How to Stain Flooring with Coffee and Tea
Hi friend!
Yep you read that right! We’ll be staining our new flooring with coffee and tea! I really want most of the flooring throughout the house to be the same. So we’ll talk about how to stain flooring with coffee and tea, but first let’s discuss what led us to this decision.
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Choosing Flooring
After sanding and refinishing the original flooring upstairs I absolutely fell in love with the color.
You can see how I sanded and refinished the upstairs flooring HERE!
At first we thought we might be able to refinish the downstairs flooring the same way, but unfortunately there are green ceramic tiles that are adhered to the wood floors beneath with black mastic tar glue. This is a particularly difficult material to remove and there is no guarantee on the condition of the flooring underneath it. We can also see from the basement some areas that have been repaired with plywood.
After weighing out different types of flooring materials and spending a good amount of time searching for the same or similar salvaged flooring to the upstairs, but because of the quantity we need for most of the downstairs we kept coming up short.
Why Coffee and Tea
This meant it was time to circle back to one of our original ideas and get creative. That’s when I started experimenting with using coffee and tea to achieve the same color as our upstairs flooring on pine boards. What led me to that route? Well Ed and I have built and stained a lot of furniture. We’ve also tried lots of stain mixtures to come up with a color that looks like aged wood. In our endeavors we were never completely satisfied with the results.
I started researching how to age wood etc and came across an article using coffee and tea with steel wool to create a weathered look. Within the article they had shared some images of the color tones with and without the steel wool and it looked close to what I was aiming for. And thus the experimenting began 😉
Coffee and Tea Stain
You can see the mixtures I tried out above on a piece of raw pine along with a Fruitwood stain that I thought might be a close match. To do this I made the mixtures very strong. I filled the small mason jar, pictured above about a quarter full of ground coffee then poured boiling water on it. I used 2-3 tea bags for the tea mixture. Then I simply brushed apple cider vinegar over the top of them. In my experience the vinegar didn’t seem to make a noticeable difference.
The photo below is of the same sample board on top of our upstairs flooring, which is aged fir. I love the variation of color upstairs and feel confident we can achieve a look that is similar enough no one would know our downstairs isn’t the same.
So, starting in the kitchen, we’ll be using #2 1 x 4 x 16 pine boards for our downstairs flooring and staining them with a variation, as I see fit, of coffee and tea. I’ll be discussing why we chose pine in the next flooring post. But for now it’s time to start the kitchen floor demo! Whoop!
Using Coffee and Tea as Stain
I also wanted to mention that using coffee and tea as stain has endless applications! I also love that it goes on light and is buildable. Plus there are no harsh fumes of chemicals!
How to Stain Flooring with Coffee and Tea
Installing pine flooring is new territory for us and staining said flooring is also new territory for us! I’m excited and a bit anxious to see how it turns out! But how cool will it be to say we used coffee and tea to stain our floors?! As a self proclaimed coffee addict I’m not mad our floors will smell like delicious bean juice! Lol! I can’t wait to share the process and all the details with you as we go!
Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today!

10 Comments
Toni
You are very brave. Have you thought of diluting a walnut stain? To me, that would also be very similar to your flooring upstairs. I would think an actual wood stain would have the ability to stain deeper into the wood? Also, I trust you are aware that pine is a very soft flooring material which will be much more prone to scratches and dings but then that will add to the age, right?!
Amanda
We considered lots of different stain options before deciding on this one because we really love the light look of it and will be doing a different additional floor finish after it’s stained 😉
But you’re right diluting stain is also another good option! And yes we’re counting on the character the soft wood will acquire over time! 🙌
Sonia Hess
This is going to be a great project in so many ways! I love that you’re using magical coffee and wonderfully delightful tea! 😍 I can’t wait to see this all come together! I enjoy your posts so very much. Thank you for sharing and all you do!
Margaretanne Clinton
This is spectacular. I never thought of this. I’ve used coffee and tea to colour fabric yet , never thought of wood floors !!
I’m an oil painter and watercolourist. I may try using on paintings. !!
So cool ass !
Brilliant post. !
Amanda
Oh my gosh Margaret! I didn’t know you painted! I used to and think about taking it up again often but life is a bit busy. Maybe someday when the house is more finished! I’m really excited to see how it turns out on the floors!
Shanna Teusch
You had me at tea. I ❤️ Tea. Seriously, this will be beautiful.
Mary
How interesting, who knew all those times I was dripping tea on the floor I was actually professionally staining it.
Amanda
Hahaha! Right?!
Kathy M
Pine floors are definitely my favorite. I can’t wait to see how you install it and the finished product which will definitely be gorgeous!
Amanda
Thank you so much!! Your encouragement is so motivating!!