Tea Infused Oils for CP soaps

[Johnray]

Hello Everybody,

I am new to soap making and can't wait to get started! I am going to start my olive oil bars once my mould gets here this friday!

Churning our ideas, I am thinking of infusing oils with teas (because I am a tea lover). I've looked up some videos and literature. So I placed them in a mason Jar and placed them in a warm bath for 3 hours, being very careful to not boil the water and then let it cool and sit till I need them. But I am using the twinnings teabags instead of loose tea leaves.

Can anyone share their experiences in infusing oils with tea leaves?
(I'm preparing my oils for the next batch after my olive oil de-moulds)

Also, any suggestions to what teas that give great aromas? I am doing the following right now
- Earl Grey
- Camomile
- Mint

 

[artemis]

Also, any suggestions to what teas that give great aromas? I am doing the following right now
- Earl Grey
- Camomile
- Mint

I am sorry. In my experience, none of the scent of the tea will survive what we call the "lye monster."

 

[Cellador]

I agree with Artemis. I tried infusing my oils with all sorts of different teas and none of the scents stuck in the finished soap.

 

[Johnray]

I agree with Artemis. I tried infusing my oils with all sorts of different teas and none of the scents stuck in the finished soap.

How about the colour, did the black teas make the soap into a darker colour as well?

 

[Cellador]

Sometimes it darkened the soap a bit, but not dramatically. You'd want to look into infusing with natural colorants if you want more color in your oils.

 

[shunt2011]

the scent won't carry over into the soap and you will likely have brown or grey soap. As long as you're okay with that, go for it. Welcome!

 

[earlene]

I have used tea (in various ways) in several soaps. (Also a tea lover.) No tea fragrance has ever remained in the tea by simply using tea, or tea leaves. If you want fragrance that remains, you will have to use a fragrance oil.

The best tea fragrance I've ever used (for my nose & my preference) is Chai Tea Cybilla, but sadly I can't find it anymore. One of these days, I hope to find a tea fragrance that I find as satisfying as that one was.

 

[Johnray]

I have used tea (in various ways) in several soaps. (Also a tea lover.) No tea fragrance has ever remained in the tea by simply using tea, or tea leaves. If you want fragrance that remains, you will have to use a fragrance oil.

The best tea fragrance I've ever used (for my nose & my preference) is Chai Tea Cybilla, but sadly I can't find it anymore. One of these days, I hope to find a tea fragrance that I find as satisfying as that one was.

If the scent doesn't stay, would it be worth to actually infuse the oils other than for the colour?

 

[Obsidian]

Not really. Any benefit that botanicals may have will be destroyed by lye.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I used chamomile tea once. I brewed the tea, cooled it, and used it as my water component. I then used the contents of one teabag directly in the soap. I scented the soap with some EOs and a peach FO. It smells yummy! I call it 'Peach and Chamomile Tea'. The little flecks you can see in the picture are the tea leaves from the tea bag.

 

[Johnray]

I used chamomile tea once. I brewed the tea, cooled it, and used it as my water component. I then used the contents of one teabag directly in the soap. I scented the soap with some EOs and a peach FO. It smells yummy! I call it 'Peach and Chamomile Tea'. The little flecks you can see in the picture are the tea leaves from the tea bag.
View attachment 39088

Looks great! I just got my mould in the mail 3 hour so ago and my first bar is curing now. I used off the shelve oil from the supermarket but it seems to have a very strong smell to it.

Now I am going through the forum looking for the right Kirkland one to buy.

 

[KiwiMoose]

What kind of oils did you use in your batch? I usually get my OO and Rice bran, and sometimes Coconut if it's on special, from the supermarket - but all the others I buy from a soap making supplier as they are much cheaper that way.
You can get an Earl Grey FO - maybe try that if you like tea?

 

[Johnray]

What kind of oils did you use in your batch? I usually get my OO and Rice bran, and sometimes Coconut if it's on special, from the supermarket - but all the others I buy from a soap making supplier as they are much cheaper that way.
You can get an Earl Grey FO - maybe try that if you like tea?

I used extra virgin for my first batch. Because it is my first batch, I wanted to try something simple. Which is a Castillo bar. Not sure of the brand. But it was on sale so I got it. I got coconut as well and probably head to Costco to get the Kirkland brand. Maybe it is the extra virgin that is causing the strong scent?

 

[KiwiMoose]

You have Costco in Oz?

 

[Johnray]

Yes we do! Kaufland is opening soon too

 

[shunt2011]

I used extra virgin for my first batch. Because it is my first batch, I wanted to try something simple. Which is a Castillo bar. Not sure of the brand. But it was on sale so I got it. I got coconut as well and probably head to Costco to get the Kirkland brand. Maybe it is the extra virgin that is causing the strong scent?

I use Kirkland brand. Just the regular olive oil. Comes in 2-3L bottles. Works great.

 

[Susie]

You know that Castille will take months to cure, right? Much better to start with something that cures in 6-8 weeks.

 

[Dawni]

I used chamomile tea once. I brewed the tea, cooled it, and used it as my water component.

I've done this too, but in HP and not chamomile. Green tea and black tea (nor sure now which one lol) I use often, because there's an over abundance in this house lol

The black tea gives me a brown soap. The green tea, surprisingly, twice gave me a greenish soap after I mixed a little charcoal in it. It was more brown than green before that. Go figure lol

 

[earlene]

If the scent doesn't stay, would it be worth to actually infuse the oils other than for the colour?

You can get color from just plain tea water, so no, infusing in the oils is more work than needed for color of tea. I found that using the tea water in place of water in my lye solution gave a nice tan color to soap.

ETA: My experience with using tea leaves is that over time, as the soap cures, it gets rather scratchy. In fact, too scratchy for my more tender body parts. I only use it for a foot soap because it's extremely exfoliating. Perhaps if one were to use finely ground tea as is most often inside of tea bags, it would not be so scratchy. But the loose leaf tea is much bigger in size and as it dries in long-cured soap, it is very very scratchy. That is not a bad thing for a foot soap, but not so comfortable on tender body parts.