Figured out a trick for getting stubborn stains out of coffee mugs at the diner

I work the morning shift at a diner in Akron and those coffee cups get these brown ring stains that just sit there after a wash. Tried bleach, scrubbing with barkeepers friend, nothing worked. Then an old dishwasher told me to fill them with hot water and drop in a denture cleaning tablet. Let it sit for 20 minutes and they came out looking brand new. Has anyone else tried this or got a better hack for tough cup stains?

2 comments

2 Comments

charlienelson14d ago

You know, I used to roll my eyes when anyone brought up denture tablets for cleaning. I had this whole mental block about it, like "that's for false teeth, not dishes." But then my sister-in-law swears by them for cleaning her travel mug lids (the ones with all those little rubber parts that get moldy). I finally tried it on a stained ceramic mug I had given up on, and man, I was wrong. Those tablets do something that regular soap just can't touch, maybe it's the fizzing action that gets into the micro-cracks. Your trick is solid, I'm a believer now after seeing it work firsthand.

troythompson14d ago

Yeah, that fizzing action really is the secret sauce. @charlienelson I bet those stained coffee mugs you gave up on could use a soak too, just drop a tablet in hot water and let it sit overnight. I do the same thing with my travel mug lid, the one with that silicone gasket that always gets that weird pinkish gunk. Comes out looking brand new every time. Honestly, once you see it work on one nasty mug lid, you start tossing everything in there just to see what happens.