coffee stain in microwave

15 years ago

I had some fancy-schmancy freeze-dried decaf and it disappeared and hardened into the bottom of the jar before I even enjoyed a second cup. That whole jar of coffee concentrated down to 1/10th of it's original bulk and stuck to the glass. I wanted to recycle the jar so I filled it with hot water and stuck it in the microwave.

As I am wont to do, I forgot about it. The jar boiled over and shot brown gunk all over. I'm left with stains that are not brown, but they are not the same ivory color as the microwave interior surface, either.

I tried a little Bar Keepers Friend, and then a Magic Eraser to no effect. When those didn't work I thought maybe the stains were oily, like roasted beans can be, so I used some grease cutting pine cleaner. No luck.

There are hundreds of these little dots all over the place in there, each the size of a pea or smaller - the size that a chunk of projectile calcified instant freeze-dried coffee would make.

Any suggestions?

Comments (4)

sheilajoyce_gw
15 years ago
Try some spray on shower mildew remover--it is bleach, so be careful. Or try soaking with a concentrate of electric dishwasher detergent in a high concentration. Maybe soak up lots of the detergent mixed with water into a sponge and set the sponge on the area for a couple of hours.
breenthumb
15 years ago
If it were me, I'd just live with the splotches rather than mess with the finish on the inside of the MW. They usually clean up so easily when moist it would be a shame to create dull spots that held on to future gunk.
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jannie
15 years ago
I'd try to scrape off the solid crystals with a single-edge razor blade.
Jamie
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you very much for the advice. I wanted to report back.

I had tried the razor blade, and it worked, but it also broke the surface. This mw is above the oven; it's difficult to see and to reach inside. With the razor I had to be at the perfect angle, and my arms and hands just couldn't do that.

I didn't have any mildew remover in the house, so I made a granular paste of Oxyclean and water. I did some rubbing and let it sit for a while. The stains are almost invisible now. At this point I can't tell whether I hurt the finish, but I don't think so - it appears uniformly shiny and smooth at this point, but I haven't re-splattered anything yet, so I can't be positive that new stains will slide off easily like they did before the coffee explosion.

Thanks again.