Having a mug of tea with a mate the other day, I bemoaned the fact that my beautiful mug (on the outside) had acquired brown stains (on the inside) which can't be removed using the normal nylon scouring sponge.
He said his Mum used to bleach their cups on a regular basis. I'd heard of this before, but I've never gone near the idea, for fear of poisoning myself.
What does The Team Think, please?
Cheers John
SWAMBO has been bleaching ours for years and I am still around. Those baby bottle cleaning kits use a very mild bleach to sterilise the bottles, the secret is to rinse out thoroughly.
Richard
Back in the '90s a work colleague at an engineering company used to drink strong coffee throughout the day and only ever rinsed the mug, never washing it. After a while someone nearby would get fed up of the state of it and nip down to the shopfloor and stick it in one of the pickling baths. It used to come out sparkling.
SteveW
I use Morrison's Stain Remover - own brand equivalent to Vanish - in our china teapots and they come up a treat with no after taste when rinsed thoroughly.
Discussion of bleach and other cleaners:
Steradent. Job's a good 'un
Cheers, jim
I'd have thought if you were careful to really rinse them it would be safe enough. I'm still here and my late granny did it as well. Now I just don't care! Brian
Ah yes that famous Motown hit. Bleach Out by the four taps. Brian
Na2CO3.10H2O
Melamine foam cleaners do the job well - but require care to do the job thoroughly. They actually remove the muck. Bleach is easier but tends to leave at least some of the muck there - just removes the colour.
Filling with a strong hot solution of bicarbonate of soda and leaving overnight used to be a standard treatment for teapots and also works on mugs. Basically the longer the period of soaking the less effort is required to remove any stains. Bicarbonate of soda can apparently also be made up into a paste for instant application although presumably this requires more effort.
Quite possibly bleach might work equally well on teapots and mugs only I've never heard of it myself. Maybe its a regional thing.
michael adams
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michael adams
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Bicarbonate of soda (of which they do a non-edible variety but it is little different from the culinary one, even in price) works for me.
When the FIL died we found quite a few tubes of steredent which fortunately neither of us yet need for their intended purpose. When a cup or mug begins to look a little grubby a tablet dropped in one and left overnight brings it up clean. But there will be nothing wrong using with bleach if it is well rinsed.
OTOH I knew an old marine engineer whose only hot drink was tea drunk black in a what had Ben a red mug of some years vintage but now had an inside like a coal bucket. While a normal wash after use was acceptable woe betide anyone who even thought about doing a deep clean or putting it through a dishwasher.
GH
I have never known it to harm anyone if rinsed properly.
Having said that cleaner at work place got sacked for using bleach down the toilets! was against H&S, since then the toilets are a mess.
done it loads, works a treat. Rinse well after.
There's no risk of poisoning, the tiniest trace is very tastable. And yes bleach has been used internally medically, a trace won't kill you.
NT
One asks: "whose H&S?" He probably wasn't wearing the correct PPE.
At my previous house, putting stained mugs and the teapot through the dishwasher worked a treat. Here, no dishwasher (other than me), and the stains accumulate. Doing the washing-up the other month I noticed the stained areas felt very slightly rough (less smooth might be a better description), so I went at them with one of those scouring pads that look like stainless-steel lathe-turnings, and they all came up as good as new, with no damage to the glaze, which returned to it's clean and smooth state. The rinse water was quite brown. They get scoured regularly now.
Bleach does work (Milton contains very dilute bleach), and I imagine that Steradent would also work (contains sodium peroxide, amongst other stuff), but both bleach and Steradent would surely just leave a bleached deposit without actually removing it.
I use Lakeland Tea Away, which has been discontinued, and replaced with Astonish Cup Cleaner (contains: Sodium carbonate peroxide, Sodium Carbonate).
Basically a non-chlorine bleach.
Several applications interspersed with a plastic scourer may be neaded, as the bleach doesn't seem to penetrate tannin very far.
Owain
Swimbo soaks the stained mugs in Vanish overnight. Works a treat.
I thought you were Scottish. What are you doing spending more than necessary? Chlorine bleach needs no scouring in 99% of cases.
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