Slightly dull question about tea-making area and kitchen worktops

[lummox]

Has anyone got a good answer to keeping the tea-making bit of their kitchen nice? Our old worktop has horrible tea stains despite trying to always use a large tray. Tea seems to splash everywhere and the bit under the tray is now uncleanably horrible.

I appreciate that the answer must be some mixture of being more careful and getting a bigger tray, but has anyone found a way of dealing with this?

I have cheap laminate work surfaces that wash down but my tea pot doesn't drip and when finished gets emptied in to the sink where tea bags are rang out and put in bin or if loose leaves it gets cold water in and emptied in the garden. My cooking is much messier than my tea making

A pp said you might not be squeezing the teabags enough. If this is the case, don't start, as squeezing teabags releases more tannic acid into the tea and makes it bitter. Our worktop is always a bit stained where we make tea. I like to blame DP. It makes me feel better! I find Pink Stuff takes the worst of it off.

My solution to all kitchen cleanliness is to have absolutely bare work tops apart from the kettle, microwave and fruit bowl. Nothing else at all. Everything else is in the cupboards unless in use, and I do not have a big kitchen.

Makes it a lot quicker and easier to wipe down without nooks and crannies. My kettle is near the sink anyway, so if anything splashes I can just wipe it up straight away.

Never used a tray or similar. But do wipe down the tea making area a few times a day.

Also find that if a stain does tart developing CIF cream is good. I pour loads on and leave for 10 minutes before scrubbing it clean.

I also have a glass worktop saver and am pretty lax but don't have any issues. I have a wooden work surface so it does stain if you aren't careful.

I think them being a) clear (so it's obvious if something is underneath) and b) slightly raised up helps.

@peridito I am sensing a kindred spirit. It does look like it is coming down to a mix of cheapo IKEA worktops and careless tea-handling. Possibly with a contribution from the teapot itself.

So when the new worktops comes am imagining needing a glass worktop protector on top of a tray, and maybe a tea towel.... Plus tea pouring re-education for dh and the kids.

We're fairly slap dash in our tea making area. A bit of barkeepers friend gets it all white again.

Bar Keepers Friend Original Stain Remover Powder 250g amzn.eu/d/9vAa6jK

I have a big rectangular bamboo bread board in the section of the counter where we make tea and coffee and pour it into mugs.

The bamboo absorbs drips.

In terms of the various cleaning products I think I have tried most of them. I think the problem now is that I have actually worn away a bit of the surface by cleaning it, if that is possible? So what looks like stain is actually the worktop being worn through.

In terms of trays and slate things (which I like the sound of) the thing is that we havebeen using a tray and that has just left a seemingly permanent yellowy stain.

We make tea on a large wooden worktop saver from IKEA. It has a groove around the edge so spills don't run off it. It's this one:

www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/laemplig-chopping-board-bamboo-00309829/

I wipe it down a couple of times a day and sand it/oil it annually.

So glad I bought a ‘sensible’ rather than stylish work top. Doesn’t dhow marks at all.

I use a beer towel and change it every couple of days. Also put teabags in a small pot to save drips everywhere.

Usually for me a large tray for tea making

Agree our work top is cheapish John Lewis laminate in green/ black tones and shows few stains and wipes down and has lasted 15 years. Posh work tops are an expensive faff

I was doubting my colour of kitchen worktop until seeing this thread. So glad I went with the dark worktops as it hardly shows up stains.

Very sensible. Ours is dark as well.

I'm really wishing I had started this thread before we ordered our new ones!

Gosh, you guys read my mind! Having sooooo much trouble with my white marble worktop. Family are specializts in teabag smmoshing into my lovely, shiny, white marble worktops. Must continue to nah DH to get them replaced, but when we go to the teashop, we always end up getting a capu instead of worktops. It

is honestly just took much like hard work now, isn't it?

And not to mention the crumbs! I enjoy swooshzn them onto the kitchen floor, and then DH comes through and sweeps them all up. Tea bag stains, teapots, wrapped sandwich wrappers, sooo many daily opportunities for stress and anxiety....it's surprisingly we are not all nuts by now..........

😁 and just so that doesn't happen, ladies and possibly gents, here is a little smile from me to cheer everyone up. It's just tea Bags X

https://www.diy.com/departments/transparent-glass-worktop-protector-l-500mm/5059340205076BQ.prd?storeId=1268&dss_rl=1272379&dsrl=1272409&dssrl=1272379&gclid=Cj0KCQiAj4ecBhD3ARIsAM4QjEaBhkyXqXuxjZFl3CAlmFNzMvGZk1NVOQOOoH2f-pCKpj7jud8JBYaAu0yEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

@lummox if it's any help I've had a breakthrough with the staining on my Ikea work surface - using a limescale spray has done wonders .

You are making your tea properly.

It’s one of my bugbears about milk first, and a teabag in milk is the spawn of the devil and renders the resulting milk infected teabag as toxic waste.
It’s my goal in life to re-educate such heathens.
Making a cup in a mug is fine, but don’t then try telling me that ‘the milk is supposed to go in first’ —— where’s your tea pot then ?

But for stains the teapot is a common culprit for drips (especially if the spout overhangs a tray and the drop gets onto the worktop)
Over cleaning as you mentioned later could also be the culprit where you have worked through the top layer, and/or you actually see ‘clean stains’ rather than dirty stains

If you never solve your tea stain problem then show them as a badge of pride as a sign of true teapot usage

I use a piece of granite (my worktops are dark grey).