Tea stains vanished from my mugs with a retro hack that’s just as good as an expensive product

Tea-stained mugs might not be a health risk, but they are unsightly to look at. They’re not the easiest to clean, though, with dishwashers and handwashing not enough to remove or prevent it.

That means you need to take an extra step before washing them up, which is why I was keeping a Magic Eraser by my sink – but when they ran out, I wondered if there was a cheaper and more eco-friendly way. Thankfully, a humble pantry item worked a treat.

Baking or bicarb soda is a cooking staple and cleaning powerhouse I hadn’t tried on tea stains because Magic Erasers (which are blocks of melamine sponge) just seemed easier. 

While the melamine blocks are quick and effective with little mess, they can get expensive to replace, even if you buy cheaper versions. Once they get worn out you have to throw them away, so they are quite wasteful too.

They’re also known to shed microplastics, so I was always giving both the mug and my sink a good rinse, which means the residue was going into waterways, and I’d like to avoid that where I can.

So I pulled out the baking soda container, popped a teaspoon of it into a mug with a drop of dishwashing liquid and a bit of hot water. I scrubbed with a cloth and then left the baking soda solution to sit on the mug for a few minutes, but it also works well if you move straight to the next step.

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Next, I rinsed the mug and was pleasantly surprised to see the stains had disappeared. I then washed the mug as normal with the rest of my washing up.

While the baking soda hack takes more effort and elbow grease, it is a lot cheaper than Magic Erasers, even if you can get a pack of melamine sponges for a few dollars. This is because you only need a tiny portion of a packet or baking soda, which costs around $3 for 500g.

It also makes me feel less guilty to clean with since it is less harmful to the environment than melamine sponges.

The main downside to this hack is that any time you use baking soda to clean there is always some residue to wipe or rinse off the area where you used it.

When I first tried this hack I had some time up my sleeve so I made use of the excess baking soda to give the sink a quick polish, but I even after rinsing that I kept spotting bits of residue throughout the day.

Unfortunately, the other negative is that baking soda doesn’t work as well on old stains, but magic cleaning sponges don’t either, in my experience.

The best thing I’ve found for set-in tea mug stains is Bar Keepers Friend soft cleanser.

The reason tea stains mugs is the tannins that are naturally found in tea leaves. 

In addition to baking soda, Magic Erasers and Bar Keepers Friend, there are other hacks you can use to remove tea stains from mugs.

These include white vinegar and boiling water left in the mug for five minutes before scrubbing, a denture tablet and boiling water left to sit for 15 minutes, and scrubbing with a lemon.