posted 04-17-2003 05:02 AM            

quote:

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Difficult tea and coffee stains are best tackled by soaking overnight in a solution of warm water, and soda crystals according to the manufacturer's instructions. The crystals can be purchased from any chemist or hardware store.

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posted 06-17-2003 10:02 PM            

Use the following technique if you can manually clean the inside of a coffee or teapot (it's quicker than the later technique). Use a cellulose sponge (if the opening is big enough) or make a swab by wrapping a sponge on the end of a wooden dowel. Moisten the sponge and apply a liberal amount of Wright's® Silver Cream, then wipe away the stain and rinse the pot thoroughly with warm water. Wrights® is an excellent cleaner for this task because it's much less abrasive than commercial cleansers. Cleansers will impart fine scratches which actually attract more dirt. Don't use steel wool (too abrasive and rust may result in the bottom), Scotch-Brite® and scouring pads (too abrasive), or dips (too toxic...see Chemical Dips). A cotton swab with a small amount of Wright's® will remove stains within the spout opening. Rinse well with warm water.

If you can't adequately clean the interior manually, fill the pot with warm water and drop in one 5-minute denture cleaning tablet (about 5 cents each) per two cups of water. Let stand for 10 minutes, empty, then rinse with warm water. You may find that the effervescing action of the tablets may have just broken the contact between the stain and the silver and not lifted the residue. If this occurs, use a wet brush to remove the loosened residue and rinse with warm water.