# Chai tea formula



## dyclement05 (Dec 12, 2012)

Happy Hump Day, Soapies!

So here am I, working, and of course, dreaming of soap. I am thinking a Chai Latte soap is next on my menu. But here's the rub. I've never done a chai soap and when I did my coffee soap, I added the lye to the coffee and wound up with NO coffee scent in my coffee, and this after only a week and a half of curing. (It was my very first batch of soap, ever!)

I have since learned that my best bet when adding milk, coffee, tea, etc to my soaps, is that it's probably best to add them at trace, rather than use them as my lye liquid. My question is, if my formula says to use 6 oz of liquid (it's a 1lb batch) for my lye solution, would i maybe half it and make up the liquid by adding it at trace? For example, could I mix the lye with say, 2 oz of water and use chai tea for the other 4oz but rather than add them to the lye solution, add them to the soap batter at trace?

The expertise and input of those who are significantly more experienced than I is deeply appreciated - merci, merci, merci!


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## danahuff (Dec 12, 2012)

I make a chai tea soap. I have to use fragrance oil. Bramble Berry has a nice chai tea scent. The scent of teas and coffees just doesn't seem to make it through the process. 

I make the chai tea soap by boiling distilled water, and I brew very strong chai tea with the water. Then I use the chai tea instead of water to mix with the lye. It works great.


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## dyclement05 (Dec 12, 2012)

danahuff said:
			
		

> I make a chai tea soap. I have to use fragrance oil. Bramble Berry has a nice chai tea scent. The scent of teas and coffees just doesn't seem to make it through the process.
> 
> I make the chai tea soap by boiling distilled water, and I brew very strong chai tea with the water. Then I use the chai tea instead of water to mix with the lye. It works great.



Thanks for the suggestion. I definitely considered it doing this way, since it's what I did for my Coffee Scrub soap and it worked great, so long as I wasn't looking for a coffee scent in the soap.

Thing is, I am trying to avoid using a fo since I want it to be all natural. Sigh. Maybe I'll try it by adding the chai to trace with a really small batch and see what happens.


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## hellogorgeous (Dec 12, 2012)

I've used fragrance oils too but since you want natural - what if you added the chai spices? Chai tea is basically just  ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and ground cardamom. You could try adding them to enhance the chai scent, or maybe sprinkle on top?


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## AlchemyandAshes (Dec 12, 2012)

As long as you mix your lye with AT LEAST the same amount of water, then add your tea at trace, it should be ok. Just remember that the less water you use to make your lye solution, the higher the concentration is, which means the faster you'll get to trace, which means "Move Fast"!
You could also add powdered spices that are used in Chai Tea to your soap. A tsp or so should be good for a 1 lb batch. You could add Cinnamon, Cardamom, Clove, Ginger, or Pepper, or some variation of all the above. I'd stick with Cinnamon and Cardamom personally, just remember that Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, and Pepper can cause some skin irritation in some people...err, especially on "sensitive bits".
You could also make your tea with milk instead of water and add it at trace.
Let us know how it turns out!


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## dyclement05 (Dec 12, 2012)

Alchemy&Ashes said:
			
		

> As long as you mix your lye with AT LEAST the same amount of water, then add your tea at trace, it should be ok. Just remember that the less water you use to make your lye solution, the higher the concentration is, which means the faster you'll get to trace, which means "Move Fast"!
> You could also add powdered spices that are used in Chai Tea to your soap. A tsp or so should be good for a 1 lb batch. You could add Cinnamon, Cardamom, Clove, Ginger, or Pepper, or some variation of all the above. I'd stick with Cinnamon and Cardamom personally, just remember that Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, and Pepper can cause some skin irritation in some people...err, especially on "sensitive bits".
> You could also make your tea with milk instead of water and add it at trace.
> Let us know how it turns out!



Both you and hello gorgeous have given me a great idea.. what if I took those spices and steeped them in a carrier oil, effectively making my own eo (sort of)?
I also like the milk idea - that makes it more of a latte!


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## AlchemyandAshes (Dec 12, 2012)

dyclement05 said:
			
		

> Both you and hello gorgeous have given me a great idea.. what if I took those spices and steeped them in a carrier oil, effectively making my own eo (sort of)? I also like the milk idea - that makes it more of a latte!


Well, that would be like an infusion, and I'm not sure you would get much scent, especially if you strained out the spice before soaping it. I've used those spices mentioned above (minus the pepper) and made a soap that smelled awesome...I did add a little Sweet Orange EO, but you could smell the spices mixed with the orange...it smelled edible  :wink:


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## dyclement05 (Dec 12, 2012)

Alchemy&Ashes said:
			
		

> dyclement05 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



OH! Good point. Thank you so much for the feedback. Guess I'll try adding spices at trace. Off to make some chai soap (assuming I have all the spices!). If not, well, I'm sure I'll find something to whip up some lovely soap with. Yay for making soap on hump day! (or any day, for that matter!)


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## judymoody (Dec 12, 2012)

I find spices can be scratchy.

Why not use EOs? Chai is a mix of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and ginger as well as black tea.  The first four are available in EO form although the last two are pretty pricey.  And you'd have to keep your % low as these are potential irritants.

I use mostly EOs but I use an FO for chai soap mainly due to price.  I prefer Oregon Trails or Southern Garden Scents.  The first is more manageable, the latter accelerates.


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## Hausfrau007 (Dec 13, 2012)

I made chai soap, and not only turned it my soap all brown but there was no scent whatsoever. I won't do it again. My poor, expensive chai tea.


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## Genny (Dec 15, 2012)

MMS has a Chai Latte Essential oil blend https://www.thesage.com/catalog/EssentialOils.html
They also have the blend recipe on their blog http://blog.thesage.com/2011/01/10/chai-latte-blend/


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## danahuff (Dec 15, 2012)

Here is a picture of what my Chai tea soap looks like. The tea does turn it brown, but it's a pretty, natural color. I love working with teas.


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## 2lilboots (Dec 15, 2012)

That looks awesome!


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## danahuff (Dec 15, 2012)

2lilboots said:
			
		

> That looks awesome!



Thanks! I just wanted to show the color can come out nice, even if it is a brown soap.

I made some soap with peppermint tea, and it's ugly.


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