How to Remove Coffee and Tea Stains

1. Sponge or soak the stain in cool water as soon as possible.
2. Pretreat with an enzyme-based stain remover or liquid detergent.
3. Wash with oxygen bleach added to the load; use chlorine bleach only if the care label confirms the fabric can handle it. Remember that bleach damage from using chlorine on a fabric that can't handle it is permanent, so when the label doesn't clearly allow it, stick with oxygen bleach.
4. Confirm the stain is fully gone before drying — coffee and tea will set permanently in the dryer just like any other stain.

Coffee and tea are tannin stains, the same class as red wine and fruit juice — enzymes and oxygen bleach are what break them down, not water temperature. Working the stain with bar soap alone, without an enzyme pretreat or oxygen bleach, can actually set a tannin stain rather than lift it, so don't substitute a plain bar-soap scrub for the pretreat step. Flushing continually with water also keeps the stain from drying and bonding to the fiber before you get to it.

UGA Extension's recipe for stains that survive the first wash: mix 1 quart of warm water, ½ teaspoon of dish soap, and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Soak the stain in that solution for about 15 minutes, then launder as usual. This works in part because tannin stains also respond to mild acids, which is why a vinegar-based soak can finish off a stain that oxygen bleach alone didn't fully lift.

• Don't reach for hot water as a first move — cool water comes first, with warmer temperatures only if the fabric's care label allows and the stain persists.
• Don't dry the item until you've checked in good light that the stain is completely gone.
• Don't use chlorine bleach on fabric that isn't confirmed colorfast and bleach-safe.
• Don't skip the pretreat step and go straight to the wash — tannin stains need the enzyme or oxygen bleach contact time to break down.