# Green Tea Suggestions



## Badger (Mar 3, 2013)

I am interested in making a Green Tea Soap (Green Tea and Lemongrass to be more specific), but I am not sure about how I would go about making it.  I have looked at some recipes online and have gotten some thoughts on it, but I am not sure which works best or is recommended.

Do I make a Green Tea infusion and use that in place of water?  Do I use the tea leaves from the bag (I am assuming I would need to use them dry)?  A mixture of those two things?  I have seen some lovely Green Tea Soaps posted and I wanted to get ideas from people with more experience than me.  Thank you in advance


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## Hazel (Mar 3, 2013)

I haven't made green tea soap but I have made rose hip & hibiscus tea soap. I doubled the amount of tea bags needed for the liquid portion. I think some people may triple the amount. After I strained the tea bags, I opened them and spread the leaves over a paper towel. The tea went into the frig until I was ready to make the batch. I let the leaves dry and stirred them occasionally to make sure they would not mildew. I made the batch when I was positive they were dry. I have read you can dry leaves and herbs in the oven. I haven't tried that but someone else might have some information on it.

You can just use the green tea liquid for your soap. You don't have to use the leaves if you don't want to add them. I think it's personal preference and whether someone wants the soap to be slightly exfoliating.


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## RocknRoll (Mar 3, 2013)

I dont mess with mixing the brewed tea with the lye ( actually I DID, but then dumped it out after it turned horrible brown and smelly!) I just open up a couple of tea bags and add it in at trace. There ya have it... tea soap!


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## Hazel (Mar 3, 2013)

Rock&Royalty said:


> dumped it out after it turned horrible brown and smelly!)



The smell and the initial darkness caused by the discolored lye solution fades during the cure time. I was quite surprised of what a dark brown the lye solution turned when I used rosehip* & hibiscus. (So sad...the tea is a beautiful shade of red. It would have been a gorgeous colored soap if it would remain red.) But at least the discoloration faded and the colorants I used showed up although slightly darker than I had hoped. It was still nice. 

*Now that I think about it, it might have been rooibos & hibiscus tea. It's been so long since I made it I don't remember. I'm also feeling too tired to get up and check my notes. But I do remember it was a tea!


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## RocknRoll (Mar 3, 2013)

Hazel said:


> The smell and the initial darkness caused by the discolored lye solution fades during the cure time. I was quite surprised of what a dark brown the lye solution turned when I used rosehip* & hibiscus. (So sad...the tea is a beautiful shade of red. It would have been a gorgeous colored soap if it would remain red.) But at least the discoloration faded and the colorants I used showed up although slightly darker than I had hoped. It was still nice.
> 
> *Now that I think about it, it might have been rooibos & hibiscus tea. It's been so long since I made it I don't remember. I'm also feeling too tired to get up and check my notes. But I do remember it was a tea!


 Thats good to know, thank you! I dumped it mainly bcause I had plans on making a white and green swirl and didnt want any part of yucky brown. One day i will try it though


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## Hazel (Mar 3, 2013)

Unfortunately, you won't get really white. It will be more cream to tan depending on the strength of the tea. Just plan around it all being slightly darker unless you want to add some TD. Although, I suppose you could make the tea super strong and then mix the lye in water. Blend the tea in well and then add the lye solution. It might help to prevent some of the discoloration.

Now that I've written this, I think I'd like to try the tea separate from the lye. It just gave me an idea for a batch.


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## Badger (Mar 3, 2013)

Thank you for your answers, and I am glad this thread gave you some inspiration, Hazel. I think I will use a mixture of the two.  I will make the tea to mix with the lye and instead of drying out the tea leaves, just use some fresh tea bags in the soap at trace.  (My partner's mother gave us a bunch of green tea and while I like tea, green tea is not my favorite for drinking, so soap sounds like a plan for it  ) I may even end up giving some of the tea back to her as soap, lol.


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## herbgirltam (Mar 4, 2013)

*Green tea soap*

I wonder if you could use green tea capsules??I hate the taste of green tea but i know its good for you and it smells good.I have some green tea fatburner capsules but the print is to small for me to read right now unless i take out my contact.Tomorrow i'll read the ingrediants that might work to cut capsule open and utilize.It might have caffeine and some fillers in but caffeine is supposed to be good for cellutlite.


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## Pepsi Girl (Mar 4, 2013)

When I make green tea or any tea soap I put the tea bag in the lye . It removes one step and brews the tea while making soap.  I rarely think ahead so brewing the tea ahead would not work for me.  

Hazel if your still watching this post the lemongrass, green tea soap you will be getting in the swap was made that way!


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## melstan775 (Mar 4, 2013)

Any suggestions for Green Tea fragerences? Green Tea out of the bottle is green tea and citrusy, and slightly sweet. any fragernce oils like that on the market?


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## Badger (Mar 4, 2013)

I wish I knew some answers for you, Mel, but I am just starting out and don't have experience in a lot of the FOs yet.  I mostly tend towards woodsy or spicy scents rather then sweet scents also, so until I start branching out a bit more, it might be a while...


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## Koshka (Mar 4, 2013)

Saveonscents.com has a huge selection of green tea fragrances



melstan775 said:


> Any suggestions for Green Tea fragerences? Green Tea out of the bottle is green tea and citrusy, and slightly sweet. any fragernce oils like that on the market?


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## Genny (Mar 4, 2013)

My favorite Green Tea fo's are:
Sweetcakes
Nature's Garden
Brambleberry (this one's on the bottom because it does seem to fade)

They're not perfumish and to my nose smell very similar to freshly brewed green tea.


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