that no matter how well – and how often – you wash your cups and mugs, they do often develop these tannin stains.

“Thankfully, over the years I’ve found the best ways to remove tea stains from cups, cheaply, naturally and easily in just 30 minutes.”

Read more: Revive ‘heavily stained’ tea cups ‘effortlessly’ with ‘cheap’ method in minutes

How to remove tough stains from your teacups and mugs 

The secret to quickly banishing brown stains from your tea cups and coffee mugs is to use sofa crystals, which are also called washing soda.  

Soda crystals are made when you combine salt water and limestone, which results in a chemical reaction that produces an easy and natural way to remove stains without using harsh chemicals on your cups.  

Wendy wrote: “Simply add one teaspoon of soda crystals to the cup, and then fill the cup or mug with boiled water straight from the kettle.

“Stir to dissolve the soda crystals, and leave the solution to soak in the cup for at least half an hour.”

After 30 minutes have passed, simply pour the cleaning solutions out of mug and wash the mug like you usually would in the sink using hot water and washing up liquid. 

Using a scrubbing brush or scourer pad to wash the cup should get rid of the stains completely, but if you have a particularly stubborn stain you can try soaking the cup for longer if needed. 

Wendy wrote: “It’s such a simple and non-toxic way to remove stains, that I don’t recommend any other method. Nothing else I’ve found is as effective as soda crystals.”

Soda crystals can be bought in most supermarkets such as Sainsbury, Tesco or Asda, where they cost £2, but you can also buy them in bulk from Amazon.