# Tea Soap Receipe Needed.



## Fabius (Nov 10, 2013)

Hello All,

My next soap is going to be for the upcoming "other liquids" soap swap. I'd like to do a green tea soap and use the chopped tea leafs as an exfoliate. I've done a Google and forum search but didn't find much in the way of recipes. Also any suggestions on any precautions when using tea welcome.

Thanks,

Tom


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## dagmar88 (Nov 10, 2013)

You can use tea as your liquid in any recipe you want.


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## Chefmom (Nov 10, 2013)

I use tea in my hot process soap.  I either use a commercial tea and I cut open the tea bags and steep the loose leaves in a small amount of water (from the overall water amount in the recipe) or I use my own dried leaves from my garden.

I don't use a regular "recipe", but I just take the water from the recipe and add the tea in the end, after cooking the soap, when I am stirring in the essential/fragrance oils.  

I read in a book about using tea as the water in a recipe, so I tried making some green tea, then added my lye.  It went very narley very quickly.  The liquid turned brown and was sludge colored and smelled very, very bad.  I'm sure I should have kept the temperature down or something, like with using milk, but I just mixed it together.  Yuck, didn't do that one again.  I just used the small amount of water and the tea leaves in the end.

Good luck!  

I personally don't think the tea leaves add any exfoliating to the soap.  They pretty much just come loose as you use the soap and that is it.  I like the look of them suspended in the soap, I don't seem to notice a difference in the results with or without them.  They are aesthetic and that it all.

I know that in cold process anything botanical can drastically change when the soap cures, but in hot process they stay the same and don't discolor.


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## Hazel (Nov 10, 2013)

As Dagmar already mentioned, use your favorite recipe and use tea for the liquid. Also, as Chefmom has already mentioned, the lye turns the tea a dark brown and there is an odor. However, I've found the odor disappears within a few days to a week and then the fragrance comes through. The tea also discolors the soap a bit depending on how strong you made the tea. I've noticed my tea soaps are initially dark but then fade a little during curing. 

eta: I forgot to mention - I agree with Chefmom the tea leaves aren't exfoliating but I also like the look of the leaves throughout the soap. I think it makes the soap more visually interesting. 

We can help you formulate a recipe if you don't have one you want to use. What oils do have?


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## Fabius (Nov 10, 2013)

Thanks for the information. I didn't realize I could use a "regular" recipe, I thought maybe something special had to be done or added. I will use my standard receipt of olive, palm and coconut oils adding sheas butter and maybe a little castor oil. I may add green clay for better color.


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## Hazel (Nov 10, 2013)

Sounds good! I don't know how well the green color will work with discolored soap so I'll learn something new when you make it.


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## lizflowers42 (Nov 10, 2013)

I just made chai latte soap today! Just used my regular recipe, put the teabags into the lye water (be sure to remove metal staples!!) and let the heat of the lye "brew" it. I did a slight water discount and added milk and honey at trace with a little clove and cassia so (7 grams for a 2lb batch...those are strong eo) !


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## Hazel (Nov 10, 2013)

lizflowers42 said:


> put the teabags into the lye water (be sure to remove metal staples!!) and let the heat of the lye "brew" it.




That's a clever idea! I'd never have thought of using the heat from the lye water to brew the tea. Thanks for sharing it!


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## dagmar88 (Nov 10, 2013)

lizflowers42 said:


> I did a slight water discount and added milk and honey at trace with a little clove and cassia so




Yumm!


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## lizflowers42 (Nov 10, 2013)

Hazel said:


> That's a clever idea! I'd never have thought of using the heat from the lye water to brew the tea. Thanks for sharing it!


I think I picked that tip up here!



dagmar88 said:


> Yumm!


I hope it comes out!


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## Pepsi Girl (Nov 11, 2013)

lizflowers42 said:


> I just made chai latte soap today! Just used my regular recipe, put the teabags into the lye water (be sure to remove metal staples!!) and let the heat of the lye "brew" it. ) !



That is exactly what I do!


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## My Mountain Soaps (Nov 11, 2013)

lizflowers42 said:


> I just made chai latte soap today! Just used my regular recipe, put the teabags into the lye water (be sure to remove metal staples!!) and let the heat of the lye "brew" it. I did a slight water discount and added milk and honey at trace with a little clove and cassia so (7 grams for a 2lb batch...those are strong eo) !



that recipe sounds delicious! makes me want a chai latte!


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## dagmar88 (Nov 11, 2013)

lizflowers42 said:


> I hope it comes out!



 Please do let us know, it sounds absolutely scrumptious.


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## lizflowers42 (Nov 11, 2013)

dagmar88 said:


> Please do let us know, it sounds absolutely scrumptious.



I will post photos once I cut it...sorry to hijack this thread fabius!!


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## Miz Jenny (Nov 11, 2013)

lizflowers42 said:


> I just made chai latte soap today! Just used my regular recipe, put the teabags into the lye water (be sure to remove metal staples!!) and let the heat of the lye "brew" it. I did a slight water discount and added milk and honey at trace with a little clove and cassia so (7 grams for a 2lb batch...those are strong eo) !



Thanks, O'Smart One!

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Soap Making mobile app


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## Fabius (Nov 22, 2013)

*Green Tea & Strawberries.*



Hazel said:


> Sounds good! I don't know how well the green color will work with discolored soap so I'll learn something new when you make it.


 
I have made the green tea soap. I did not use the green clay for coloring. I used oilive, coconut and palm oils with sheas butter. I added 1.5% castor oil as I was concerned that the tea may interfer with suds. I added strawberry seeds. I was going to add the tea leaves from brewing the tea but they were way too soggy and soft. When the tea/lye was added to the oils it all turned to a nasty brown but it got lighter in color once I poured it in the mold. The soap has been curing for about 10 days now and it is the color of oatmeal. I'm glad I added the strawberry seeds as that greatly inproved the appearance of the soap.

Tom


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## Hazel (Nov 23, 2013)

It's good to hear you made the soap. I made a batch awhile ago and added tea leaves. I didn't know why but this time I didn't care for tea leaves in soap. I didn't realize until you mentioned the leaves being soggy and soft that this is the first time I've added wet leaves. Always before, I had let the leaves dry before I made the soap. I never realized this might make a difference. I'd never have thought of it if you hadn't mentioned it. However, it's possible this isn't the reason. It could be because this time I added a lot more leaves than I normally do. Darn it! It looks like there's another experiment to add to my to-do list.


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## lizflowers42 (Dec 2, 2013)

Don't forget to ship this week!


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## moodymonday (Dec 11, 2013)

To add to the appearance of the bar, you could add powdered rooibos at trace (if it was rooibos soap you were making, it's very good for skin). I'm not sure how it would behave, as I haven't had the chance to try it. Mad Hat tea offers it online for five bucks per 50 grams.


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## judymoody (Dec 11, 2013)

lizflowers42 said:


> I just made chai latte soap today! Just used my regular recipe, put the teabags into the lye water (be sure to remove metal staples!!) and let the heat of the lye "brew" it.



I do this as well.


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