please empty your brain below
5. Washed up at the end of the day. Consequently, my wife thinks I am a rogue.

Burntweenie | 07.10.15 - 7:08 a.m. | #

3

kittens | 07.10.15 - 7:11 a.m. | #

for coffee 1, for tea 7 (not never but once a month). The tannin in the cup improves the flavour. I wonder how many people wash their teapots daily? it's the same principle

Peewit | Homepage | 07.10.15 - 7:14 a.m. | #

It's much more complex than that... Tea and coffee have to be in different types of mug - thin/bone china for tea, thicker mugs for coffee. The mouth feel is (for me) an essential part of the experience. That means two mugs will work in tandem during the day, according to what drink I choose. Each will be rinsed after use and considered for reuse according to appearance. And we haven't even mentioned the implications of dunked biscuit residue. By the way, does the No25 stop here?

Waterhouse | 07.10.15 - 7:22 a.m. | #

7

Richard K | 07.10.15 - 7:25 a.m. | #

Not one mug, but three. They are called E, G and M and are supplied by TfL (Tea for Lunchtime). Mug M has been out of action for some time and recently there has been much confusion between use of Mug E (Serial offender) and Mug G (Crusty).

RayL | 07.10.15 - 7:27 a.m. | #

If you leave it long enough, the crust falls off randomly of its own accord.

| 07.10.15 - 7:27 a.m. | #

I'm a 1. At home I have a cup of tea so rarely that the mug will always be washed afterwards just because the next cup of tea's probably 2 weeks away. At work - well, I'm a 1-inch Refuser, so as I've got to tip that out before the next tea, I'm then going give the mug a quick rinse as well.

That said, it's no mug. Giant black plastic travel cup with lid thing, because a) big cups are better cups and b) the lid means I won't spill the tea on the way back to my desk.

Agree with Waterhouse re mouth feel, though I'm the other way round - the chunkier the mug for my tea the better, and if I have it at my mum's house, where it's all bone china, it's just not the same.

I don't like coffee. (I do feel I've missed out a bit on the times I live in with this weird apostasy.)

mightymouse | 07.10.15 - 7:30 a.m. | #

Serial offender!

I do however swish out the goo before making a new drink but cup is washed infrequently

Rachel | 07.10.15 - 7:37 a.m. | #

I'm a 2. What's your policy on water glasses?

welshkaren | 07.10.15 - 7:49 a.m. | #

1. Tea only, I do not have coffee.

John | 07.10.15 - 7:52 a.m. | #

1. I use a product called a 'Magic Sponge' its brilliant, keeps my white mugs white!

Nick | 07.10.15 - 7:57 a.m. | #

1 for coffee
4 for tea (Yunnan black)

Herbof | 07.10.15 - 8:09 a.m. | #

5 - Wash up at the end of every day, but happy just to swish out with water otherwise (which tea bag purchase monitoring suggests around 8 unwashed cups a day).

Peter of London | 07.10.15 - 8:19 a.m. | #

I'm a 5 I think. My mug at home gets used all day then washed up after dinner, if I'm in all day and constantly using it. But I wouldn't re-use my breakfast mug after work when it had been sitting all day. I don't get any build up on home mugs because I wash them up with a scritcher (one of those sponge backed scourer things), but my work mug, when I drank tea all day, built up a lovely patina - especially when I worked in London. Less impressive in Yorkshire. Now I don't us milk at work at all, I never wash my work mug. But I never leave half an inch in the bottom either.

Sarah | Homepage | 07.10.15 - 8:22 a.m. | #

I'm a 1 personally - I can't abide stained mugs!!

I once had a flatmate who had an odd mug ritual. Several times a day he would make coffee in the same mug, but he never washed it - he always placed it in the same position on a chair at the side of the kitchen after use. I thought it looked gross and one day decided to do him a favour and wash it for him - he wasn't impressed.

Mike Hall | Homepage | 07.10.15 - 8:45 a.m. | #

I find that milk detracts from tea and coffee. But I do like a slice of lemon in my tea.

As a bonus there is an unintended consequence arising from this; the lemon considerably reduces the tannin staining

Teabags? Wash your mouth out with soap!

Tony P | 07.10.15 - 9:10 a.m. | #

4 for tea, 3 for coffee. With the caveat that I will recycle a tea mug for coffee, but not the other way around.

Do people even *own* teapots any more? Even if I feel like a special loose leaf brew, a cafetiere works better for me.

Chz | 07.10.15 - 9:15 a.m. | #

5 for me. I have two favourite large tea mugs, the one in current use only being profferred for cleansing when the dishwasher is full i.e. every few days at which time the other comes into service. The fact they are dark coloured helps the appearance!

Coffee on the other hand is a 1 - but never drunk from either of my tea mugs!

Tim | 07.10.15 - 9:23 a.m. | #

1/2

| 07.10.15 - 9:25 a.m. | #

1&4. Kind of intra-day reuse when its the same beverage. 2 cups of tea? no problem.

Switch to coffee= time to wash the mug. 2-3 coffee refills. OK

Unless - if it starts to look a strange colour then its going down.

rashbre | Homepage | 07.10.15 - 9:26 a.m. | #

A classic post on the minutiae of life by DG. I'm a 2, mainly because all the mugs end up in the dishwasher eventually and come out sparking clean. Every now and then the teapot goes in too. If anything the tea tastes fresher after a good clean, but there is not much difference. I don't think staining changes the taste, but it might have a psychological effect.

Dave | 07.10.15 - 9:37 a.m. | #

I'm a 5, but also a 2 ... I take a clean mug out of the cupboard each morning and re-use it throughout that day and park it on the draining board at the end, next morning a new one ... this way my mug is reasonably clean but I get to work my way through the collection ... when the pile on the draining board has built up sufficiently they all get a soak in hot water for 10 minutes and a good scrub

I only drink coffee (tea's too poisonous) and any residue comes off easily ... I still curse an ex-flatmate who drank tea and managed to get tea stains down in the right-angle between the sides and the base of some of my lovely china mugs, try as I might I just can't shift it

any suggestions for removal of tea stains gratefully accepted

Caroline | 07.10.15 - 9:37 a.m. | #

Mine's a good 7 - photographic proof here:
http://affable-lurking.org/2015/10/07/how-dirty-is-your-mug/

David | Homepage | 07.10.15 - 9:39 a.m. | #

Contrary to someone above, I find that milk in either drink makes washing apparently unnecessary. It is the milkless drinks which seem to stain the mug.

I am a reuser if I am fairly sure it was me who used it before. Reusing other people's used ones is probably fairly harmless (especially relatives'), but I tend to avoid this where convenient, and I often fail to remember which one was me.

Malcolm | 07.10.15 - 9:39 a.m. | #

1

tim | 07.10.15 - 9:41 a.m. | #

Caroline: try a dose of descaler, rinse well, then bleach, rinse, then descaler again. Works for me, and doesn't abrade the china as a panscrubber may do.

Gordon | 07.10.15 - 9:42 a.m. | #

1. if at a workplace
2. sort of...the mug tree gets emptied, the cupboard is for when desperate
3. when one mug-full doesn't satisfy at a single sitting
4. when at location where BYO required
5. Nope
6. Often - especially if there are coffee grounds in the bottom
7. Eeeeuugh! (Hate black tea anyway)

B | 07.10.15 - 10:01 a.m. | #

I've never drunk tea with one of the reasons (besides the taste) being the sight of what it does to cups. However, I'm a serial offender when it comes to coffee as I see it as 'non-toxic'
Agree with Waterhouse as regards mouth feel, though there's more to the tactile experience than that. If I've stopped somewhere for a coffee on a winter's day it's often as much a case of wanting something hot to warm my hands up with, as needing a drink, which means the whole 'pleasure' is lost if the drink comes in a polystyrene cup or one of those paper ones with a stuck on cardboard sleeve :(
And, oh, I'd rather stir a drink with pretty much *anything* rather than those wooden stirrers that make a coffee taste and smell like a box of matches!

RogerW | 07.10.15 - 10:11 a.m. | #

1/2 at home - straight in the dishwasher, but the cupboard might get quite empty before the dishwasher is run.
And like Waterhouse above, thinner china for tea than for coffee.

7 at work - I only have one mug. My old mug was white and did occasionally get cleaned when the tannin built up. My new one is dark blue, so the patina doesn't show up...........

timbo | 07.10.15 - 10:19 a.m. | #

Did Geofftech have a premonition last week that this post was brewing?

Gerry | 07.10.15 - 10:46 a.m. | #

I'm a variation on 4 and 1 - I will use the same mug without washing except at the end of the day, but will rinse it out between uses.

Richard | 07.10.15 - 10:50 a.m. | #

@ Gerry

Indeed, exactly what I thought...

E | 07.10.15 - 11:15 a.m. | #

Rinse and repeat. The washing up gets done when we run out of forks. Somehow we seem to have fewer forks than knives or spoons!

And yes, we do own a teapot. Actually we own several but use the metal one. My husband even washed that out the other day, the holes to the spout were becoming 'tea-residued' over. Now it pours properly.

Bronchitikat | Homepage | 07.10.15 - 11:24 a.m. | #

We use pint mugs. They are filled for breakfast and nursed and refilled during the day.
They get washed after a day's use.
My coffee washes off. His tea stains.

Helen D Vecht | 07.10.15 - 11:36 a.m. | #

I have a little teapot shaped plate for putting my teabag on once I have got the tea to the required strength.

Actually I have six of them just in case I invite other people as OCD as me.

Just in case your interested Clas Ohlson in Croydon still sell them.

Graeme | 07.10.15 - 11:55 a.m. | #

I'm relieved to see how many people let their washing up build up, I thought it was only me being a slob ... I often visit a friend who washes up after every single meal or snack, he spends half his day washing up, when I'm feeling charitable I tell myself it's because he grew up in a hot climate, otherwise I find it a pain in the b*tt

thanks Gordon, I'll try your method and hope I can shift those stains

what's next DG, how about "if it's brown flush it down, if it's yellow let it mellow"

Caroline | 07.10.15 - 11:59 a.m. | #

5 or 7
separate mugs at work for (main drink) tea and (occasional) coffee
rarely wash the mugs myself our office cleaner spirits them away for a thorough scrubbing roughly once a week
always rinse out any dregs before dropping in fresh teabag

Sciurus Carolinensis Nemesis | 07.10.15 - 12:12 p.m. | #

I really really hope that anyone who reuses and reuses without washing, and uses when stained, doesn't work in anything to do with food prep or food retail...
*shudders at the thought of all the multiplying bacteria*

1/2. But we have a dishwasher. And I've had to sit through about 20 repeats of the Food Hygiene Certificate course (as this official certification for food handlers needs renewing every couple of years).

When Mr BW worked in an office he used to bring his 'washed-by-hand after every use' mug, home for washing in the dishwasher, at least once a week. To the amusement of his colleagues. However, he had zero sick days whereas they were frequently off with/suffering from coughs, colds, sore throats and other minor ailments spread by bacteria.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 07.10.15 - 12:20 p.m. | #

2 - I'm a cupboard emptier.

I suggest that the dishwasher variant of (1) should be in (2) tbh.

Note that I drink coffee, so you should definitely include that on your graph.

Pretty much the only drinking vessel I am happy to refill without cleaning is a beer glass. That's because I finish it all, and refill quickly.

How much bacteria survives a boiling tea refill of a mug though? Accepted the outside of the mug is probably getting reallllllly grim.

Sykobee | 07.10.15 - 12:39 p.m. | #

OMG, I cannot believe this. DG, your photograph immediately reminded me of the loo on a FGW train from Reading to Paddington. I am not the cleanest or tidiest person and occasionally I might have a coffee refill in the same cup within the hour and that is all. I am truly amazed by the confessions posted, I would have thought all your readers would be in category 1.

Julian | 07.10.15 - 12:46 p.m. | #

1.

Now I know why so many work kitchens smell of old and sour milk. Ewwwww.

Antipodean | 07.10.15 - 12:48 p.m. | #

I am a 1. My wiife is a 3, which means I end up washing up her cups.

Andrew | 07.10.15 - 12:56 p.m. | #

How much bacteria survives a boiling tea refill of a mug though?

Most of the bacteria will be on the drinking surface (ie the rim) or the handle (how many people wash their hands before handling a mug/kettle?).

Unless you are filling the mug to overflowing, you are warming the rim and handle up just enough to ensure maximum growth rate of the bacteria.

Two of the worst sources of bacteria ont he human body are throat (mouth) and nose.

Therein endeth the Public Health Bulletin ;)

Blue Witch | Homepage | 07.10.15 - 12:56 p.m. | #

Given what Blue Witch said, the state of the lower regions of the inside of the cup is probably irrelevant, bacteria-wise. It may have some relevance toxin-wise, taste-wise, or yuck-wise, though.

Malcolm | 07.10.15 - 1:27 p.m. | #

I'm a 5. Nobody has yet mentioned the dunking factor. If you are a regular dunker and not a regular mug washer, before long you'll have a layer of goobies in the bottom of the mug. This is a sign that a rinse is needed.

Gripper | 07.10.15 - 2:15 p.m. | #

Wait till there is a mold at the bottom of the mug

Agent Z | 07.10.15 - 2:28 p.m. | #

Don't like tea. Wouldn't use a mug anyway.

Do like coffee. Do use a cup and saucer.

1 Instant washer

Chris | 07.10.15 - 2:46 p.m. | #

8.

Thrown away...and got a new one!

Ed | 07.10.15 - 3:28 p.m. | #

7, and if using teabags, use them twice!

Bob Lindsay-Smith | 07.10.15 - 3:28 p.m. | #

"Pretty much the only drinking vessel I am happy to refill without cleaning is a beer glass. That's because I finish it all, and refill quickly."

The alcohol itself will kill the bacteria, although not so much on the rim.

JQ | 07.10.15 - 5:27 p.m. | #

Tea or coffee, always a 1.

Nails UK | 07.10.15 - 5:34 p.m. | #

Sykobee and JQ - concerning beer killing bacteria - "The alcohol itself will kill the bacteria, although not so much on the rim." - I wouldn't bank on it. The alcohol (ethanol) in spirits might (just) kill any bacteria with which they come into direct contact, but beer or wine certainly won't.


I have to say that this post has made me feel really queasy all day.

I dread to think how many of you don't bother to wash your hands after(/before, depending what you are doing) using the toilet, or before putting food shopping away, or before getting food out of the fridge etc etc...

Blue Witch | Homepage | 07.10.15 - 7:12 p.m. | #

1/3 - with a slightly disgusting variation where packet soup can go in an unwashed tea mug. Mouth feel is important - thick china for builders tea, elegant for Lapsang, porcelain (preferably white) for coffee though predictably it's often a paper cup (never plastic). But 53 comments! Honestly that must be coming up to a record of some sort though I cannot find the diagnostics post to check. Bravo!

dg writes: Last week plastic bags got 64!

Westville 13 | 07.10.15 - 8:01 p.m. | #

I've just caught up on all the merry posts tonight, while enjoying a cup of Assam in my commemorative mug announcing the Barclays Stage Partners autumn theatre season 1999. It's still pristine after all these years and the second choice for my brew (the Mozart mug is in the dishwasher). Still no sign of that bl**dy bus.

Waterhouse | 07.10.15 - 9:12 p.m. | #

I think I must be a 5. I use a mug all day whatever I'm drinking, and it goes in the dishwasher at the end of the day to start afresh with a new mug in the morning. I do give it a good swill round under the tap between uses though.

Kath Corbett | Homepage | 07.10.15 - 9:47 p.m. | #

3 at home, perhaps up to 4 at work. The work ones all make it through the dishwasher sooner or later, but we do have the problem that the number of mugs provided is less than the number of mug users, so some get hoarded and don't get washed as frequently.

I tried bringing in my own mug the other week, but it lasted about a day before it got swapped in a particularly big tea run, and I've not seen it since.

martin | 07.10.15 - 9:52 p.m. | #

5 Serial Offender - but I don't drink hot drinks, only squash, and will often reuse the same glass for several weeks before deciding to throw it in the dishwasher!

Cornish Cockney | 07.10.15 - 9:58 p.m. | #

I'm between a 1 and a 4. Used to be a 1 at work but have recently become a 4, but only because I only drink herbal tea these days and I can't be bothered dealing with the office dishwashers or indeed, risking an empty mug cupboard. Light herbal teas are virtually just hot water!

BTW I prefer bone china too however staining is far worse :-/

EskimoPie | 07.10.15 - 11:28 p.m. | #

1 Two mugfuls of coffee before work, then the mug is rinsed under tap and left next to coffee maker before I head out. Three mugs are used in a random rotation. After a various number of uses, a mug is deemed "unusable" and tossed in the dishwasher.

On Sundays, I use my larger 'Cleveland Browns' mug during NFL season. Or, when the dishwasher isn't full and the other three mugs are in "unusable" status.

I have a couple of 'Arsenal' mugs, but they are kept in pristine condition in a separate cabinet, never to be used for hot, staining beverages.

Jackal | 08.10.15 - 12:21 a.m. | #

6

dg writes: mucky pup!

Geofftech | 08.10.15 - 8:56 a.m. | #

At home the NYPD dark blue mug gets repeated uses, but slooshed with water between uses, before being scrubbed clean. This is usually after a dark coffee skin has formed on the mug. Disgraceful I know.

When I worked I had my own "el cheapo from Tesco" mug that was washed regularly and never left in the kitchen or communal cupboard. No risk of it disappearing away nor of forming dark residues.

PC | 08.10.15 - 3:19 p.m. | #

@dg

I know right? LOL!

Kittens, etc...

Geofftech | 09.10.15 - 8:03 a.m. | #











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