Soap Queen

Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more

Tutorials by difficulty level:

How to Use Tea and Coffee in Soap

Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

How to Use Coffee and Tea in Soap

Here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s starting to feel like fall. The leaves are changing, the temperatures are dropping and it’s getting dark earlier. If that wasn’t enough, Starbucks has started serving the ever-popular Pumpkin Spice Latte. There’s something so comforting about hot coffee and a warm blanket this time of year. If you’d like to translate that feeling to soap, check out the tips and tricks for incorporating coffee and tea in different ways into your recipes.

Coffee grounds
Coffee grounds add exfoliation and an interesting look in soap. They are considered a large exfoliant, meaning they will be more scrubby than something fine grained like sugar. Read more about exfoliants here. Coffee grounds are perfect for exfoliating the body, especially dry areas like feet and elbows. Used coffee grounds are best for both melt and pour and cold process soap. Dry grounds can bleed in the soap, creating a halo of color. After making a pot of coffee, place the grounds on a towel and pat dry. A general usage rate is about 1 teaspoon per pound of soap. If you want your soap scrubbier, you can add more from there.

For melt and pour soap, add the used coffee grounds to melted soap and stir well. Keep stirring until the soap is around 125-130 °F. It needs to be thick enough to suspend the coffee grounds evenly. Then, pour into your mold. The Espresso Melt and Pour Soap Bars are made with rich Espresso Fragrance Oil. In cold process soap, add the grounds at trace and whisk gently to combine. It will give your soap a lovely rustic look, as seen in the Espresso Shot Cold Process Tutorial.

How to Use Coffee and Tea in SoapCoffee grounds add exfoliation and interest to the Espresso Shot Cold Process Soap.

You can also add tea leaves or ground tea to your melt and pour and cold process soap. They can be added the same way as coffee grounds. That includes incorporating used tea leaves in your batch instead of dry, unused leaves. Make sure to pat them dry before use. Then, add the leaves and stir well. In our tests, we found the tea leaves go brown and tend to bleed in the final bars. Used tea leaves will bleed a bit less. That’s something to keep in mind when designing your soap.

Coffee butter
Coffee butter is a luxurious way to give your soap a pick me up. It contains .5-1% natural caffeine. In cold process soap, it can be used up to 6% in your recipe. It also works well in lotion, scrubs, etc. We added it to the Charcoal and Cedar Beer Cold Process Soap to help moisturize the skin. The Sahara Sunset Cold Process Tutorial has coffee butter and avocado butter for an ultra luxurious feeling. The butter does have a rich coffee scent on its own, but is very subtle in the finished soap. To bump up the fragrance, you can use Espresso Fragrance Oil, Turkish Mocha Fragrance Oil or Chocolate Espresso Cybilla Fragrance Oil.

How to Use Coffee and Tea in SoapThe Sahara Sunset Cold Process Soap is made with coffee butter and avocado butter.

Coffee and tea as the liquid in cold process soap
Coffee and tea can be used in place of, or in addition to distilled water in your cold process soap recipe. They add color and a very subtle scent to soap. They’re also great from a marketing standpoint – coffee and tea fans will love it. They do require a bit of prep before getting started.

How strong you make the coffee and tea is personal preference. If you want a fairly dark color and slightly stronger scent, you can brew a strong batch. For less of a color and scent impact, you can brew a slightly weaker batch. Mixing the tea or coffee with distilled water can help prevent some of the discoloration as well. Instead of using it at 100% of the liquid amount, you can reduce that to 50% or so. Use the Lye Calculator to find out how much lye and liquid to add to your recipe.

Once your coffee or tea is brewed, it needs to chill in the fridge for several hours, up to overnight. When the lye is added to the liquid, it reacts and heats up the mix. If the coffee or tea is at room temperature, that can cause darker discoloration. It also creates a fairly unpleasant smell. Those of you who make coffee and tea soap know what I’m talking about! Cooled liquid will discolor and smell a bit less. What color the liquid turns depends on what you’re using. We’ve found green tea turns a medium brown color. Coffee turns green when the lye is added, then morphs into brown.

How to Use Coffee and Tea in SoapThis green tea turned brown once the sodium hydroxide lye was added.

Adding color to the soap can be a bit tricky because of that discoloration. Titanium dioxide will lighten the batch so the colors will be more vibrant. Learn how to use titanium dioxide here. The Exfoliating Green Tea Cold Process Bars have a white and green color palette to complement the tea. For a bit of exfoliation, Forest Green Jojoba Beads are added to the top layer. You can also embrace the discoloration! Adding a bit of Cappuccino Mica to the soap will create a rich brown color. A mica line, like the one in the Gold Mine Cold Process Soap, would be a nice touch as well. Looking for a recipe made with coffee? Check out page 130 my book, Pure Soapmaking. We’re also planning a coffee soap tutorial on the blog in the future.

How to Use Coffee and Tea in SoapTitanium dioxide helps lighten the discoloration in the Exfoliating Green Tea Cold Process Bars.

Fragrance Oils
If you would like to incorporate the smell of tea or coffee into your products more strongly, fragrance oils are the way to go. Bramble Berry carries a variety of tea and coffee inspired scents. Use the Bramble Berry Fragrance Calculator to find out how much fragrance oil to use in your products. If you’re using tea or coffee in your products in the form of liquid, coffee ground, tea leaves, coffee butter, etc., adding a matching fragrance oil is a great way to create a cohesive product. Check out the fragrances below to find the perfect tea or coffee scent for your project.

Coffee and Tea Fragrances:
Espresso Fragrance Oil
Turkish Mocha Fragrance Oil
Chocolate Espresso Cybilla Fragrance Oil
Chai Tea Cybilla Fragrance Oil
Green Tea Fragrance Oil
Black Tea Fragrance Oil
Green Tea & Cucumber Fragrance Oil
Lavender Green Tea Fragrance Oil
White Tea & Ginger Fragrance Oil
White Tea & Ginger Candle & Soap Fragrance Oil
Lychee Red Tea Fragrance Oil

Do you like to use coffee and tea in your soap? How do you incorporate it?

Like it? Share it!

You may also like these

Watch Love Letter Soap Tutorial HereMake Perfect Lines + Learn to Embed: Love Letter SoapNINETEEN-15 Tips for Unmolding Cold Process SoapQuickMixNewsletter_700All About Quick MixesLemonPoppySeedCP1_700pxLemon Poppy Seed Hot Process SoapPatchouliBentoniteClaySoap4_700pxPatchouli & Bentonite Clay Soap

Become an email subscriber

Enter your email address below and you will receive all our new posts directly in your email inbox.

Previous Post:
Next Post:

59 Comments

  1. This is an odd question- but I have a woody essential oil blend for some melt and pour soaps I’m making and I wanted to compliment it with some coffee notes. I was thinking about hydrating some instant/powdered espresso with a little isopropyl alcohol and adding it in, but I can’t find any proof of anyone doing it online.
    It seems to mostly be coffee grounds or fragrances.
    Do you think there would be any ill effects on the soap?

  2. Hi!

    The link for the “espresso melt and pour soap bars” doesn’t work! Does the tutorial still exist? Coffee smells amazing and would love to try it in a melt & pour recipe!

    Thanks

  3. If I understand correctly, when making a soap with tea water you first brew your tea and chill. I can then use my chilled tea liquid as a replacement to distilled water when mixing with the lye?

    Depending on how dark I want my soap (using only tea liquid), I can use a proportion of chilled tea liquid and distilled water but still the over all liquid amount should match what the lye calculator says I need for liquid?

    Do I understand this correctly?

  4. Is it possible to get a glycerin river in a soap with no oxides? I just made a split batch adding oat flour and honey to one half and coffee and cocoa to the other. The coffee side had more liquid and heated up more in the mold and now I have patterns that look like glycerin rivers only on that side. The very ends that did not gel are of uniform texture.

    • Yes, that is possible. Glycerin rivers are more common with heavier, larger additives or colorants. Flour, coffee, and cocoa are all fairly large. It’s also more likely with soap that gets nice and hot. Adding honey to soap causes the soap to heat up, due to the sugar in the honey. Because the ends that did not go through gel are uniform, it sounds like heat is the main culprit. To avoid glycerin rivers next time, you may try soaping with lower temperatures and placing the soap into the freezer for several hours after pouring.

  5. We’ve made several batches of coffee soap using coffee brewed with distilled water and completely cooled, and we’ve found that it takes SO much longer for the bars to set up and cure than our normal soap made with plain distilled water. Has anyone else come across this problem? We add dried used grounds for an exfoliant and some cocoa powder for color. Could any of these be contributing to the problem? Thanks!!

    • We haven’t experienced that, but when you’re working with an alternative liquid like coffee it can definitely affect the soap. It may also be the temperatures – if you’re working with lower temperatures and the soap doesn’t gel, it can take longer to set up. Can you tell me more about what you’re using in your recipe? Also, what temperatures are you using and how are you storing the soap?

      • We use a recipe with coconut oil, olive oil and shea butter that we use for other soaps with no problem. The only differences are we use coffee, add used dried coffee grounds, cocoa for color, and coffee essential oil. We usually keep the temps pretty low (keep the coffee chilled in the fridge), but we’ve never had issues with other bars and we usually keep our distilled water chilled in the fridge too. Any other ideas on what it might be? Thanks so much! 🙂

  6. Hi. I have some coffee essential oil in stock but I am not sure how much to add to my cold process soap. I checked under the fragrance calculator but it’s not there. Do you have any suggestions?

    • A general usage rate for essential oil is .7 oz. per pound of cold process soap. You can also check with the manufacturer to see how much they recommend for your batch.

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  7. I’m new to soapmaking and have been thoroughly enjoying learning all about it! Your tutorials are awesome! I have a question regarding the use of brewed teas – do you suggest boiling distilled water when brewing the tea or just boiling tap water? Thanks!

    • Oh thank you Jeanette, we really appreciate it. Tap water can have microbes or bits of metal inside which does weird things in soap. I would recommend brewing your tea with distilled water for best results.

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  8. Can coffee grounds go bad when using them in soap? We want to make a bunch of soap for our wedding and will be giving them away in 4 months from now. Thanks!

    • Coffee grounds stay stable in the bars! We have coffee soap made a year or so ago and it’s still going strong. Congratulations by the way. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

    • I really need to note that I make coffee soap and the problem that I first came across was the soap molding. I was advised to watch my storage as well as make sure I add Vitamin E at a high BTU to prevent this from occurring. I added to MP as advised a small amount as a top sprinkle layer with a small amount on the inside just to give an added look. I would like more advise on same.

  9. Hello. I want to make a green tea and rose cold processed soap. I want two colors: pink and green. I want to use natural colorants like clay for the pink. I’m disappointed to read that the green tea will turn brown. Is there anyway to have green tea in this soap without the brown color? I’m thinking of using rose essential oil for the fragrance. I can use spirulina for the green if needed, but am stumped on how to have a pink/green swirled soap that is rose and green tea. Any suggestions? Thanks, Tracy

  10. I am a coffee addict and never thought of such idea. Eventually, I tried to quit coffee due to the health issue and now I think this idea of making soap from a coffee can divert my mind to treat coffee only for drink :). Kelsey, can you please provide me any tutorial to make soap from coffee.

    I am eagerly waiting for!

  11. I have a newbie question. Can I add a few tsp or Tbsp of very strongly brewed coffee or tea to M&P bases for a stronger fragrance than just the grounds or leaves?

    Thanks for your help!

  12. Hi.. do you guys happen to have a tutorial for the soap above the doughnut? It looks like it has black in the bottom. Thank you.

    • In my experience used grounds work best. Fresh grounds have more fragrance if you want to use some on the top of your soap, but fresh grounds will bleed too, if that matters to your design.

      • Thanks, yea I made a soap with fresh coffee grounds, oatmeal and cocoa, so it had no fragrance or colour, but the cocoa made it a swirly brown/light brown, so the coffee bleeding didn’t matter….
        Can I ask what you mean by ‘works best’….
        Sorry to be a pain,
        Amanda : )

    • Like Michael, we’ve found used coffee grounds work best. Fresh coffee grounds bleed in soap, creating a halo of color. The used grounds bleed a lot less. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

        • You’re welcome Amanda! So glad you’re loving the blogs. Thanks for saying so. 🙂

          -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  15. I LOVE Bramble Berry’s Espresso FO and so does everyone else! I make a very (very) strong coffee with distilled water, then I freeze it in a zip top bag (lay flat in freezer). I then make my lye mixture with half the water and then add the slushy frozen coffee to that, which seems to keep it from smelling bad. I also add a little cappuccino mica and also a little cocoa powder as the fragrance oil discoloration alone is a little translucent. Just a gold mica top and a few coffee beans and it is a really pretty and amazing smelling bar of soap!

  16. Thank you for the helpful information. I made my first batch of coffee soap this morning using y’all’s coffee butter and absolutely loved it. I froze my coffee before adding lye, it helped a lot. Loaf has a rich coffee smell now…hope it sticks. I should’ve gotten y’all’s FO.. Thank you again for all the information and quality products!

    • You’re welcome Dana, glad you found the post helpful! Coffee butter adds such a lovely feeling to soap. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  17. I love brewed coffee as the liquid in soap. It does smell very bad when you add the lye, but that eventually fades. I have used coffee water to make hot process soap and then add embeds after the cook. I just tried a cold process soap today with coffee grounds in it. It is a bit rough, but it is great on the hair and is great on elbows and feet. For the face, I rub it in my hand and then wash. Coffee is a great additive.

    • Dear A-M, first thanks for all your hard work – I find your blogs and videos very inspirational and iron out some of the little problems I encounter! I like to use herbal teas – but I infuse the oils over several days- or a v v strong infusion and a discount. I use coffee grounds or grind them almost to a powder. I also use high quality cocoa powder – it makes superb soap!! I like to divide the soap batter into 3 or 4 and put different amounts in each. Gives a lovely effect.

    • Coffee is a great additive Eric! We love it, especially here in the Pacific Northwest where we’re all about coffee. 🙂

      Mandy, thank you for your sweet comment! It really means a lot to us. I love herbal teas in soap!

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

  18. Good info to know! I actually made a 1 pound batch of coffee filled soap yesterday for my own personal use. I used half strong coffee and half goat milk for the liquid, and added 3 Tbsp of used coffee grounds. Dirt likes me, so I’m hoping it will help scrub grime off my hands, as well as helping neutralize the stink on my hands from touching my rutting bucks!

    • Oh honey, i hear you! I am paranoid everyone is looking at me everywhere I go because of my “buck in rut” cologne. Ick!

      • Haha, Karen and Lyndi, what does that smell like??!!?! 😂

        I also love Espresso FO, smells good and strong. 😃

        • Coffee grounds are so nice and scrubby, they get off dirt in no time! Also, glad to hear they help with buck rut. I’m not sure what that smells like, but I imagine it’s pretty pungent! 🙂

          -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

        • Martina, if you really want to know, check craigslist for goat milk and ask the seller if you can stand downwind of the buck pen 😄 I’m warning you though, you’ll regret it! I currently have two, and they just love to rub all over my legs like a cat. Then I’ll scratch their heads, and phew, do my hands stink! Bucks can be so disgusting, they adore their own “perfume” and saturate their own tummies, legs, and heads with pee.

  19. I love BB Espresso FO and coffee butter for making my coffee soaps, I use coffee grounds sometimes but haven’t actually ever used brewed coffee as a liquid – will have to try that and see how I like it. I like the FO so well I don’t want to adversely change the fragrance!

    • I love Espresso Fragrance Oil! Using coffee in the soap can enhance that fragrance a bit. It does smell a bit unpleasant when you’re adding the lye, but that scent goes away as the soap cures. 🙂

      -Kelsey with Bramble Berry

Trackbacks