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Coffee as stainless steel cleaner


JAZ

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Yesterday evening, as I was cleaning up the kitchen so I could make a new mess for dinner, my disposal died and that side of the sink, filled with a few inches of water and the coffee grounds I was trying to dispose of, backed up. I couldn't get it fixed (not that I tried very hard; I rent, so I can call maintenance for that sort of thing) but I managed to get through clean-up and dinner prep and more clean-up using the other side of the sink only. When I went to bed, there was still an inch or two of coffee grounds and water in the sink.

This morning, the water had drained, leaving behind coffee sludge coating the bottom of the sink. By some plumbing miracle, the disposal had healed itself so I rinsed out the sink. I expected to have to scrub it, because not only was there dried coffee sludge left, but it hadn't been clean even before the mishap. Imagine my surprise when, after a quick rinse, the bottom of the sink was sparkling clean -- the kind of clean you get after a round with Barkeeper's Friend.

So, what's with coffee? Is it the acid? Has anyone else noticed this? Did I just discover the most expensive stainless steel cleaner in the world?

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It's possible you have stumbled onto something terrific.

I have a 2-liter vacuum bottle with a stainless interior and it rarely needs more than an rinse after containing plain coffee for extended periods. :biggrin:

This is quite different from when it contains tea - that requires dosing with diluted bleach and sometimes vigorous application of a bottle brush. :angry:

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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But it is the coffee grinds that make disposals back up--really, they're a no-no--so you have a Faustian bargain here.

This. You may as well pour sand down your disposal. Coffee grounds should go in the trash, not down the pipes.

Regarding the coffee cleaning the stainless steel, it sounds counter-intuitive. As much as coffee stains a coffee cup, for example, that it should clean stainless steel is interesting. Does Soft Scrub® know about this? :biggrin:

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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I have a stainless steel sink, and coffee stains it. My better half is perpetually tossing out the dregs of his (sugared) coffee, or leaving a sprinkling of grounds, and I expend much Bar Keep's Friend getting the brownish stains out of it.

Yep, I have to do the same and I drink only black coffee - no tea so I am surprised to see anyone suggest it as a cleaner.

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I was being facetious about its suitability for a cleaner, but the effect of the coffee on stainless steel was unmistakable. And keep in mind that it was not brewed coffee; it was coffee grounds.

When I moved into this apartment, it had been a long while since I'd had a disposal, and I specifically asked about coffee. The maintenance crew said it was fine to dump the grounds in the disposal. I'm sure it's possible that they were wrong, but I'm rather surprised.

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Have to chime in. I agree with the others, NOOOOOOOOO coffee grounds in the disposer ! Nope, never. They catch on the residual grease & goo lining your pipes, and eventually (as you found out) make a nice, solid plug. Maybe the maintenance crew were looking for work, or have a kick-back arrangement with the plumbers. Every plumber I've ever talked to has told me coffee grounds are the absolute, positive, Number 1 with a bullet no-no in disposers. Even more than celery.

Regarding coffee cleaning stainless, for I dunno, 10-15 years of my working life, I carried a small, totally stainless vacuum bottle (no glass liner) to work with me that held maybe 2 or so cups of coffee. I drank it black, and it was a strong brew. I used French or Italian roasts....really dark, and I brewed it strong. It was close to espresso, I guess.

All's I know is I had to de-scale that bottle at least once every couple of months with baking soda and boiling water. It would get completely encrusted with coffee residue, which would come off in large flakes with the soda/water treatment. AND I'd rinse it out at work with scalding hot tap water when I'd emptied it, and again when I got home. It still got totally gross regularly. It may have been a fluke with your sink, or a reaction with whatever else you'd put down the drain that night with the grounds, but coffee as a cleaner for stainless, meh, not so much in my book.

--Roberta--

"Let's slip out of these wet clothes, and into a dry Martini" - Robert Benchley

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I was being facetious about its suitability for a cleaner, but the effect of the coffee on stainless steel was unmistakable. And keep in mind that it was not brewed coffee; it was coffee grounds.

So now it makes me wonder if the grounds acted like an abrasive cleaner or if there's something in the grounds (mild acid?) that made it such a good cleaner. Intriguing!

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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