Matcha Tea soap

[Mobjack Bay]

The soap was made using a (ETA: oops, this is wrong...”vegan, palm-based”, corrected to 60% lard recipe and very finely ground Matcha tea powder that was bright green coming out of the bag. Fading has been minimal since I made it on June 9th, but I am keeping it in the dark. The FO is Green Tea from MMS. After all of the concerns I had about using FOs, I have to admit that this scent is wonderful.

 

[earlene]

These are beautiful. I adore this shade.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

These are beautiful. I adore this shade.

Thank you Earlene. I love the color, too, and the way the palm recipe makes a really smooth soap, which is what I was hoping for with this one.

 

[dibbles]

Beautiful. How much matcha did you use? The color is gorgeous.

 

[szaza]

That's gorgeous soap!! Is the tea next to it the one you used for the color or is it just for decoration?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Beautiful. How much matcha did you use? The color is gorgeous.

Here’s a pic of the tea powder I used. I bought it at Walmart of all places. I added 2 Tbs of the powder, which is very, very fine, to 1.5 cups of olive oil and then let it sit for 24 hours (I may have heated it gently for a little bit at the beginning, but that is not written in my notes. I will check around my posts to see if I can find a reference). I tested the powder from the jar just before I started to measure out my oils for the recipe. Since it did not feel the least bit scratchy, I shook the jar to suspend the powder before I poured out the required amount of olive oil for the recipe. If you look closely, you can see that there is still plenty of powder sitting at the bottom of the jar, so I can’t have added much to the soap.

That's gorgeous soap!! Is the tea next to it the one you used for the color or is it just for decoration?

I seem to be out of simple green tea, so that was for decoration only (I’m trying to keep up with @KiwiMoose’s soap staging). The powder I used is shown above.

 

[dibbles]

Thank you @Mobjack Bay

 

[Obsidian]

That is a beautiful green, hope it holds well for you. What was the % of OO in your recipe if you don't mind me asking? I'd like to try and duplicate this color.

 

[Iseleigh]

The soap is so pretty! Reminds me of a very light avocado. It might work for a soap I'm working on.
I have that brand of green tea. As fine as it is you'd think it would suspend and not sink. Doesn't mix well in water either.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

That is a beautiful green, hope it holds well for you. What was the % of OO in your recipe if you don't mind me asking? I'd like to try and duplicate this color.

I just checked the recipe and it’s 20% OO, but oops, it’s my 60% lard bar.

Please note that I corrected my original post. This is a lard bar, not a vegan bar.

 

[szaza]

I'm green with jealousy because you got that pretty color! Might have to try again with a proper oil infusion (not the 2mins heating in the microwave I did last time) I was kind of hoping you got the color from the genmaicha tea next to it, since it's cheaper and easier to come by, but I'll go back to matcha to see if I can replicate what you did[emoji6]

 

[Arimara]

matcha likes to stick together. you have to sift it with a fine mesh strainer to get it to blend better.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

matcha likes to stick together. you have to sift it with a fine mesh strainer to get it to blend better.

I didn’t have a mixing problem with the powder I used with oil.

 

[SunRiseArts]

Nice!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

6+ month update on color and scent: Only the slightest hint of that beautiful green remains and the wonderful green tea FO (MMS) is barely detectable.

 

[Kcryss]

Wow, that's very sad. I was really excited with the first few pics. Was getting ready to mix some Matcha with water for my next batch. I'm sorry it didn't last very long.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Wow, that's very sad. I was really excited with the first few pics. Was getting ready to mix some Matcha with water for my next batch. I'm sorry it didn't last very long.

The natural green colorants are notorious for fading. So it goes. There’s always mica and oxides

 

[szaza]

Oh no! That's too bad! I really loved that color! I actually still love the faded greenish white

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Oh no! That's too bad! I really loved that color! I actually still love the faded greenish white

The fact that it held some of the green and didn’t go completely brown is interesting, isn’t it? Maybe if I used more... lol, another thing to try

 

[szaza]

The fact that it held some of the green and didn’t go completely brown is interesting, isn’t it? Maybe if I used more... lol, another thing to try

It is! Now I'm curious what makes it stay green while other colorants turn brown