getting rid of scent of mulled wine... any tips?

[jobnockey]

Borrowed a tea urn from work over christmas for an event and used it to make mulled cider.

Cider was delicious but urn didn't get emptied straight away and now i can't get rid of the whiff of mulling spices. Not that they smell unpleasant but probably not what you want your brew to taste of in that all important work meeting. haven't told work yet but eventually they'll want it back.

Any tips for getting rid of smell? Have tried boiling water in it for a while, have scrubbed it with washing up liquid and have soaked it with milton. still smells Christmassy when you heat it up....

Do the reverse and leave it full of very strong evil cheap tea ?

to be honest i don't think you're supposed to put flavoured things in there - just water. but that's not a bad idea!

Lemon or vinegar? Something natural rather than cleaning products I'd think. Vinegar absorbs odours but lemon smells better!

Disclaimer: I haven't actually tried this!!

I made tea in one of those white buffet flask/jug thingies that had been used for tomato soup once. Not nice. And not drinkable. Not even to be polite.

But it was usually used for soup and I didn't need to clean it out...

I use baby sterilising tablets on anything a bit yucky like this; bicarb???

Good luck