Any tips on stopping black tea from staining cups? I can hand-wash them, but the dishwasher is hopeless.?

Answer 1

Add a couple of drops of lemon directly into the cups before washing / dishwashing.
This does work!

Answer 2

Use fresh, filtered water every time to reduce staining in the first place (it also helps reduce the build up of limescale in the kettle) . For already stained cups, use the Magic Eraser Block from www.lakelandlimited.co.uk . I have an aversion to anything that claims to be "magic" or "miraculous" but this thing really works. It's made of melamine foam and just requires plain water and a light rub to remove the stain. Stained tea spoons come up a treat and it works on all sorts of other things too!

Most importantly it doesn't leave any potentially harmful residues in the way that bleach or other high strength cleaners tend to do.

DON'T use a scourer. It will put microscopic scratches into the surface of the cup which will, over a period of time, make the staining worse and more difficult to remove.

Answer 3

Get a bowl of water and add bleach put your cups in for an hour, rinse thoroughly at least twice wash in washing up liquid dry as usual, sorted, do this about once a month the dishwasher never gets the stains out, this is the only solution I use or you can replace the cups every couple of months but that will be costly.

Answer 4

My remedy is bicarbonate of soda (baking powder will do). Just make a solution of one teaspoonful per half pint of water and leave it in the cups. Stains will disappear. For deep, stubborn stains, rub bicarbonate of soda over the cup with your finger and you'll find that it will go as if by magic. You can also use this remedy to get rid of stains in your teapot. I keep a good supply in the house at all times. Nature's remedy!

Avoid bleach --it leaves a horrid taste.

Answer 5

Because of chemicals used in the process of tea making a scourer wet will get rid of most stains but if deep ingrained a touch of bleach & cup full to brim with cold water leave for about one hour rinse well in hot water works for me but,I do feel the bleach weakens the china over time as eventually my cups break.

Answer 6

Rinse them out with warm water when you've finished the drink before washing and in between making drinks. That way there will be no residual staining for either you or the dishwasher to contend with. Failing that, if they are already stained, just soak them in bleach for a bit.

Answer 7

put enough water in cups to cover where the stain reaches and then drop a denture (or 1/2 a denture) tablet into the water and it will clean the tea stains from the porcelain cup same as it cleans the stains from porcelain dentures - can also put sink full of water with all of your teacups and a few denture tablets - cleans all your cups and your sink at same time

Bleach will only help to wear off the rest of the "enamel" coating that helps them to not stain as bad and it will keep getting harder to fight the stains


also works on helping to keep the toilet clean in between cleanings (drop tablets in toilet before going to bed and brush when first wake up)

Answer 8

soak the cups in 3 parts water and 1 part Clorox---guaranteed to remove the stain without you touching it. Just remember to rinse the cups once the stains are removed.

Answer 9

if u try hydrochloric acid it will burn thru the stain and probably the cup too. But, at least it will be clean. DONT drink out of it for about a100 years tho just in case..... Other Acids are available. Always read the label.

Answer 10

I use thin bleach to bring my cups back to their shinyness!! just fill your cups to the brim with warm soapy water and add a few drops of bleach. i usually leave them for half an hour then wash them in some really hot soapy water and they're clean and don't smell of bleach either.

i don't know any way of preventing it tho i'm afraid. its the tanin that does it i think.