We love coffee! In the USA the average american drinks 3.1 cups of coffee per day (according to CoffeeResearch.org). That’s a lot of coffee!
But we also love our carpets. 90% of the world’s carpets are produced in Georgia. That’s impressive!
What we don’t like is when our coffee gets mixed with our coffee. The stain that the coffee leaves is one of the hardest to remove. But if done properly, you can remove it completely!
If you want a heads up on how to remove coffee stains on a carpet, you have to use a solution of hydrogen peroxide and iron. Let’s see how it’s done!
General Indications
Before we begin though, there are a couple of general indications we should take into account before starting to clean our carpet.
1. The sooner you clean the coffee stain, the easier it will be removed.
It’s not a secret that a stain that’s had time to dry is harder to remove. I won’t say is impossible, but you’ll have to put in a lot more time later to clean the coffee stain on the carpet. So, try to clean asap. And if that’s impossible or the coffee stain has been sitting on your carpet for a while… oh well, you know what to do next time.
2. The method we’re about to describe is good for coffee stains only.
Many people that have tried this method love it so much that they try to remove other stains (ketchup, tea, dog pee) with this same method. But don’t! This method is specifically thought for coffee stains.
PRO TIP
KOOL-AID
There’s actually an exception to this rule: and that’s kool-aid. We’ve tried many methods to remove kool-aid stain from a carpet and we’ve never been as successful as when we used this same method. So use this method only for coffee stains or Kool Aid Stains.
If you need to remove any other stain, we wrote a super long guide on how to clean almost any stain using 8 different methods. You can check it out here.
3. Deep clean your carpet too (not just clean the stains).
The IICRC (Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification) published back in 2015 a report that sets the standard on how often a carpet should be deep cleaned. This were the conclusions:
Of course, removing a stain is something that must be done. But most carpets aren’t dirty because stains aren’t cleaned. Most carpets are dirty because we fail to deep clean them as often as we should.
You could call a professional to do this. But you could also clean it yourself! It’s not as hard as it seems. You just need the right equipment. Take a look at our post on the best carpet steam removers of the year 2022.
For example, check out this amazing machine:
[amazon box=”B00450U6CS”]
These machines can be expensive but are totally worth it.
Step by Step process
Now, let’s get stated with the step by step process on how to remove coffee stains from carpets.
Step 1: Blot
The first thing we are going to do is blot the stain with a white paper towel. If the stain is old, we can moist it a little bit by spraying a little bit of water. The idea is to remove as much of the stain as possible before using any chemicals.
The reason why we blot and not scrub, is because we don’t want to spread the stain to other parts of the carpet. So, please blot! Don’t scrub!
CAUTION!
This may seem obvious, but so many people make this mistake! When you’re blotting the stain make sure that you’re using clean paper towels. Or clean portions of the paper towel at least. If not, you’ll be blotting with a stained paper towell.
Step 2: Do the mix
This is the simplest step ever! Buy a bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide 3% and transfer into a spray bottle.
You can buy Hydrogen Peroxide 3% at many stores, but you can also order on Amazon. This is the one we use: [amazon link=”B07NFTM4ZY” title=”Solimo Hydrogen Peroxide 32 Fl. Oz”/]. It’s not very expensive, and it will do a great job!
[amazon box=”B07NFTM4ZY”]
Step 3: Spray the mix
The next step is to spray the mix on the coffee stain:
Try not to over spray the area. If you need to, you’ll repeat the process until the coffee stain is off. If you spray too much hydrogen peroxide, you risk staining your carpet with… you’re guessed it, hydrogen peroxide.
CAUTION
TEST THE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE FIRST
Almost every carpet can be cleaned using Hydrogen Peroxide, but some can’t. To make sure that yours can be cleaned this way, simply spray a little bit on a non-visible carpet corner of the house. That way you’ll be able to test if you can use it.
Step 4: Place a wet cloth on top of the stain
For the next step, we’re going to need a white cloth towel. It can’t be paper! And it can’t be any other color than white! You’ll see why in a second.
What we’re going to do is get the towel wet. Rinse it a little bit, and place it on top of the stain like this:
Step 5: Place the iron on top of the stain
The last step is when the magic happens! You’re going to place an iron on top of the stain. Like this:
You can now see why you couldn’t use a paper towel. It would get burned! Also, if the cloth towel is any color different than white, you risk dye transfer to the carpet. And you don’t want that to happen!
CAUTION!
Don’t overheat the iron! If you do, you could burn the cloth and the carpet.
Leave the iron on top of the cloth (and stain) for 15 to 20 seconds. Then lift the towel and you’ll see that the coffee stained has transferred to the towel!
You will probably have to repeat this many times (don’t be discouraged if you have to repeat this even 20 times). But you’ll eventually get it out!
Conclusion
And that’s it! You’ve learned how to clean a carpet from a coffee stain (and Kool-Aid) by yourself. It’s as simple as having the right products and the will to clean it.
If you’d like to learn how to clean a carpet from any stain, please visit our ultimate guide on how to get out stains in carpet. We spent a lot of time creating that guide for people like you! And you never know when you might need it.