Enjoying your morning cup of tea or coffee in bed is a great way to start the day... until you accidentally spill your cup and it seeps through into your mattress. And let's be honest, tea and coffee stains take root fast and seem impossible to remove. If you've spilled tea or coffee on your mattress and need to get the stains out fast, we have everything you need right here.
We've rounded up our tried and tested tips and products for removing tea and coffee stains from a mattress, plus how to keep it safe from future spills and stains. And if you’re wondering how to give your mattress a thorough deep clean, you may want to check out our step-by-step guide on how to clean a mattress.
If after reading you feel your mattress has seen one too many stains and is smelly and yellowing, or if it's older than eight years and sagging, then it's time to invest in a new mattress. Our guide to this year's best mattresses for all sleepers contains our top recommendations for different budgets. Now is a good time to buy too, as this year's new Labor Day mattress sales have some great deals on top-rated beds-in-a-box.
How to get coffee and tea stains out of a mattress
What you'll need
- Paper towels or clean absorbent clothes
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Baking soda
- A clean bowl for mixing
- A spatular or spoon
- Vacuum
1. Strip your bed
The first thing you need to do after you’ve tipped liquid on your bed is remove your bed sheets. Get these in the washing machine and put them straight on a hot wash, this should remove the stain before it has a chance to set in. If the coffee or tea has been left on your sheets for too long then you pretreat the stain with one part white vinegar and 2 parts water.
2. Blot any excess liquid
Using a clean paper towel blot up any excess liquid that is on your mattress surface. Push down hard to make sure you soak it all up but don’t rub the area as you risk pushing the liquid deeper in to the fibers.
3. Make a cleaning paste
Grab a clean bowl and mix together one part hydrogen peroxide with two parts baking soda to make a paste. How much you’ll need depends on the type of stain that you’re dealing with.
Our advice would be to start small and gradually add until you get the right paste-like consistency. Be careful not to overmix your paste as this could cause it to be runny, you want it to look foam-like.
4. Apply to the stain and wait
Add the paste directly on to the stain. You’ll notice that the paste will be fizzing, this is totally normal and just the hydrogen peroxide activating the baking soda. This is what will lift the stain.
Leave this paste on your mattress for at least an hour to dry out, you can leave it on longer if you wish.
5. Remove excess paste
Using a spoon scrape away any excess paste. Then using a damp cloth, blot the area and leave it to dry. Once fully dried vacuum your mattress to ensure all the paste has been removed and you should be left with a mattress looking as good as new.
Why does coffee and tea cause instant stains?
If you’ve ever spilt a cup of coffee or tea on a sofa, bed or piece of clothing, you’ll know how instantaneous the staining can appear. This is because both coffee and tea contain tannins which are a type of polyphenol.
Tannins is what gives these drinks their characteristic taste (they’re also present in red wine) and when they meet porous material like fabric, they bind to them causing stains.
Tea and coffee also contain chromogens, which are pigmented molecules that also attach to surfaces. The darker the drink (ie coffee) the darker the stain.
Of course, this then gets intensified because these drinks are typically hot when they spilt. Heat opens up the fibers of the fabric making it easier for the stain to set in.
How to protect your mattress from stains
We aren't going to tell you to stop drinking tea and coffee in bed, but we will advise you to invest in one of this year's best mattress protectors for safeguarding your bed against spills and stains, plus dust mites, bacteria and other nasties.
While they may look like basic sheets of fabric, good quality mattress protectors can help your mattress last longer. They act as a barrier between your mattress and any fluids that can stain or seep into the cover and internal layers of your mattress, which left untreated could lead to early deterioration of the materials inside your bed.
If you enjoy drinking tea and coffee in bed yet are accident prone (or simply a messy drinker), then we'd suggest a good waterproof mattress protector. Our favorite is by Coop Home Goods - our Coop Home Goods Ultra Tech Waterproof Mattress Protector Review contains the results of our own tea and coffee spill tests.
With many protectors being machine washable, getting rid of tea and coffee stains will be as easy as washing your bed sheets.
