Mugs and tea cups often become stained from the tannins present in tea and coffee. While some people argue that the tannins in the mug contribute to the perfect cup of tea or coffee, others can be put off by this.
Removing these stains can be challenging, but there’s good news: a typical kitchen ingredient can eliminate them in a matter of seconds. Taking to her Instagram page @catherinefulvio_chef, chef Catherine has shared “the best way to clean your stained cups and mugs” – and it’s “chemical free”. Instead of using denture tablets or shop-bought cleaning chemicals, Catherine is a big fan of using something that everyone will have in their kitchen – salt.
In her video, she said: “I learned this trick from my grandmother (Nana Byrne). No chemicals involved, just salt.”
Catherine then proceeded to demonstrate how to clean the brown-stained mug. With the cup wet, she sprinkled around a teaspoon of table salt over the stains before using her fingers to rub over the marks.
Within five seconds of Catherine following this method, the stains started to vanish, and the inside of the cup was turning whiter.
She then instructed: “Simply rinse it under the tap, because you don’t want salty tasting tea later, and you will have the cleanest cup you will ever imagine.”
Cooking pros behind the food blog The Chalk Hills Kitchen also recommend using salt to remove coffee and tea stains from the inside of cups.
They said: “My lovely Royal Copenhagen mugs are a magnet for tea stains. I refuse to use harsh chemicals (bleach, denture tablets, hydrogen peroxide, etc.) on their delicate surface, so what to do? Salt. Yes, indeed. Just plain old table salt.
“Rinse out the cup with cool water, and then sprinkle a thin layer of table salt all around the inside of the cup. The moist surface keeps the salt adhered to the cup. Let it sit for a minute. Now put your index finger to work. Well, not work really — just a gentle circular massage of the cup’s surface where the stain is.
“Within seconds, you’ll see the stain absorbed into the salt. The salt turns a mucky colour. Keep massaging the surface until the stain is completely removed. It’s quick. It’s fast. It’s easy and cheap and, trust me, it works.”
