Adding tea to cold process soap

[seven]

i remember the first time i used green tea powder, hoping for a nice, green soap. what a mess, the lye totally broke my heart. it came out yucky brown instead.

 

[Corinne]

In regards to the green tea powder issues: most green tea powder is actually a mixture of potato starch, sugar, and a few other things. So you first need to make sure you're getting the real deal.

In regards to using green tea in soap, I've made 3 different loaves and I like it best if you let the tea steep til room temp, and then refrigerate (with the tea bag/s) for a day before mixing lye in. I did a full water substitution and mixed in a VERY small amount of honey at trace, along with the actual tea leaves (I used loose leaf green tea for the mix in) as a mild exfoliant/for texture and some visual appeal. Overall it turned out pretty well, but the smell is subjective if you don't add any EO/FO. I'll try to post a pic so you get an idea of the color.

 

[coffeetime]

I use green tea leaves in one of my soaps but I almost-powder the dry leaves in my magic bullet. Gives me a khaki speckle and I use green clay to
colour the whole batch. Nice effect I think.

 

[Spice]

I swapped out brewed green tea for water. I refrigerated it first before adding lye. I saved the leaves to use as an additive for the green side, and used yellow oxide for the right side. One of the easiest and most satisfying soaps. I used lemongrass for scent. I've also used brewed hibiscus tea in a hot processed soap for a beautiful facial soap. Don't be afraid; just do it.

I wanted to make a candy cane soap using hibiscus lye water, so I did a test of a small, I mean veery small, test batch.
I poured the sodium hydroxide into the hibiscus water and it turned ugly brown. I didnt go past that point.:twisted: