Tea causes boiling when adding lye?

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Depending on the tea, I have usually only used it for color. Kombucha tea, I used as a novelty, or as others would say 'label appeal' just like beer soap is for novelty or label appeal, except that both also provide sugars for boosting bubbles. Any liquid substitute with natural or added sugars would do that.

As far as any medicinal or (ingested) nutritional effect from teas, drinks, herbs surviving lye, quite honestly, I do not believe any does, AND even if it did, I very much doubt any benefit would be derived by using said soap.

In rare cases, I do believe some soothing effects can persist in soap from a minimal number of additives, but for the most part, unless I notice such effect on my own skin, I don't believe it. However, I also know that preconceived ideas and personal beliefs or expectations can and do play a part in how a user experiences benefit from what they use, soap included. But as a matter of ethics, I would never play on that with actual humans as it relates to my soapmaking.
 
KimW
You've raised my attention in making "Earl Grey Tea" soap, I happen to have the tea so I thought Why Not' I love the taste & smell of earl grey' it just lifts my scenes!, the brand I have is made by 'Stash' though I do want to try your brand you suggested by Ahmed 👍🏼🤗🧼.
I think I'll add Tangerine EO to help enhance the orangey scents & maybe some french rose clay to assist in anchoring the scent. 💫👍🏼🧼.
 
KimW
You've raised my attention in making "Earl Grey Tea" soap, I happen to have the tea so I thought Why Not' I love the taste & smell of earl grey' it just lifts my scenes!, the brand I have is made by 'Stash' though I do want to try your brand you suggested by Ahmed 👍🏼🤗🧼.
I think I'll add Tangerine EO to help enhance the orangey scents & maybe some french rose clay to assist in anchoring the scent. 💫👍🏼🧼.
Ditto! I have nothing to contribute in terms of answers, but I love bergamot and when I was in the shop just now I saw a box of earl grey and thought, well why not? I'm enjoying a cup right now in fact 😁
At least some of it is destined to become soap in the very near future!
 
On a serious note, when I smelled lime EO the first time, it reminded me so much of cheap commercial dishwashing detergent that I couldn't reall enjoy it at all. Everything tasted like I hadn't rinsed off the dishes properly :confused:

For the tea lovers with access to bergamot EO: it's super easy to make your own Earl Grey! Put X tbsp of your black tea of choice into a airtight closing jar, drip X drops of bergamot EO onto a piece of cardboard, put it into the jar, close it, and let it stand for a few days.
(With the usual legal parlando about phototoxic and sensitising properties of the wrong bergamot qualities)
 
Problem is that bergamot EO is crazy expensive, whereas cheap earl grey tea is... cheap! And perfectly fine.
It's relatively cheap in the US. I have a bottle that I mostly use for upping the bergamot in my Earl Grey cupcakes with lavender frosting. I bought it with skincare in mind, then did more research and learned it's better for your insides than your outsides.
 
Depending on the tea, I have usually only used it for color. Kombucha tea, I used as a novelty, or as others would say 'label appeal' just like beer soap is for novelty or label appeal, except that both also provide sugars for boosting bubbles. Any liquid substitute with natural or added sugars would do that.

As far as any medicinal or (ingested) nutritional effect from teas, drinks, herbs surviving lye, quite honestly, I do not believe any does, AND even if it did, I very much doubt any benefit would be derived by using said soap.

In rare cases, I do believe some soothing effects can persist in soap from a minimal number of additives, but for the most part, unless I notice such effect on my own skin, I don't believe it. However, I also know that preconceived ideas and personal beliefs or expectations can and do play a part in how a user experiences benefit from what they use, soap included. But as a matter of ethics, I would never play on that with actual humans as it relates to my soapmaking.


Oh thank you for this response. I greatly appreciate it.
 
Me Too Cheers ☕☕ :okay:
@Tara_H Look Look what arrived yesterday' I couldn't help thinking of you.

@Kiwi2:) My apologies' I just noticed you started this Bergamot Tea Post way back in 2020' So I'm Giving you thanks for it. I'll have another try @ Bergamot Te soap w/ added EO too. that aught to make this scent hold strong. 💫✨👍🏼🤗❤️ .
 

Attachments

  • 3980DBC1-9A2A-4315-846E-8B3243F369EE.jpeg
    3980DBC1-9A2A-4315-846E-8B3243F369EE.jpeg
    253.7 KB · Views: 6
Last edited:
I thought I'd responded to this post, but apparently I didn't. The very first CP soap that I made was this recipe from Lovely Greens that calls for bergamot EO and a few sprinkles of Earl Grey tea leaves. The recipe took forever to harden up, and was much more yellow than her pics. Also, the tea leaves do bleed a bit into the soap after awhile. I know this because I found a lone bar in my "old soap" stash where I often keep a bar to see how it looks after a long, long time. It was still a decent soap that smelled quite lovely, just not my fave as far as lather feel.
 
@Tara_H Look Look what arrived yesterday' I couldn't help thinking of you.

@Kiwi2:) My apologies' I just noticed you started this Bergamot Tea Post way back in 2020' So I'm Giving you thanks for it. I'll have another try @ Bergamot Te soap w/ added EO too. that aught to make this scent hold strong. 💫✨👍🏼🤗❤ .
Update on my bergamot tea 100% water replacement in soap I made a while back' cant find my post where I shared soap started to accelerate I threw it in the mold, cut the next day as I usually do' I add'ed other EO'S aswell not many of one kind or another. Yesterday as I mentioned in another post today' I was tidying up soap & making soap labels, & wrapping soap' I came across the "Bergamot Tea Soap" my goodness does it ever smell wonderful! though I cant smell the Bergamot Tea it's self as a stand alone scent' but it deffently changed the scent of the bar after the cure. I had to share' I was most impressed.

Some ppl believe the scent of "bergamot tea" cant survive lye & no scent will be sustained in soap, against the odd's & science the scent stuck' indirectly It brought a different note to the entire scent of the soap.
 
Kn
Strangely enough, I have just used Earl Grey Tea to make soap on Friday :) I had made it several days earlier, and frozen it, and had no problems whatsoever when adding the caustic soda. Produced a lovely colour, which I poured as the base, then further diluted it with TD twice, to produce two lighter shades to drop swirl into it. I'm still very new to all this so it's not perfect, but it worked out well.
Know I am terribly late to the tea party, but I have used this method - freezing the tea - with good results, otherwise I get a burning smell when mixed with the lye. I have found that if I add very cold tea to a 50/50 lye masterbatch, it also doesn't "burn." I use green tea for label appeal to make a green tea soap. With the kombucha soap, I boil the kombucha to concentrate it and remove carbonation the day before. Let it sit in the refrigerator overnight and add that to the lye masterbatch. Hope this helps.
 
Back
Top