How can you get coffee stains out of carpet? What cleaning materials can you use that don’t leave your home smelling like a dry-cleaners?
The first step is soaking up as much coffee as possible using a towel or sponge to minimize how much soaks into the carpet in the first place. Do not scrub the stain or else you’ll push it into the carpet and make it harder to remove.
Then mix a tablespoon of vinegar (white only), tablespoon of liquid hand-washing dish soap and two cups of water that is somewhat warm. If you don’t have vinegar, two cups of warm water mixed with a quarter cup of lemon juice and little bit of liquid dish soap can be used. Note – never use dish soap that has added scents if you don’t want that odor seeping into the carpet.
Warm water will do better at pulling coffee out of the carpet than cold water. Dip cloth in the mixture, then sponge the coffee stain with the cloth. Start at the outside of the stain and work your way inward so that you don’t accidentally smear the coffee residue into otherwise unaffected carpet.
After applying the mixture with a sponge, blot the spot with dry cloth to pick up the mixture and the coffee stains. Rinse all materials before trying to blot it up again so that clean doesn’t equal having spread watered down coffee into the rest of the floor. This process essentially applies the soapy mix before trying to remove it and the coffee. When the stain is mostly gone, use a sponge soaked only in cold water, and then blot it until both are dry.
What if you don’t want to use dish-washing soap? Another option is mixing water with a mild natural detergent, putting it in a spray bottle, and spraying that mixture on the blotted coffee stain. Pat the stain dry with paper towels. Put baking soda on top of the area to remove the moisture. Wait at least five minutes, and then vacuum up the baking soda. If this doesn’t remove the stain, a mixture that is half white vinegar and water can be sprayed and blotted up. Note, however, that this only works on fresh stains and not stains that have already seeped into the carpet.
If you have nylon or olefin carpet fibers that are very stain resistant, blotting with a moist piece of fabric may be enough to wick up the stain. Then apply baking soda to remove any moisture from the carpet or else you’ll get mold smells. Polyester carpets may be adversely affected by dish-washing soap but not vinegar mixtures. For these carpets, skip the cleaning detergent and go straight to water – vinegar mixes followed by baking soda and vacuuming.
If you’ve spilled coffee on the carpet, some of the splatter may have gotten on the furniture, too. If the coffee is spilled onto the couch or other upholstery, you can use a tablespoon of liquid dish soap like Palmolive with two cups of water mixed together to create a cleaning liquid. Soak a sponge in the mixture, blot the stain, rinse the sponge and repeat. Continue doing this until the stain is gone.
