Tea and Honey soap... turning water brown?

[secondspring]

One of my highly-anticipated soaps just cured! The soap was made with brewed tea (not very strong... at least not strong at to my standards!) as a substitute for water and 1 oz of honey was added (oils were total 16 oz) at trace.

After using it a few times, I've noticed that it is turning bath water a brownish tinge! Is this normal for honey, or is it the tea? The soap feels so nice, but I dont want a creamy brown bathtub!!

 

[carebear]

tea will go brown.
honey, can too if you use a lot. and you did - the general recommendation is half an ounce per pound of oils.

but I'd put my money on the tea.

 

[secondspring]

Crud! Next time, I've gotta go easy on the honey!

Will regular tea always tinge the water? I didnt think mine was too strong, but I'm Southern, and I forget sometimes that we like our tea stout down here!

 

[Relle]

If you look at a tea cup that hasn't been washed well for some time it stains the cup, its the tannin in the tea that does it, so yes regular tea will do it as well, just think what our insides must be like :shock: .

 

[FreeRabbit]

you are lucky I made soap with tea but the brown faded and gone....

 

[busymakinsoap!]

I use green tea with out any problems. It's my fav soap, it gives a beautiful texture to the bar.
I brew 4 teabags to make 1kg of soap (using full liquid) and add leaves at trace.
The soap is a earthy green colour, and has no run.

 

[FreeRabbit]

I use green tea with out any problems. It's my fav soap, it gives a beautiful texture to the bar.
I brew 4 teabags to make 1kg of soap (using full liquid) and add leaves at trace.
The soap is a earthy green colour, and has no run.

the leaves from the tea bags? or new leaves?

 

[busymakinsoap!]

I use green tea with out any problems. It's my fav soap, it gives a beautiful texture to the bar.
I brew 4 teabags to make 1kg of soap (using full liquid) and add leaves at trace.
The soap is a earthy green colour, and has no run.

the leaves from the tea bags? or new leaves?

From the tea bags

 

[secondspring]

Oh no, my insides must have a layer of tannin 3 inches thick!!

I have experimented with a few other herbal teas (red raspberry leaf tea had no run, orange spice tea had no run) and a coffee soap (no run)...

The more I think about it, it is probably from the excess honey that I added to the batch. Hmm... time to make another round (with half the honey as the original) and see what happens in 4 weeks!

 

[Guest]

My bet is that half honey will give you a similar result (assuming the temperature is the same).

I use green tea with out any problems. It's my fav soap, it gives a beautiful texture to the bar.

You put the tea leaves inside the soap, or only the liquid tea ?
I seem to understand only the liquid, but I am not sure how it will change the texture.

 

[carebear]

Crud! Next time, I've gotta go easy on the honey!

Will regular tea always tinge the water? I didnt think mine was too strong, but I'm Southern, and I forget sometimes that we like our tea stout down here!

Going easy on the honey will help - my honey castile is just creamy and not brown, with 10 grams (about 2 teaspoons) per pound of oils. Dilute and add at trace.

My bet is that half honey will give you a similar result (assuming the temperature is the same).

have you soaped with honey?

 

[Guest]

When I did, I didn't do CP and I have added it at the last minute, because I know it's very delicate.

 

[carebear]

Ah, so how it would be have was a guess. OK.

Honey isn't delicate, and I CP it all the time.

 

[Guest]

Yes, it was a guess based on what the original poster said:
if full amount of honey gives a brown color, half of that gives a half brown color, which is still pretty brown
Assuming the exact same recipe is used.

And I know how strong the color of caramel can be. A teaspoon completely changes the colour of your dish, when used for cooking.

 

[secondspring]

Yes, it was a guess based on what the original poster said:
if full amount of honey gives a brown color, half of that gives a half brown color, which is still pretty brown
Assuming the exact same recipe is used.

And I know how strong the color of caramel can be. A teaspoon completely changes the colour of your dish, when used for cooking.

Oh, I was talking about a brown tint that the soap was giving bath water, not the color of the soap itself!! Sorry for the confusion!

 

[krissy]

secondspring, did you use any fragrance or just the tea and honey?

 

[secondspring]

secondspring, did you use any fragrance or just the tea and honey?

Just tea and honey, no fragrance or dyes.

 

[soapbuddy]

Just an FYI...unless you are doing HP and adding an ingredient after the cook, there is no need to add anything at trace for cold process soap. The lye is still quite active at this point and it will take whatever it wants.