Coffee Soap

[squarepancakes]

Hello folks! I'm planning to make a batch of coffee soap and was looking around at some recipes online and would like to know what are some of your preferences and reasons for them. Assuming that i have some grounds that I would like to add into my soap while mixing, here are some differences I noticed in some of the recipes around.

1. Brew with the grounds, freeze it and use it as a water replacement?
2. Add grounds directly to lye water (the exothermic reaction will "boil" the coffee)
3. No coffee water, just add some FO
4. Coffee water (either pre-brew or add grounds during) + FO

I just picked up some fresh grounds from a friend and am wondering if method 1/2 would yield a soap that smells strongly enough.

 

[melonpan]

I've only used coffe grounds (but spent ones, well dried and added to the batter at trace) so number 2 is an intriguing one, I wouldn't have thought to add it at lye.

If you're after a coffee-ish colour, then the grounds definitely add a brownish tint but depending on the size of your grounds it will also be exfoliating, so that's down to personal preference. Just for reference I'm attaching a picture of one of my soaps, same recipe for top and bottom layers but the bottom one has had spent coffee grounds added. You can see the difference in colour. But I wouldn't say that it smells like coffee.

You could consider using the grounds to brew a cup of coffee first and then using the spent ones for the soap, that way you get to use them twice (which is a win-win in my book). I'm not sure if using fresh instead of spent grounds would make any difference for the scent, hopefully some other member can advise.

 

[Arimara]

You can totally use unused coffee grounds in a soap. Just add them to the water before adding the lye. Of course, I should mention the caveats of taking that shortcut:

1- The lye solution will smell like a beast. It goes away but it is borderline offensive

2. The coffee grounds will be extra scrubby, likely due to you not brewing the coffee separately. It's good enough for a mechanic's soap but you may find it more disagreeable on your body.

3- It's more limiting if you wanted to do a design. Those grounds will be throughout the soap.

My personal advice would be to try both ways of using coffee grounds and see which one you like better. I personally find nothing wrong with using the instant stuff though. It save me money and it keeps me from having a bar to use during mosquito season, when I'm a walking buffet. I also find coffee grounds to be a little too scrubby for me.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Coffee in soap is good for removing odors (so for a kitchen soap, as an example) when the actual brew is used as part of the water.

If that is what you are going for, I would make a brew and use the liquid as part of the liquid needed for the recipe itself. As @Arimara said, the coffee in the lye will stink something terrible, so you could add a strong brew to the oils and use less water to make your lye solution - it will still smell, but maybe not so much!

This sort of method means that you can add in the grounds for scrubbing if you want to do so, but don't have to use all of them it even any of them at all. You don't have that option if you add the grounds to the lye solution

 

[KiwiMoose]

I get my brother in law to grind (very fine) some coffee. Go very fine otherwise it can be too sharp. He has a full barista set up at home to rival most cafes and i get him to use a grinder that creates 'round' shapes rather than 'sharp' shapes.
I then bring the coffee home and brew it, then filter out the grinds. I use the brewed coffee/water (once chilled) to make the lye solution, and I add about a tablespoon of the grinds to 1kg ( approx two pounds) of oils.
It will not fragrance the finished soap to smell like coffee, so I use a coffee fragrance oil.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Instant coffee is a lazy and effective (easy dosage, does not need special lye recipes) way to bring “true” coffee colour into soap. Everything of the said applies likewise (weird smell, weird colour…), except for the scrubby properties. I have used instant coffee to give this soap batter a dark brown shade; the grounds are just for the sprinkled look and exfoliating texture.

October 1: International Coffee Day!!!

 

[squarepancakes]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and sharing. Yup, a friend of mine has a proper setup at home and ground up a batch for me, I did tell him it's for soap and would like it fine, but we'll see if it's fine enough tomorrow after use. I'm hoping to achieve a slightly scrubby body bar, so will definitely watch the amount of grounds that i add in after too.

I'll probably brew up some coffee later and leave it to chill overnight before use. I do have some coffee FO as well, so I'll probably use it so that the soap scents up nicely.

 

[Zing]

I love using brewed coffee and grounds in my soap. I used distilled water to make brewed coffee at double strength. When you add lye, it will stink something just horrific -- but will not affect the final soap. Grounds and brewed coffee will have no affect on scent of the final soap. I use it in my mechanics soap with ground coffee, poppy seeds, and shredded loofah.

 

[Kimimarie84]

I just made a coffee scrub soap last week. I used brewed coffee in place of water, and I chilled the coffee before adding the lye. That seemed to help with the smell this time. The first time I made coffee soap, the smell was horrendous. I added a coffee FO in the latest batch because the first one didn’t smell like coffee at all with just brewed coffee and coffee grounds in it. I added the coffee grounds at trace in the second batch, and it turned out much better than the first time around, where I added the grounds to the lye. Maybe this is why the lye solution smelled so awful. I also used frozen goat milk with the chilled coffee, so that probably also helped with the smell. The picture is my coffee with goat milk soap.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Lil' goat kids in leopard's clothing

 

[Kimimarie84]

Lil' goat kids in leopard's clothing

I actually have little goat kids at my house right now! My two dairy goats threw triplets and twins within a week of each other. That’s where I get all the milk for my soap! I make chicken egg soap with my hens’ eggs as well!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Oh no! Another thread hijacked by goat fanatics . Don't tell @MellonFriend or @Basil

 

[Basil]

Oh no! Another thread hijacked by goat fanatics . Don't tell @MellonFriend or @Basil

8 pregnant goats here…. uhhhh yes, bringing it back , I have drank coffee while waiting for baby births and saved the GROUNDS for goat milk soap - freezing the coffee and 50/50 with frozen milk. No goat molds here but lots of ….maybe I’ll try the coffee ground soap in the next batch of molds!!!

 

[MellonFriend]

I actually have little goat kids at my house right now! My two dairy goats threw triplets and twins within a week of each other. That’s where I get all the milk for my soap! I make chicken egg soap with my hens’ eggs as well!

To keep the hijacking to a minimum, feel free to add some cute pictures of your baby over here on this thread if you'd like to: Baby Goats to Brighten Your Day | Soapmaking Forum I'm sure us goataholics would love to see.

 

[maryloucb]

I do a layered coffee soap. I use strong brewed coffee as full water replacement (make sure it's cool, and yes it stinks.) I add cocoa powder to the bottom layer, then one package of the Starbucks Via instant for the middle layer and no additional color for the top layer. I use a combo of orange, cardomom and clove essential oils for frangrance.

 

[squarepancakes]

Just a quick report back, I brewed some coffee and chilled it overnight before use. There was no icky smell after the lye, so think it was a success. I added a bit of the used ground grounds in to the mix as well and it seemed like things were going well...UNTIL I added the FO.

The FO accelerated the trace but I thought I could still work with it at medium since i was only planning on a simple hanger swirl. I poured out a bit of the batter to color but by the time I tried to pour the bottom layer into the mold, it was seizing up up like crazy. Wow it's a batch of dried mashed potatoes.

I managed to stuff it into the mold but there were some crumbly gaps and it seems like it was gonna volcano, so in a bout of impulse, I decided to just HP it and try to soften it into some semblance of a loaf. Don't have a photo of it but the top looks like a crumbly flaky mess now but at least the main body seemed to be cohesively a whole. Stay tuned and next week we'll find out how this cursed loaf will turn out.

 

[Hermit]

Has anyone tried to reduce coffee then add it after cook for HP? Would that give a coffee scent?

 

[squarepancakes]

Just a quick report back, I brewed some coffee and chilled it overnight before use. There was no icky smell after the lye, so think it was a success. I added a bit of the used ground grounds in to the mix as well and it seemed like things were going well...UNTIL I added the FO.

The FO accelerated the trace but I thought I could still work with it at medium since i was only planning on a simple hanger swirl. I poured out a bit of the batter to color but by the time I tried to pour the bottom layer into the mold, it was seizing up up like crazy. Wow it's a batch of dried mashed potatoes.

I managed to stuff it into the mold but there were some crumbly gaps and it seems like it was gonna volcano, so in a bout of impulse, I decided to just HP it and try to soften it into some semblance of a loaf. Don't have a photo of it but the top looks like a crumbly flaky mess now but at least the main body seemed to be cohesively a whole. Stay tuned and next week we'll find out how this cursed loaf will turn out.

Some updates on my poor mashed potato. Last week's batch came out looking pretty rustic but acceptable in a "well it could have been worst" kinda way. That said, I'm convinced the FO is just not meant for CP. It went crazy again today despite it being diluted and mixed into the oils prior to the lye going in. Photos and stuff posted here:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/what-soapy-thing-have-you-done-today.42556/post-931637

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Photos and stuff posted here:

Pics and notes tend to get buried in that thread. My advice:

Show off your soaps in the Photo Gallery and post just the link in "What soapy thing..." That way more members will see your pics and comment, not just the few members who inhabit that thread. We all LUV pictures -- even when a batch goes awry. Hopefully that won't happen, but if it does, see it as an opportunity to learn more.
HAPPY SOAPING!!!

 

[TheGecko]

Hello folks! I'm planning to make a batch of coffee soap and was looking around at some recipes online and would like to know what are some of your preferences and reasons for them. Assuming that i have some grounds that I would like to add into my soap while mixing, here are some differences I noticed in some of the recipes around.

1. Brew with the grounds, freeze it and use it as a water replacement?
2. Add grounds directly to lye water (the exothermic reaction will "boil" the coffee)
3. No coffee water, just add some FO
4. Coffee water (either pre-brew or add grounds during) + FO

I just picked up some fresh grounds from a friend and am wondering if method 1/2 would yield a soap that smells strongly enough.

I'm going to start with your last sentence...neither liquid coffee or coffee grounds will make your soap smell like coffee. It's the same with any other food item or liquid. It's more about 'label appeal'.

As to your numbered items:

1) Some folks will use coffee as either half of their 'water' or full water replacement. Because the exothermic reaction which will burn/scorch the coffee, if it is 'half', it is added to the oils separately or if used as full water, it is frozen.

2) Yes, adding fresh grounds to your water and then adding lye will make 'coffee' (see Item 1).

3) Yes. If you want the 'smell' of coffee, this is your best option.

4) See Items 1 and 3

To continue...coffee grounds are usually added to soap as an exfoliant. It is best to use thoroughly dried 'used/spent' grounds as opposed to fresh grounds because the fresh grounds will have 'halos' (rings) around them. This is because the grounds soak up the water and expel 'coffee' in simple terms.

Also, outside of 'label appeal', it doesn't matter if the coffee is your local store brand or something that is expelled from the south bound end of a north bound furry critter...it's just coffee.