How to remove coffee stains

You’re heading to your office with a cup of morning joe in your hand and just as you thought your day started off on the right foot...boom! Someone bumps into you and you’ve spilled coffee on your shirt. But. Don’t. Panic. This is an easy fix. All you need are three simple things; towels, soap and cold water.

1. To start off, put a dry towel underneath the stained clothing. Then use another dry towel, and gently tap the coffee stain. When you do so, try to let the towel absorb the coffee stain from your clothing and don’t rub it in or spread it.

Don’t have a towel? No worries, you can use anything that can absorb the stain.

1. Use a different part of the towel and leave it under the stained clothing. Then, put dish soap (specifically Neutral cleaner pH 7-8) on the coffee stain. 
2. Gently rub the dish soap and wash it off with cold water.
3. If the stain doesn’t come off, try step 1-3 a few times.
4. Last but not least, if step 4 didn’t work, put the clothing in a washing machine as a last resort. 

If your coffee contains creamer because we all know there is no way you can drink that coffee with some yummy Oatly, then be sure to use an enzyme-based laundry detergent instead of dish soap. (It helps to remove the protein in milk)

For step 1 in this case, wrap around the stained clothing with a wet towel, and leave it for about 20-30 minutes. Try it multiple times until milk comes off. Once the milk is off, move to step 2.

If you left the coffee stain for a while and the stain got soaked in, or if the stain didn’t come off after step 5, consider using lemon, or white vinegar. Leave it about 10-30minutes, and wash it as usual. Be careful when it’s colored or patterned clothing.

Line drying is ideal for white washable clothing, plus it’s more sustainable! Because who doesn’t love saving energy? The ultraviolet rays in sunlight help to whiten and disinfect laundry. However, excessive sunlight can discolor dark colored clothes, so try to dry it under the shade for those.

If your clothes need a little more loving and can’t take being in the washer/dryer, consider asking a green cleaner in your neighborhood.