I drink my iced coffee in a stainless steel mug. It doesn't stain but many of the glass and plastics can stain.

Take your finger and rub over what appears to be stain. If it is raised dampen the glass and very carefully rub baking soda over the area. Do not place your hand so that part of the hand is in the glass and part, normally thumb, is outside if the glass would happen to break you would need stitches if it did not damage the tendons.

Rusty, I haven't tried bleach yet, but may do so.

Raven, I have seen plastic stain, but never glass - though that doesn't mean it doesn't happen! I drink iced tea often in those glasses and never had one stain, so I'm wondering if there is something about the combination of the acid in the coffee and cream. Maybe I'll have to try drinking it with CoffeeMate or something like that instead of actual cream. Then I'll possibly know I'm on to something about the coffee/cream combo.

Mailfleur03, the milky area isn't raised, but I tried baking soda just now anyway. It didn't help at all. So then I tried our Weiman's glass cooktop cleaner. That didn't work, either.

yup, coffee and tea stain teeth too.... eventually.

OklaMoni, I have seen coffee and tea stained mugs and teeth - never a permanent coffee or tea stain on glass. As I mentioned up thread, I often drink tea in these same glasses and it's never a problem. I think the combination of coffee and cream etched the glass, as the "stain" reminds me of etching from a dishwasher. It's not a brown stain at all. It's white.

Restaurants use crushed ice to clean coffee pots. Just swirl the crushed ice around in the pot. Don't know if it will work for your problem but worth a try.

"the "stain" reminds me of etching from a dishwasher."

Are you sure it's not from the dishwasher? What dishwasher detergent do you use? Does it have any bleaching agents in it? (these are notorious for hazing glass)

Also guessing it's dishwasher related.....try getting some Finish gelpacs and see if a few cycles using that doesn't help.

I'd make a paste of baking soda and water and rub it on the stain...I'll bet it's just not getting fully clean.

Right now we are using the Cascade Complete Actionpacs, which contain both detergent and the drying agent. The ingredients don’t say anything about bleach, but if bleach goes by any other names it could be possible. I do have a bottle of Finish on hand, so I could experiment with that.

I am 99% sure that bleach and crushed ice won’t work, as this isn’t a typical coffee stain, but I will try them both, just in case.

Oly, I have scrubbed and scrubbed with baking side and even my glass cook top cleaner, because it is also gritty, and neither one worked.

Thanks, everyone!

Did you recently switch to Cascade?

I always used Cascade when I lived in the Southwest and it worked great for me. Then we moved to Wisconsin, Cascade left a white scuzz on my drinking glasses. Switched detergents; problem solved. That was years ago & many different detergents/ formulations ago so I don't remember what solved the problem then--probably Finish.

I really like Finish Quantum; Aldi Radiance packs are good, too. Right now, I mix it up between Finish Quantum, Aldi Radiance & WalMart Great Value powder (supposedly a Cascade knock-off). Finish is the heavy hitter. Finish is the reliable one to choose if you want one & only one detergent--if it is compatible with your water.

Other question--is your dishwasher water supply softened?

Before you ditch the glasses, try cleaning them with some toothpaste & see if that helps.

keep on with the baking soda, but use vinegar as the wetting agent. If needed let it stand for a bit. This combo has rectified cloudy glassware for me.

We've been using the Cascade for the last several months. We usually switch back and forth between that and Finish tablets - we buy whatever one is on sale at Costco.

We DO have softened water, but have had it forever - it's not a new feature.

I will try toothpaste and a baking soda/vinegar paste and report back! Thanks!

Maybe try Bar Keepers Friend...?

If the cause is chemical hazing, no amount of scrubbing or other treatments will be effective.

For me, choosing dishwasher tablets is like choosing food for your dog. You find what works and stick with it, changing has potential disadvantages and no advantages. For us. that choice is the regular formulation of Finish Powerballs.

Good luck

Since you have softened water, the combo of soft water & too much detergent may very well be causing etching. That and newer dishwashers use less water. That can be a problem with the premeasured packs & tablets. You may need to switch to a powder, ease up on doseage if you use powder or try to break a hard tablet in half.

"the combo of soft water & too much detergent may very well be causing etching."

Hmm, I'm not so sure of that. We don't have soft water (I dislike it) but our dishwasher has a built-in water softener with a compartment we need to keep full of softener salt. We've been using Finish Powerballs with it for many years (recommended by the manufacturer, as I recall) and have had no problems of glasses hazing.

One thing that CAN cause hazing is that most dishwashers operate at higher temperatures than in the past and if the dishwasher detergent has a bleaching agent in it, it will be more damaging at the higher temperatures.

If you don't get results from changing your dishwashing cleaner, try a paste of peroxide and baking soda, if that doesn't take it off, it probably is etching.

This afternoon I've tried Barkeepers Friend, bleach, toothpaste, and baking soda & vinegar paste. Still have the white haze. I believe Elmer is right and no amount of scrubbing is going to remove it.

In a previous home we had extremely hard water and it caused etching/hazing on glasses until we got a softener. I've never had softened water etch a glass - only hard.

I guess after all the experimentation I agree it's etching caused either by the cream/coffee combo or some interaction in the dishwasher. We have a Bosch and it has always used Finish Powerballs or Cascade ActionPacs just fine. This is the first time I have ever found damage in the five years we've used this machine.

The glasses weren't expensive by any means, but it's aggravating and perplexing. And I love trying to solve a mystery. I guess the two etched glasses will be relegated to iced coffee only. I had already instructed my husband to always use a mug (which he usually does anyway) after the first time it happened!

Thanks for all the help!

Stick to the Finish tabs and I think you'll be fine. To be sure, keep the more expensive glasses out of the dishwasher until you've been able to check it out.

Causes of etching discussed here:

Etching and Discoloration of Glassware in a Dishwasher

Mentioned in the article that some types of glassware is more likely to be affected. May be the quality of the glass in the affected pieces and nothing to do w/ what you're using them for.

Thanks, Elmer. Anything fragile or of value we tend to hand wash anyway. Not to mention that we've been putting these glasses in the dishwasher for a few years, and using the Cascade Action Pacs for 5 months, both without previous issue. The only new factor is the iced coffee with cream.

I happened to have a similar glass from a winery visit last year, so I dug that out and had iced coffee in it this morning. I don't mind if it gets ruined, so I will run the dishwasher in a bit and see what happens.

Ci_lantro, thanks for the article. I'll check it out. While these glasses are not expensive (just plain ol' glasses from Costco) and so not the highest quality, we use them all the time for water and never had a problem with etching. The only new thing is the iced coffee with cream. The glasses that have not been used for iced coffee are not etched. (I know this because I noticed the etching right away and set the two glasses aside and haven't used any of the other glasses for coffee. We use them for just water, and no other glasses have become etched.)

Good info from cilantro. Low quality glass could very well be a cause or the cause of the hazing.

As an FYI, bluebell, I keep items with writing or other embossed images out of the dishwasher. I know that my dishwasher gets particularly hot (Miele brand) and oftentimes patterns aren't resistant to fading or being worn off in the washing process.

Then it darned near HAS to be the coffee etching the glass. Coffee is acidic but you're adding cream which will neutralize the acid in coffee to some extent. Do you use the other glasses consistently for other acidic drinks--soda, OJ, lemonade? All of which are more acidic than coffee w/o cream...

Wine is also acidic.

Yes, it's kind of head scratching, ci_lantro. We don't drink soda, OJ or lemonade. Aside from the iced coffee, I really only drink water, and cold tea occasionally in the summer. We have used these glasses for cold tea without issue. They're made to be wine glasses, and yes, wine is acidic, so seems like acid wouldn't be a factor.

Elmer, we also always hand wash anything that has writing or other embellishment, although we don't really have much like that. We do have the glasses from the winery visit last year, but we never use them are they're slated for the thrift shop, so I don't really care if the writing on my experiment glass today is impacted. We do have some Swig cups we use for cold beverages outside and we hand wash those as I think they must have paint on the outside of them.