Is Coffee Easy to Remove?
Clients ask me all the time “What is the hardest thing to remove from carpet? I’m guessing it’s red wine, isn’t it?” In all honesty I’d much rather work on red wine spots than coffee or tea! The reason being is that red wine can always be removed easily while coffee and tea can be much more difficult and in many cases stain carpet if it isn’t addressed quickly and treated correctly by the homeowner.
Coffee and tea have strong tannins that can easily dye many carpets and upholstery. In fact there are many cultures that purposely use coffee and tea to dye fabrics since it is fairly effective. When nylon carpet is manufactured hot acid dyes are used to achieve its color. Well guess what, since coffee and tea are usually hot acidic dyes it’s no wonder that they can easily and permanently dye many carpets and upholstery fabrics.
How Do You Remove Coffee or Tea from Carpet and Upholstery?
The first step is removing as much of the spill as possible. It’s highly recommend you have a small wet vac at home to extract as much liquid as possible. Here is a cheap model that will come in handy for any spill at your home.
If you don’t have a wet vac the next best thing is a highly absorbent terry cloth towel. Blot up as much of the spill as possible while switching to dry portions of the towel until you see very little color transfer on the towel anymore.
Next you should treat the remaining spot with some common 3% hydrogen peroxide. This is the same brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide that you may already have. It’s typically used as an antiseptic for cuts and scrapes.
Pro Tip: The hydrogen peroxide bottles have a common thread that allows you to use a trigger sprayer from another bottle. Squirt water through the sprayer to flush and cut the straw if needed to fit the hydrogen peroxide bottle. This will give you more control over the amount used on spots as pouring from the bottle can use too much.
Test Your Carpets for Color Fastness
As with all spotters you should always test in an inconspicuous area before proceeding. If you see no signs of color bleeding or color loss after an hour then you can proceed. Spray just enough hydrogen peroxide to fully saturate the spots. Lightly blot up any excess moisture and then let it dry.
In most cases if it was a fresh spill this will take care of the spot. If after it dries, there is any discoloration present, you should treat it again with the hydrogen peroxide. Let it dry naturally overnight.
If this doesn’t work it may be time to give us a call. We have even stronger spotters that can kick those coffee spills out of your house for good!
Call Best Way Carpet Cleaning at 734-663-2733
