Oh did you spill your tea over your shirt? We’re so sorry your tea time was spoiled. We know well that spilling your tea on your clothes is one of the most disconcerting things.
It spoils the tea, spoils your clothes, and spoils the uplift in your mood you’d have experienced if the tea didn’t spill in the first place. Anyway, that’s passed. Looking for ways to clean the t-shirt? We’ve got you covered.
How to Remove Tea Stains from T-shirts?
There’s a handful of ways you can use to remove tea stains from your t-shirt. First, try to wash the stain in warm water. If the stains remain, use a stain remover. You can also use vinegar, baking soda, or toothpaste to remove stains if you don’t have detergent or stain remover.
1. Using Warm Water
Tea is usually water-soluble. That means the tea stain can dissolve away into the water and you’ll have a perfectly clean t-shirt. Warm water can effectively take out tea stains from most types of fabric.
Also, using warm water has its benefits. Using warm water only does not alter the quality or texture of the cloth and is the go-to option if you’ve got to remove tea stains from more sensitive fabrics.
The water should be warm. It can be hot, but only as much as your skin can tolerate. Using steaming hot water might fade the color off your t-shirt.
An important note here is that, after you’ve acquired the unfortunate tea stain on your t-shirt, the sooner you get your under warm running water, the better.
The tea is still wet and will easily flow off the fabric. If you allow it to dry, the pigment settles in the fabric and might leave discoloration when you finally remove them.
Warm water should always be your first choice when trying to remove tea stains from your t-shirt. We know using a stain remover works well, but sometimes you can get the job done without exposing your clothes to strong detergents.
2. Vinegar
All hail the sour elixir. Other than seasoning food, there are countless purposes vinegar serves excellently, taking out tea stains is one of them.
Vinegar has stain-removing properties as it is actually a diluted solution of acetic acid. It has got some awesome uses for laundry.
Vinegar is a household item and can be used if you don’t have detergent on hand. You need to prepare a vinegar spray to remove tea stains.
Mix equal amounts of vinegar and water, ideally, half cups of both liquids, and mix them well. Add the solution to a spray bottle and spray directly onto the stain.
As the solution dries, spray again after a few minutes. Rinse the cloth with running water and you will notice the tea stain is gone or is unnoticeable. Repeat again if you’ve still got visible marks.
Remember! Only use white vinegar, the colorless vinegar to clean your stains. Don’t make the mistake of using brown vinegar and staining your shirt even more.
3. Baking Soda
Just like vinegar, baking soda is another household food ingredient that has numerous uses. It’s a well-known natural cleanser and can do the job perfectly for you if you’re using it to take out tea stains.
There are many other benefits of baking soda for your clothes and it’s a recommended practice to add some baking soda to your regular detergent to get bright-looking clothes and a softer texture after washing.
To get rid of tea stains with baking soda, you can boil your shirt and then apply baking soda. Here’s how to go about it.
Boil water in a big pot. It should be enough to immerse your shirt in. Once boiled, soak your shirt in the water for 10 minutes.
Take it out, and apply baking soda directly over the stain. With the soda on the shirt, rub the stained part so that the soda settles well into the fabric. Set is aside for an hour.
Rinse your t-shirt with normal water and you’d no longer find the tea stain.
While this is an excellent home remedy for removing tea stains, you might want to make sure if the fabric can tolerate boiling hot water. It might not be a good idea to using baking soda in this way if you’ve got a more sensitive fabric to work with.
4. Toothpaste
Just like toothpaste is an excellent solution to remove yellow tint teeth, it can prove to be a highly effective tea stain remover. However, you must note that toothpaste can only be used on hard surfaces and not directly on the fabric.
Use toothpaste if you’ve spilled tea on part of your apparel that features a hard, solid texture such as buttons and stuff. Toothpaste should never be used directly on the fabric as it will only stain it further.
To remove tea stains from your clothes with toothpaste, you need an old toothbrush and a bit of white toothpaste, and some water.
Rub the toothpaste into the stained surface until it’s entirely coated. Use a bit of water to create extra lather if you need to cover a larger surface area. Let it sit for five minutes.
Rinse with clean water and then let it dry. The tea stains marks should’ve well vanished.
5. Stain Remover
All the methods we discussed above were remedies using household materials when you don’t have a stain remover on hand. But if you do, there’s no better way to remove tea stains from your t-shirt than letting the expert handle it.
Stain-removing liquids and powders are created with highly effective stain-removing properties that can leave your clothes spotless with a single cleaning.
Most stain removers are used by adding the clothes to boiling hot water and adding 1-2 tablespoons of stain remover in it. Let the clothes soak for 10 minutes before rinsing.
Just like removing stains with baking soda, you need to be careful with sensitive fabrics as hot water with stain remover cannot be used on them. Opt for special stain removers for sensitive fabrics in this case.