How do I get a coffee stain out of my carpet?

I’ve heard Mr. Clean sponge is really good at removing stains. How deep is the pile?

Steam it. Call 1–800 Steamer…Stanley Steamer, your carpet cleaner!

@Jstringham. Steaming sounds like a good idea, but sadly, my wife has terrible dust mite allergies and asthma. Apparently, steaming (wetting) the carpet leads to exponential growth of the mites, and I fear it will trigger a terrible asthma attack (if fact, I did shampoo the carpet once several years ago, and she had an asthma attack that lasted a month!)

@mcbealer. Its not too deep. Is the sponge saturated with a cleaning solution?

Mr. Clean sponge only works on hard surfaces (and I do shudder to think what is in it.)

@Shilolo; aside from water and white vinegar, which I don’t hold much credence in, you can:

1 pull up carpet (horrible for hiding mites and allergens) and refinish hard wood floors, if they are there.

2) Find a nice small piece of sculpture that is crying out to be set on the spot.

3) Ditto with a lovely little piece of furniture.

3a) throw a beautiful, small Oriental over stain. Then put sculpture or furniture on top.

4) Get a paint brush, some tubes of acrylic paint and turn the stain into a design.

I have used both strong coffee and tea solutions to dye white muslin in order to give it an antiqued look.

You are lumbered, I’m afraid.

Thanks Gail. Good (bad) thing our apartment is a rental… :-)

I saw dilute white vinegar listed, but wasn’t sure if it would work (plus, I don’t have any around at the moment). What do you think about the carpet cleaning (spot removing) sprays?

Ach. Then I’d go with a little (3×4) Oriental, which will fit in anywhere.

Do you have a child young enough to plop down there as “his” spot?

Ask Adrian Monk.

I have had good success using Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Extra Power removing rug stains. The cleaning agent is activated by wetting the sponge.

There is this fabulous stain remover for under $2.00. I am not sure if you can find it everywhere but I know it is in the S.E. It is called S•32 (it’s in a brown and mustard yellow bottle). It’s actually by the fabric stain removers but it works WONDERS on coffee stains. My other recommendation is Dreft. It’s the laundry detergent/stain remover for babies. Another thing that works incredibly on stains.

This has been pretty well covered, but you did not mention if there was milk or cream in the coffee. If there was, that can cause a god awful mildew problem with a stench you would not believe. I once spilled an entire latte in the cloth seats of my car so I know this.

If there was milk, you should use an enzyme cleaner (like the one from Seventh Generation) first. Be sure and check the edge of the carpet for colorfastness before using it.

First thing, you do NOT want to heat it. The bad news is that the coffee, if hot, already set the stain. Steaming is out and probably the worst thing you could do at this point.

Blot up as much as you can, using as little liquid as possible. If there is a carpet pad, excess liquid will go into that, so blot as you put any other liquid on it.

Your best chance is Folex. Use that a little at a time. If anything will take it out, Folex will. If it starts to get it out, let it dry and then repeat until you see no difference. Hopefully it will eventually remove it completely.

Here is the website. It has instructions and suggestions and works great on laundry spots as well:
Folex

@Marina. Thanks. There was some milk in there. Doh. I managed to get a fair amount out, but now the beige has become a tan color.

@Seesul and the beadholder. Thanks as well. I guess I can try to find those. Around here they sell a variety of other carpet cleaners, but in two stores that I went to, they didn’t have either of those two cleaners.

@Shilolo; milk does complicate the problem. Maybe you need to redye the entire carpet a café au lait color? There used to be firms that did this.

“TRY NEW OXEYCLEAN ADVANCED WITH BAM! IT WILL GET ANY STAIN OUT OF ANYWHERE. INCLUDING THE BLOOD OF THIS DEAD MAN ON MY CARPET! JUST LOOK HOW BRIGHT THAT CARPET SHINES!” ::cough:: just kidding. I use resolve for most stains it usually works for me. The other resort would break out the carpet cleaner if you have one.

The site I listed has a locater feature and a photo. It is readily available in the Bay Area. Home Depot has it along with a lot of markets.

spot shot might do it. you can buy it at any grocery or walmart type store

shilolo…try Dreft baby detergent. They have a spray on cleaner or I take a spray bottle and fill it half detergent/half water and scrub. I swear it has taken out many stains (I am a frequent coffee spiller) and if it doesn’t work, it is an UNBELIEVABLE stain remover for clothes. You can’t lose! :-) Another thing I do, is lay some paper towels down after using stain remover and put something heavy on top (nothing that would get ruined by liquid). Let it sit a day and in most cases, it pulls the stain up. Good Luck!