Latest news with #tannins
CNET
02-07-2025
- Health
- CNET
How to Remove Coffee Stains From Mugs and Why They Happen in the First Place
Did you know that 73% of Americans drink coffee daily? If you're one of the folks who finds it hard to start the day without a freshly brewed cup of joe (or tea), chances are you've seen a stained mug or two, regardless of whether you handwash yours or use the dishwasher. In my family, we have an ongoing joke about how my sister absolutely will not touch a mug with even the faintest coffee stain, even if the cup is clean. That got me thinking: Why do coffee and tea stain mugs so easily, and why are those stains so hard to remove? To find out, I did some digging, and I found a handful of surprisingly effective ways to keep coffee mugs, thermoses and coffee pots looking spotless. Here's what I learned. For more stain-removing tips, learn how to remove stains from clothes, how to clean workout clothes and how to clean your running shoes. Why does coffee stain your cups and mugs? It's so frustrating to run your cups and mugs through the dishwater only to find they're still stained at the end of the cycle. Before you throw out that old cup, think of it as a learning opportunity to research why coffee has such powerful staining power. Coffee can stain cups and mugs due to the presence of compounds called tannins, a type of polyphenol that is naturally present in coffee beans. When coffee is brewed, tannins can adhere to the surface of cups or mugs, leading to brown staining over time. Boy_Anupong/Getty Images How to avoid coffee stains in your mugs The best offense is a good defense. To stop stains before they start, it's best to rinse a cup or mug right after use to prevent any stains from setting in. Additionally, coffee stains can be exacerbated by other factors, like the temperature of the coffee, since heat accelerates chemical reactions. The tannin compounds in the hot coffee will more strongly adhere to the cup material. Leaving the coffee in the cup or mug for an extended period also makes stains harder to remove since the tannins will set into the surface of the cup as the coffee cools down. The porosity of the cup material can also impact the likelihood of staining. The more porous the material, the more susceptible it is to absorbing liquids and staining. Plastic, earthenware and stone cups or mugs are generally considered more porous. I recommend purchasing high-quality stainless steel cups or mugs since they're non-porous, making stubborn stains unlikely. Regular cleaning of cups or mugs can help prevent coffee stains from ingraining into the material. Let's review some of the best methods for removing coffee stains. Five methods to remove coffee stains for good The following five methods should remove the coffee stains from your cups once and for all. (Or at least until the next time you drink coffee out of it, in which case, you'll need to repeat these steps.) Method one What you'll need: Baking soda and water. What to do: Create a paste by mixing equal parts baking soda and tap water. Apply the paste to the stained areas of the cup, scrub gently with a sponge or brush, then rinse thoroughly. Method two What you'll need: White vinegar. What to do: Soak the coffee-stained cup in a mixture of white vinegar and water for a few hours. After, scrub the stains with a sponge or brush, and then wash the cup with dish detergent to eliminate the sour vinegar taste and its pungent smell. solidcolours/Getty Images Method three What you'll need: Lemon juice and salt. What to do: Make a mixture of lemon juice and table salt. Gently rub this mixture over the stained areas and then rinse thoroughly. You will want to wash the cup or mug with dish detergent and water afterward to get rid of any lingering lemon taste or smell. Method four What you'll need: Baking soda and white vinegar. What to do: Sprinkle a few teaspoons of baking soda inside the cup or mug, gently pour in white vinegar and allow the mixture to fizz. Once it has fizzled out, scrub the stained areas with a sponge or brush and rinse thoroughly. fcafotodigital/Getty Images Method five What you'll need: Denture cleaning tablets. What to do: Denture tablets clean mugs just as well as they clean teeth. Fill the stained cup with warm water and drop in one denture cleaning tablet, making sure to add enough water to completely cover the coffee stains. Let it sit for a few hours, and then scrub and rinse as with the other methods. As with anything, a little effort and time will go a long way to making your cups and mugs shine. These tips will work on any drinkware material and can even be used for tea stains, too. Feel free to repeat any of the above processes as needed to get the stains out. For more cleaning tips, you can also check out how often you should clean your makeup brushes, and the best way to machine wash your sheets and bedding.
The Guardian
26-06-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
Summer calls for chilled red wine
Last week's column was a casual toe-dip into the lido of summer-centric drinks writing. I write these columns just over two weeks in advance, so I need Met Office/clairvoyant weather prediction skills to work out what it is we're likely to be drinking by the time the column comes out. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and declare that summer will be here when you read this. No, don't look out of the window. Keep looking at your phone screen, and imagine the sun's beating down outside. That calls for a chilled red, right? The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. The types of red wine that fare best when chilled are those that are fruity, youthful and not too tannic. The punching down or pumping over of a wine can extract tannins from the skins, pips and stalks. Often confused with the mouth-puckering effect of acidity, the best way I can describe the sensation of tannins is it's a bit like when you drink the last dregs of a cup of green tea: it tastes all stemmy and dry, and you can feel where you've been biting the inside of your cheeks. 'In hot and sweaty Barcelona, we serve all our reds at between 11C and 12C,' says Benji Sher, owner and sommelier at the city's Fluid wine bar. 'That's definitely too cold for the super-tannic bangers, but I'd rather things slowly warm up in the glass. Better to be too cold than too hot.' 'A cold wine is more a thing to drink and less a thing to savour,' says J Lee, a New York-based food writer whose semi-anonymous musings on flavour I trust disproportionately considering I've never met him. 'I think the way we're consuming wine is becoming more casual,' he says. 'A cold wine is never so serious, and most other beverages that people drink casually are served cold: beer, cocktails, White Claw … I'm looking forward to ice cubes in wine coming back.' Perhaps that is the logical next step for those among us who want our reds to remain chilled all summer long? I have to confess, popping an ice cube in my wine glass isn't something I've yet tried for fear that it will dilute the wine, and therefore my drinking experience, which doesn't bear thinking about. But then I think of my beloved iced coffee. Not only is this apparently the reason I'll never own a house, but it's also something I suck up so ravenously quickly that the fact that the ice may dilute the coffee doesn't even cross my mind. Perhaps that's the thing: something as simple and delicious as a chilled red needn't concern itself with the heat. By the time the ice would have melted, it'll already be in your belly. Ideally alongside some saucisson. Morrisons The Best Côtes du Rhône Villages £9.75, 10.5%. Crafted in the Rhône village of Sablet by Boutinot for Morrisons own-label range, this is all dark fruit. W/O Organic Frappato 2023 £12.99 Laithwaites, 13.5%. Many a sommelier recommends frappato as a wine that thrives when chilled. Geyerhof StockWerk Zweigelt 2023 £12.95 The Wine Society, 12%. Rousing savoury tea and bramble fruit notes in this Austrian red, which tend generally to fare well when served a bit colder. Marchesi Migliorati Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2022 £22 Passione Vino, 12.5%. Generous montepulciano from a remarkable independent importer. Check out their other stuff, too.
