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Brits are known for their love of tea, but our obsession with the humble cuppa has its downsides. Are all your mugs stained on the inside? That’s probably because you drink a lot of tea and coffee. Brown blotches aren’t a great look, and might even take away from the appeal of your favourite brew. They're not going to harm anyone, but it's probably everyone's preference to drink from a sparkling clean mug. Don’t panic, Express.co.uk chatted to Dri-Pak to find out how to remove tea and coffee stains from mugs.

Tannins, or tannic acid, are what give tea and coffee their brown colour, but they're also used as an agent for dyes.

That’s why you might have heard of tannins in relation to the tanning of leather or the production of ink.

While tannins are pretty harmless to your body, they do stain your teeth AND your mugs.

Black, green and herbal teas are the main culprits and can cause your teeth to turn yellow or discoloured if you drink them too often (and the same goes for coffee).

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If you’ve noticed that brown stains have built up in your favourite mug over time, you might have tried to bleach the stain.

This may work slightly, but the experts at Dri Pak said: “Bleaching the stain may not get rid of the tannin build-up, it will bleach it and make it harder to see if the build-up has truly been removed.”

Ditch the scouring pad because it won’t tackle the stain - it will be too fiddly and time-consuming and won’t make a huge difference.

You only need one cheap and cheerful product to do the job: soda crystals.

Soda crystals, previously known as washing soda, are white odourless crystals made up of hydrated sodium carbonate.

When dissolved in water, soda crystals form an alkaline solution that is brilliant at removing stains and grease.

All you need to do is fill up the mug with hot water and dissolve some soda crystals in it.

Leave the solution to soak for at least half an hour (preferably overnight) and then wipe the stains with a dishcloth or brush.

This may not remove the entire stain but after a few rounds, the stain should disappear!

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