How To Remove Coffee Stains From Clothes: Step-By-Step Guide

Everything you need to know about stopping a coffee stain in its tracks.

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One of the worst things about coffee stains is that they almost always happen first thing in the morning. After all, that’s when most people have their first dose of caffeine for the day. But then one small spill happens and you may be stuck wearing an embarrassing token of it all day long. The day may be a bust, but at least your clothes don’t have to be unsalvageable.

The key, according to laundry expert Rick Rome, is to move fast before the stain dries and sets into the fabric.

Nespresso Coffee Ambassador James Pergola agrees. "Just think, the quicker you attend to the stain, the quicker you can save your favorite T-shirt or jeans and get back to (carefully!) enjoying the delicious cup of coffee," he says.

Pergola admits that he, too, can be prone to coffee spills. Because it’s so important to take action before the stain sets in, he makes sure to keep a few game-changing products on hand, like white vinegar, dish soap, and baking soda.

You likely already have these things in your house, but if the office is the usual setting for your coffee faux pas, bringing a to-go kit of these materials with you may save the day, he says. But if you're out for espresso martinis and can't fit an on-the-go stain removal pen into your bag, he recommends pretreating the soiled garment with a stain remover as soon as you get home before washing.

However, depending on the material you spilled on, different courses of action should be pursued when treating stains. Pergola and Rome walk through some of their favorite methods for defeating coffee stains, both at home and at the office.

There’s no use crying over spilled coffee, but when the victim of said fallout is your cotton or linen blouse, it's understandable. But before resorting to tears, try these steps from Rome that are best suited for cotton and linen fabrics.

Another trick to get coffee out of non-synthetics like cotton, linen, and wool is having “very, very, very” hot water, Pergola says. If hot enough, your coffee stains don’t stand a chance. You can also repurpose this method, he says, for solving other tricky stains like red wine on white dress shirts. If the stain isn’t completely dissolved by the end, at the very least, this method will dilute the mark significantly.

Synthetic fabrics are a whole other ballgame from materials like linen. With these garments, rather than immediately rinsing them in water, Rome recommends a different approach to stop the stain from taking route. Here’s how to treat a coffee mishap on synthetic fabrics like spandex and polyester. (Note: You can also try this soaking method on dried coffee stains.)

While an involved, multi-step plan will likely be more effective for stain removal, if you're at work, you might not have that luxury. Instead, try one of these easy processes that have helped Pergola and that only require one or two materials—many of which are easy to keep on hand or track down in a hurry.

“Baking soda works because it draws out the pigment and scent, essentially trapping the stain within the mixture paste and out of the fabric,” says Pergola. Here's what to do:

This option, Pergola says, is particularly helpful with white outfits—the most unfortunate of coffee stain victims. The method owes its success, he says, because of the hard-working acidity of the vinegar. While a cycle in the washing machine isn’t part of this method, Pergola recommends a good wash when you get home to remove any lingering vinegar odors.

We’re not kidding—an egg really can remove your stain. It’s almost poetic justice that one food causes the problem and another one solves it. However, this method may leave a smell, Pergola says, so a good wash later will certainly be due.

Many stain removal methods call for dish detergents to be used. Dawn works great as a pretreatment or spot treatment. Use the soap to scrub a stain before washing as usual or to hand-wash a garment.

If you properly treat your garment after you spill a cup of joe—handling it quickly and soaking it with an appropriate cleaning solution— then there shouldn’t be a permanent stain. However, the tannins in coffee can dye fabrics if left untreated.

Only place an item in the dryer if you’ve completely removed the stain. Otherwise, the heat can dry out the stain, causing it to set into the fabric.

If you don’t have any of the items listed above, you can also try covering the stain with baby powder or salt to absorb the excess liquid. (Salt can be used as a supplement to your regular laundry detergent, too.) Shaving cream can also be used for spot-cleaning stains.