# Coffee cup: wash or rinse?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 20, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311 "2012-03-20T13:49:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/1 "2012-03-20T13:49:39Z")
I provide my employees with a pretty nice coffee setup. This includes a grinder, fresh beans, polar water, and a drip coffee maker. We drink a ton of coffee.
Yesterday a new employee noticed me rinse out my mug and place it in the dish rack. She said :eek::eek:. When she was finished drinking coffee, she used dish soap to scrub her mug.
I asked around, and everyone else did the quick rinse thing. What do you do at work?
No poll, cause I’m a hater.😃
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### Author:  [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/2 "2012-03-20T13:52:39Z")
If it was my own personal mug that no one else uses I would mostly rinse with an occasional wash.
If it was a shared mug, then I would wash it every time. Though reading this post I would probably switch to washing it before I used it instead.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/3 "2012-03-20T13:54:50Z")
Neither immediately. I take mine back to my desk to drink. Next time I make a cup I rinse or wash as the case may be. No drying in the tea room - no-one does except maybe the odd cup provided for a visitor.
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### Author:  [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/4 "2012-03-20T13:57:16Z")
If my mug, I just rinse and let air dry.
If it’s a communal mug then I use soap.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/5 "2012-03-20T13:57:47Z")
No shared mugs, really. I have 5 or 6 though, and other people are always grabbing and using one of mine.
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### Author:  [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/6 "2012-03-20T14:15:41Z")
> [@sachertorte](#):
>
> If it was my own personal mug that no one else uses I would mostly rinse with an occasional wash.
>
> If it was a shared mug, then I would wash it every time. Though reading this post I would probably switch to washing it before I used it instead.
Exactly this.
And now I’m craving coffee, but we ran out of sweetener yesterday and I forgot to pick some up. I really need to acquire the taste for black.
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/7 "2012-03-20T14:25:58Z")
Each employee has his or her own mug, and we’re all pretty good about not using someone else’s stuff. I rinse the mug out most of the time, and give it a soapy wash about once a week. Where I used to work, everyone used everything no matter how clearly you labeled it as your own, so I’d wash my mug and bowl prior to use.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/8 "2012-03-20T14:28:00Z")
> [@sachertorte](#):
>
> If it was my own personal mug that no one else uses I would mostly rinse with an occasional wash.
>
> If it was a shared mug, then I would wash it every time.
Yeah.
Sometimes I keep using and re-using a mug, with refills and maybe an occasional rinse, but eventually they do get washed.
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### Author:  [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/9 "2012-03-20T14:34:40Z")
A rinse on a communal cup won’t get rid of lipstick/chapstick/herpes. Ok, not sure about that last one, but I’d rather not think about it either.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/10 "2012-03-20T14:40:52Z")
the best way to rinse a coffee cup is to put fresh coffee in it.
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/11 "2012-03-20T14:47:31Z")
Wash with soap and hot water. But then I wash everything with soap and hot water.
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### Author:  [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/12 "2012-03-20T15:14:49Z")
If I think I’m going to have another cup later in the day, and I haven’t let it get cold so there’s a creamer ring on the cup, rinse. If it’s got a ring or I’m done for the day, wash.
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### Author:  [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/13 "2012-03-20T15:47:35Z")
In my office, we solve this problem by just leaving the used mugs on the conference table. It’s escalated into an enormous passive aggressive mess. Some friends and I have a bit of a pool going on when the chief culprit will deal with his dirty dishes, but it looks like it’ll have to be when we move offices in a few months. This is all complicated by the fact that our office space doesn’t have running water. There are bathrooms down the hall, but apparently this is too big a barrier to dishwashing.
Personally, I bring in a clean mug everyday, take it home every evening, and run it through the dishwasher. I might fill it up a couple of times during the day, but I wouldn’t use it multiple days without soap happening. Also, now that I’m clear on the dishwashing policy of certain co-workers, I would have to be really, really thirsty before I used one of the company’s mugs.
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### Author:  [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/14 "2012-03-20T16:05:53Z")
I rinse it about once a month… Otherwise I just turn it over on a napkin on my desk.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/15 "2012-03-20T16:27:02Z")
I rinse my cup out by putting more tea in it, and I scrub off the tea stains every so often (even though they’re probably chock full of cancer-preventing bioflavinoids). I’d wash a communal cup, though.
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/16 "2012-03-20T17:00:33Z")
I only use my own, it sits on my toolbox between uses. I give it a rinse and swipe with a paper towel before filling, since there’s crap in the air that might have settled in it, but haven’t actually washed it with soap in years.
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/17 "2012-03-20T17:11:18Z")
No one else throws it dramatically into the fireplace?
This post sponsored by the Ceramic Council of America.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/18 "2012-03-20T17:19:35Z")
While I don’t use it for coffee (preferring tea and hot chocolate) I keep a coffee mug in my desk drawer for all my hot beverage needs. After use, it gets rinsed and whiped dry and put back in the desk drawer. A couple times a month, I’ll actually wash it with soap and water, but normally it just gets rinsed and dried.
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### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/19 "2012-03-20T17:20:29Z")
If you’re just rinsing your coffee cup before letting it drain onto a dish rack where other people will be setting their coffee cups later on, and other people are doing the same, you’re trading germs with each other.
I’d be kinda grossed too.
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### Author:  [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-cup-wash-or-rinse/616311/20 "2012-03-20T17:23:47Z")
I use my own mug at work and wash it on Monday mornings; it never leaves my office unless I take it into a meeting. The rest of the week I just rinse it. But if it was commonplace at work to just grab a community mug and leave it for someone else to use the next day, I’d wash it with soap and water. Isn’t that the polite thing to do?
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