tea color test - with pics

[Milla]

I'm in the process of testing colors using teas. I'm doing HP so I can use less of my FOs and see the color change as the soap cooks.

Tonight I used 2 bags of Black Cherry Berry and one tea bag of Blueberry to 8 oz water. Steeped about 10 minutes or so.

When I added the lye, the water turned burnt orange brown. As the soap cooked it went to a mauve type color. I will post some pics tomorrow when I unmold it. I scented it with lilac. I figured HP was probably the best option for that FO.

Edited to remove CP from CPHP (since it's not crockpot HP)

 

[artisan soaps]

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[Pizzaface]

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I just tried an experiment with tea last night myself.
I used a jasmine tea, steeped it really strongly and cooled it in an ice bath so it was real cold before adding the lye. It was kind of an ambery color but the lye turned it kind of dark brown as well.

Once i combined with the oils, it turned a kind of orange-chocolatey color.. I wasn't liking it too much as i was hoping for a little lighter.

When i checked 'em out today however they had really lightened up to a very nice light caramel

did you add any loose tea to yours?

 

[Milla]

One question to start with though; what's the thinking behind adding the tea bags before the lye?

I'd just assumed one would add lye to the water first, then after it had cooled a bit add the bags to 'brew' ..

I never thought of adding the tea bags to the lye water and then brewing. Do you think I would get a better color? Less brown? I was just following an article online about using tea with soap. Is it okay to add tea bags to lye water?

My soap is really blah looking. Kind of a brown mauve.

I just did some more research on this learn2soap website and an option is to short the water up front and add tea infused water at trace.

did you add any loose tea to yours?

No loose tea. I thought about it though!

 

[Guest]

I can't wait to see the end result . Great experiment.

Kitn

 

[kaseencook]

You can add the tea bag to the lye water, but you will get a LOT of brown really quickly, the lye really digests the leaves well and releases the brown tannons in it if there. You just have to be careful not to leave it in too long or the bag will get holey. I have heard the Roboos (not sure how to spell that) makes a nice pinkish I think?

Adding some tea after trace might work, but I guess you have to have enough water to start to dissolve your all your lye, and adding more water in will likely result softer soap. But even if it is soft, might be groovy to try anyway.

 

[xraygrl]

Looking forward to the pics!

 

[Milla]

I have heard the Roboos (not sure how to spell that) makes a nice pinkish I think?

The Rooibos tea (I looked up the spelling ) is something I want to try too. The teas I used are mainly hibiscus and rosehips.

The soap is cut, now I just have to get my camera!

 

[Milla]

These are hp (although not sure I cooked it long enough). I'll let these cure awhile. I think the color turned out better than I thought especially with red/brown water!

 

[krissy]

wow! my tea experiment turned a clear vanilla color. i only used one tea bag though. yours are beautiful!

 

[Milla]

wow! my tea experiment turned a clear vanilla color. i only used one tea bag though. yours are beautiful!

Thanks! I remember reading your post and your results. I figured you used one tea bag so I decided to "concentrate" my tea a little. Thanks for posting your results for me

 

[Milla]

I forgot to add that I put my tea water in the freezer so that it was very cold before I added my lye. Ice was just starting to form and I then measured my water into another cup. I used 6 oz of water ppo.

I also really squeezed the tea bags with a spoon while they steeped. Also squeezed them dry when I removed them.

 

[krissy]

now i can thank you for posting your results! i am going to try this agian with more teabags.

experimenting is so much fun!!

 

[heyjude]

What a beautiful color!! Almost looks like marble.

Great job!

Jude

 

[heartsong]

x

thanks for posting milla!

your soaps turned out lovely!

now you make soap by cooking it in a crockpot? i have never tried that process, yet. i make rtcp. last night i did an experiment by steeping 6 bags of red zinger (same brand) in 25 oz water and it came out very dark red.

i used 16 oz in my recipe and as soon as i added the lye, it changed to dark blue/green to an alarming yellow! :shock: it eventually changed to kinda carmel yellow, but as it sat starting from the bottom, going up it changed back to the deep red with a yellow/bron layer on top.

by the time my lye cooled, i would say it was 80% red and 20% yellow/brown.

i went ahead and soaped, but this morning the soap was a light brown with a mauve tint.

as soon as i poured the lye into the oils it changed from red to brown.

i really appreciate you posting-i am truly mystified-am i missing something?

baffled in alabama!

 

[krissy]

my tea mixture went from ruby red to green to brown and then to a lipton tea color when i added the lye. my finished product looked like normal cooked soap. not really much color at all except for the paprika parts.

 

[Milla]

Tea has me baffled too!

I just started experimenting with HP. For this soap I actually used a blender because my stick blender fell into my sink full of water. I blended to a thick trace and poured it into a 2 qt casserole dish, which is twice the size of my batch of soap. I cooked it for an hour at 195 to 200F.

When I added my tea lye water to the soap, the soap was a reddish brown. Not what I wanted. As it cooked in the oven it morphed to the mauve color.

I also kept stirring my tea before I added the lye. It was separating into different colors. I think having it cold is good to prevent too much browning. Kaseencook mentioned tannins browning from the lye. Tea certainly has those. If it has that astringent/puckery taste, it has tannins. Like red wine!

The main point I keep reading is to make sure the tea water is cold before adding lye. Also cooking the soap got me the color that I liked.

 

[Guest]

Your soap turned out just beautifully , way to go .I thought I was done with tea experiments, maybe not :wink:

Kitn

 

[rubato456]

beautiful color and soaps! thanks so much for posting your detailed results.

 

[Lil Outlaws]

Re: x

thanks for posting milla!

your soaps turned out lovely!

now you make soap by cooking it in a crockpot? i have never tried that process, yet. i make rtcp. last night i did an experiment by steeping 6 bags of red zinger (same brand) in 25 oz water and it came out very dark red.

i used 16 oz in my recipe and as soon as i added the lye, it changed to dark blue/green to an alarming yellow! :shock: it eventually changed to kinda carmel yellow, but as it sat starting from the bottom, going up it changed back to the deep red with a yellow/bron layer on top.

by the time my lye cooled, i would say it was 80% red and 20% yellow/brown.

i went ahead and soaped, but this morning the soap was a light brown with a mauve tint.

as soon as i poured the lye into the oils it changed from red to brown.

i really appreciate you posting-i am truly mystified-am i missing something?

baffled in alabama!

That's crazy! My Red Zinger turned magenta in my soap.. LOVE it.
Weird.