# Coffee infused oil



## Kittish (Jun 17, 2017)

I've got some espresso grind coffee infusing in canola oil. It's been sitting for about a week now in a cool, dark cabinet, and I give the jar a good shake once a day. Smells pretty good, and I think I can use some of the grounds in soaps, too since it's a very fine grind.

I used a full 8 oz package of ground coffee (been kicking around in my freezer for longer than I'm willing to admit, but was vacuum packed- smelled okay when I opened it) in a quart jar, with as much canola oil as I could fit into the jar plus about an ounce of vit E. I plan freeze a few blocks of mostly grounds to use in soaps. My tiny little rose molds might actually work ok for this, they hold about a tablespoon each.

What I'm wondering if anyone knows is, will the scent survive the lye monster in soap? How about usage rate on the infused oil? Would 2 oz PPO be too much? Not enough? Would using brewed coffee as my liquid help, or be overkill? Can I add more oil to the infusion jar and keep that going since I used so much coffee in it to begin with?


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## Britannic (Jun 18, 2017)

Your soap will have a lovely coffee colour, but unlikely to have any scent after the lye has finished with it, whether you use oil or a coffee brew as a water sub (or even both). A coffee scented fragrance will be needed for your soap.


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## Kittish (Jun 18, 2017)

Was afraid of that. Phooey. Coffee absolute is rather expensive and I can't use FOs due to allergies.


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## earlene (Jun 18, 2017)

Maybe after you cure the soap, you can store it in a box with coffee grounds.  Then at least, you can smell the coffee when you take out  a new bar of soap.  Or take a freshly poured cup of coffee into the shower area (not into the shower per se, but nearby) so the aroma can accompany your bathing.  I'm sorry you can't use FOs.  A coffee scent sure would be nice with coffee soap.

Be cautious when you re-use the grounds in your soap.  Even a fine grind can be scratchy for some folks, especially in the more delicate areas of the body.  Also if the grounds you plan to use are oil saturated, that will up your superfat to an unknown percentage.  If it were me, I'd alter the recipe to 0% SF to accommodate the additional oil in the coffee grounds.


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## Kittish (Jun 18, 2017)

earlene said:


> Be cautious when you re-use the grounds in your soap.  Even a fine grind can be scratchy for some folks, especially in the more delicate areas of the body.  Also if the grounds you plan to use are oil saturated, that will up your superfat to an unknown percentage.  If it were me, I'd alter the recipe to 0% SF to accommodate the additional oil in the coffee grounds.



That's a good idea though I don't think it'll be a huge problem, mostly. My idea is to drain the grounds I'll be putting into soap and freeze them in one tablespoon portions. I doubt I'd ever use more than two blocks in a batch of soap, which would only be a couple of ounces of oil at most. I might drop the SF to 3 or 4% if it 's a small batch of soap, but I want a decent amount of experience before I try 0% SF. 

I already pulled out a little bit of the grounds and checked to see how they felt on my skin. Not bad on my hands, but definitely too rough for facial use.


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## lsg (Jun 18, 2017)

You might want to try a body butter or body scrub with your coffee infused oil.  The fragrances come through in that.


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## doriettefarm (Jun 18, 2017)

You could try HP and save your coffee-infused oil for the superfat.  That's probably the only way any scent will survive the lye monster.


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## Kittish (Jun 20, 2017)

doriettefarm said:


> You could try HP and save your coffee-infused oil for the superfat.  That's probably the only way any scent will survive the lye monster.



I think I'll try that. I'll have enough infused oil to do about a 5% SF with. I can also add some coffee grounds to part of it when I add the SF, that might help boost the fragrance. I'll use brewed coffee for the water, mainly for the color.


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## Roxyjames3 (Jun 20, 2017)

I tried infusing oil with coffee and it smelled rancid when it was done.  I ended up not using it but I did use brewed coffee for the lye water.  The grounds were definitely too rough so the next time I do this I will grind them down to an espresso fine grind and use less grounds overall. Would like to try another brand of Coffee FO as I would have liked a stronger scent for the end product since I did a CP.  Good luck!


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