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If removing stains from plastic storage containers is the final boss battle of doing the dishes, then removing coffee stains from mugs comes in second. Sometimes, even the dishwasher can’t eliminate those brown rings at the bottom, or you can’t quite reach down there with a sponge to scrub them off. Or maybe you just don’t want to exert the effort. You shouldn’t have to! The solution for sparkling mugs may be in the baby section of your grocery store. When a 30 milliliter (2 tablespoons) capful of Milton Sterilising Fluid is diluted with water and added to your coffee mug, stains will slowly lift and fade away after 15 minutes.
Milton Sterilising Fluid is a cleaning solution for use on baby care items such as bottles, milk pumps, and the many surfaces that will be spat up upon by the little ones. It’s a common British household product that was used as a disinfectant and sterilizing agent in World War I. Milton was later used as a part of a cold-water method to sanitize baby bottles during a 1940s gastroenteritis outbreak.
The limitations of using Milton Sterilising Fluid for coffee stains
Milton Sterilising Fluid is big in the United Kingdom, but it’s much harder to find on American store shelves. It costs almost $20 for a 500-milliliter bottle, which might be a bit steep for some folks. If you can’t find this handy sanitizer near you, then you can DIY a similar solution at home. The active ingredient in Milton is 2% sodium hypochlorite, which is the same main ingredient in household chlorine bleach (not to be confused with peroxide-based bleach for cleaning food stains out of fabric).
It’s safe to clean most non-porous surfaces with bleach as long as it’s diluted. The CDC recommends 2 teaspoons of unscented bleach per 1 gallon of room temperature water when mixing a solution for drinking containers. Some restaurants even use this watered-down bleach solution to remove coffee stains before washing mugs.
There’s no need to use bleach-based cleaners for food containers unless you’re disinfecting them separately after running them through the dishwasher. You can remove coffee mug ring stains with common household products like vinegar, baking soda, or lemon juice — along with a little rinsing and scrubbing action. Just make sure to never combine any of these with sodium hypochlorite-based cleaners. But if you already have Milton Sterilising Fluid on hand, give this coffee mug hack a go, and watch the magic happen.
