Coffee soap benefits?

[Feelin' Soapy]

So in the name of science and seeking the truth, my pot roast is in the oven, and I have the official results to report as follows:

After handling the meat and cutting various veggies and putting the roast on to cook, I even "washed" my hands with some minced garlic to make them as pungent as possible. Then I washed my hands with my week-old coffee soap. (The soap was made with strong coffee as a full water replacement and a tsp of used grounds, and scented with EOs.) After the first washing, food odors were minimal though still noticeable. I washed a second time and could not detect any food smells after that.

Did the soap eliminate odor because of the coffee, or would any soap have done that? So I "washed" my hands with more minced garlic to try and find out.

I used a sweet orange and lavender EO soap this time. After two washings I was still able to detect a very mild garlic smell. But right now, an hour and no more washings later, I don't smell even a hint of garlic on my hands.

So I'm still not entirely sure if the coffee is more magic than other soaps for eliminating odor. What I did notice for sure is that the coffee soap, even at only 1 week old, was incredibly bubbly with great lather. I didn't know coffee was a bubble-booster, so I've learned something after all!

Now, to go check on that pot roast...

 

[lica]

hi @JoyfulSudz ,
i made my 1st batch of coffee soap (with holly trinity recipe) and cured it for 4 weeks.
i notice somehow my coffee soap doesn't last long in the shower compared to other soap with same recipe and it's a bit... oily? like there's a thin layer of oil and it's a bit sticky if i hold it. i wonder if your coffee soap do this too?
i use 2% FO, 50:50 coffee/water replacement, 33% lye concentration.
thank you so much in advance

 

[Feelin' Soapy]

hi @JoyfulSudz ,
i made my 1st batch of coffee soap (with holly trinity recipe) and cured it for 4 weeks.
i notice somehow my coffee soap doesn't last long in the shower compared to other soap with same recipe and it's a bit... oily? like there's a thin layer of oil and it's a bit sticky if i hold it. i wonder if your coffee soap do this too?
i use 2% FO, 50:50 coffee/water replacement, 33% lye concentration.
thank you so much in advance

My coffee soap is still curing; it's only just over 3 weeks old. I've only used a mini-soap that I make from the bowl scrapings when I do a batch, but I use it as a kitchen soap. It's a lovely soap, not oily at all, and is lasting well. The only difference I'm noticing from others of similar recipe is that it's more bubbly, better lather. I didn't know coffee added bubbles!
My recipe was an olive, palm, coconut, avocado, and castor oil combo using coffee as a full water replacement, and 5% EOs.
I don't know why your soap seems sticky or oily. Maybe double-check your recipe, or could you have measured something wrong? Wish I could help more, but I don't know what caused the oiliness in your batch. Maybe someone else on the board has some answers?

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Old lye, or too cautious stick-blending?
Have you used a stubborn FO?

 

[Arimara]

@lica did you happen to record how much of each oil you measured, as well as the lye?

 

[TheGecko]

Going to cut my first loaf of coffee soap later today, and I'm wondering about some of its benefits.

It will get you clean.

The majority of an 'benefit' of any particular oil, butter, additive...is negated not only by the caustic nature of Sodium Hydroxide, but by the saponification process, which not only produces heat, but also turns those oils, butters and additives into something else.

There are exceptions...exfoliants like coffee grounds, seeds, ground loofah, pumice, etc will still be exfoliants after saponification.

 

[earlene]

hi @JoyfulSudz ,
i made my 1st batch of coffee soap (with holly trinity recipe) and cured it for 4 weeks.
i notice somehow my coffee soap doesn't last long in the shower compared to other soap with same recipe and it's a bit... oily? like there's a thin layer of oil and it's a bit sticky if i hold it. i wonder if your coffee soap do this too?
i use 2% FO, 50:50 coffee/water replacement, 33% lye concentration.
thank you so much in advance

Coffee is oily to begin with, so perhaps your particular coffee is the culprit. Did you buy a particularly oily coffee (some are more so than some others.) Did you use fresh coffee grounds, such as grinding it yourself from the beans? Did you use cheap old dry pre-ground coffee of undetermined age? Did you use spent (aka used) coffee grounds (after making coffee to drink)?

What was your Super Fat setting when you used the calculator to design your formula? What was your formula?(specific weights/percentages for each oil, and all additives & specify the FO used.)

All these would have an impact on the oiliness of the soap.

 

[lica]

whoa thank you so much all for your replies i really2 appreciate it
@JoyfulSudz glad to hear yours came out great, it sounds amazing! congrats! it motivate me to try again.
@ResolvableOwl umm i don't think its the lye because i use the same batch of lye to make another soap and the other soap has no problem.. i poured at medium trace, not sure about the FO tho, seller's note only says it slightly discolour to brown
@Arimara @earlene
olive pomace 40% - 344 gr
CO 30% - 258 gr
Palm 30% - 258 gr
total oil 860 gr
lye 123 water 251 [125 coffee & 126 water] - 33% lye concentration

FO 2% - 16Gr (from local soap supplies)
SF 5%
coffee grounds 1 tsp (used)

i did use cheap grocery coffee powder with questionable origin and quality tho.
as i thought it won't make any difference because lye will probably destroy most of its benefits anyway, and i love my usual morning coffee too much..........

 

[Zing]

hi @JoyfulSudz ,
i made my 1st batch of coffee soap (with holly trinity recipe) and cured it for 4 weeks.
i notice somehow my coffee soap doesn't last long in the shower compared to other soap with same recipe and it's a bit... oily? like there's a thin layer of oil and it's a bit sticky if i hold it. i wonder if your coffee soap do this too?
i use 2% FO, 50:50 coffee/water replacement, 33% lye concentration.
thank you so much in advance

You didn't ask me but I'll butt in anyway. I hope you figure out the cause. I often soap with brewed coffee at double strength. I use the cheap Aldi brand. My soaps aren't oily. Good luck!

 

[Arimara]

It's probably a fluke, @Zing

 

[lica]

Hi @Zing thank you,
I think I'll wait for few more weeks and see if there's any changes with my coffee soaps. They says patience is a virtue... *fingers crossed

 

[MommaSoaper]

Timely post as I just threw some coffee in an ice cube tray so I could make some coffee soap today. Bought Caramel Coffee FO from Nurture.

Curious if the scent developed with this coffee FO as it cured? I know this is an older post so no expectations here I just made two loaves and neither particularly smell like coffee nor caramel. Did you have luck? I anchored fragrance so I'm hoping something sticks and the coffee grounds don't absorb the goodness. Thank you!

 

[Fernie]

I make a coffee soap with coffee for the water and grounds in the soap. My husband uses it to get off the grease and grime. I have noticed that it does remove the strong odors you get from cutting certain foods.

I do make it with the cheapest brand of ground coffee I can find, Have not noticed it being oily.

 

[Iluminameluna]

I'll put in my HO here as well. I too make several coffee soaps for my lineman son who works outdoors, often in ditches and with bentonite clay in large quantities.
I use strong brewed coffee (whatever we have in the freezer that's not popular), I grind the used and dried grounds a bit finer to use for exfoliation, and use Hershey's cocoa to accentuate the brown of the soap.
The resulting soap is a milk chocolate brown after a year's cure, has a sort of caramel-colored cream top, and is NOT oily at any stage. Not sure why it's got some white spotting throughout it, but the finely ground coffee is evident and not irritating to his sensitive skin (which is funny if you saw how brawny he is). Finally, each 3 to 4 oz bar lasts about a month, and he takes a shower every night, so it's got legs.
My formula is 50% lard, 30% OO, 15% CO76F, 5%Castor, @5% SF, CP, I added 3 Tbs of honey, same of cocoa, to 3kg total of oils. I soap at RT, after heating the oils to just melting the hard fats, I add the soft oils and let everything cool, then add the lye to the really cold coffee, and finally add the ground coffee to the batter at light to medium trace.
Couldn't seem to attach files on my Chromebook, so here's a link I created using Google Photos, FWIW:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/cbdgcXrt8gw8bHv36

 

[BWt]

As for whether coffee soap has any deodorizing magic, I guess the thing to do is wait for mine to cure, then wash up after cooking and see how it does.

I've also read that the caffeine has some good effects on the skin. Not sure if the caffeine survives saponification or if soap is on the skin long enough for it to matter.
Just cut mine, and it's kinda pretty whether or not it has magical powers

View attachment 61095

Gorgeous coffee soap! Love the design

 

[BWt]

I'll put in my HO here as well. I too make several coffee soaps for my lineman son who works outdoors, often in ditches and with bentonite clay in large quantities.
I use strong brewed coffee (whatever we have in the freezer that's not popular), I grind the used and dried grounds a bit finer to use for exfoliation, and use Hershey's cocoa to accentuate the brown of the soap.
The resulting soap is a milk chocolate brown after a year's cure, has a sort of caramel-colored cream top, and is NOT oily at any stage. Not sure why it's got some white spotting throughout it, but the finely ground coffee is evident and not irritating to his sensitive skin (which is funny if you saw how brawny he is). Finally, each 3 to 4 oz bar lasts about a month, and he takes a shower every night, so it's got legs.
My formula is 50% lard, 30% OO, 15% CO76F, 5%Castor, @5% SF, CP, I added 3 Tbs of honey, same of cocoa, to 3kg total of oils. I soap at RT, after heating the oils to just melting the hard fats, I add the soft oils and let everything cool, then add the lye to the really cold coffee, and finally add the ground coffee to the batter at light to medium trace.
Couldn't seem to attach files on my Chromebook, so here's a link I created using Google Photos, FWIW:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/cbdgcXrt8gw8bHv36

I too use cocoa in addition to coffee. Try adding a bit of unsweetened baking chocolate. I added to oils after all were melted so keeping chocolate at lower temperature.