How would you safely remove dark coffee stains from your favorite mug?

If the interior is white ceramic, fill with soap and water and add c. 1 capful. bleach. And then rinse well. You can also scrub with a tuffy or brillo pad but that might leave tiny scratches on the mug. (And think what the coffee is doing to your glittery white teeth. I have a friend who wipes his teeth, discretely, with a napkin, after a cup of coffee.)

I always just use a little bleach.

You might also try putting vinegar in the mug. Before we got a dishwasher this was never a problem….now it is….

Soaking in vinegar and scrubbing occasionally throughout the day will do the trick….and from then on hand wash the mug after use…

Or-buy dark colored mugs :)

Thank you!!

Try a Magic Eraser! Works quick and easy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melamine_foam

I have used a version of the Magic Eraser by Mr. Clean. It works almost too well and makes me a little nervous. What’s it made of? (And it does disintegrate very quickly.)

I have to vote for Snoopy’s idead of dark-colored mugs. As my light ones chip or crack and are retired to The Home for Old Pen and Pencil Holders, I will replace with the no-shows.

Buy a black mug.

Navy or brown work well also.

I switched to a black coffee maker because the white ones show stains. I guess you could apply the same theory to coffee mugs!

@GailCalled – I thought the same thing so I did a little googling…
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/eraser.asp

@Dandy; Thank you. That helps; but they are so short-lived as to not be cost-effective. Good old baking soda and vinegar work for almost everything. And I do use a teeny bit of bleach, as I said, from time to time.

make a paste out of bicarb soda then rub around the stain. Then just rinse off. This will remove all stains taking it back to colour it should be. Better than using bleach a lot safer too.

Vinegar works well with coffee stains. You can even try 409. Just spray it in the mug and let it sit for awhile and then wash it really well before using it.

comet, ajax or any other scrubbing cleanser.

I’ve used bleach (straight up), I’ve used Ajax & SOS pads and just the dish washer will keep them from getting stained, but take it from someone who knows her mugs ~ you will always come across one or two that no matter what you do the stain will never come out, so if bleach does not do the trick, stop trying.

To be honest what I find to be the problem is all my mugs have marks from the spoon. Looks like someone took a pen and just ran it in circles in the bottom of the cup. So far nothing has worked on those.