Homemade Green Tea and Lemongrass Soap Recipe

hand made organic soap
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Project Overview
  • Total Time: 12 hrs
  • Skill Level: Beginner

A popular soap scent for "spa" gift baskets is green tea and lemongrass. Eucalyptus essential oil is used in this DIY recipe to balance the heavy citrus sweetness of the lemongrass and used green tea instead of water.

For the soap, you can use the combination of oils below, or make it with any basic soap recipe.

What You'll Need

Materials

  • 8.3 ounces palm oil
  • 5.5 ounces palm kernel oil
  • 6.4 ounces coconut oil
  • 2.3 ounces cocoa butter
  • 11 ounces olive oil
  • 2.8 ounces castor oil
  • 4.6 ounces soybean oil
  • 5 ounces sunflower oil
  • 6.4 ounces lye
  • 13 ounces of strongly brewed green tea
  • 4 to 8 teaspoons steeped green tea leaves (leftover from the tea making)
  • 1 ounces eucalyptus essential oil
  • 1 ounces lemongrass essential oil
  • Yellow and green oxide swirl (optional)

Instructions

  1. Make Green Tea

    Make at least 13 ounces of double-strength green tea. Save the steeped leaves for later. Let the tea cool completely.

  2. Make Lye Solution

    Following the instructions in making soap with liquids other than water, make your lye solution. Again, it can't be stressed enough that the tea is completely (refrigerated is an even better option) cooled off before you make your lye solution.

  3. Measure Oils

    Measure out all of your oils, essential oils, and colorants (if you're using colorants).

  4. Make Soap Batch

    Make your soap batch as you normally would, following basic soap making instructions.

  5. Add Essential Oils

    At trace, add the lemongrass and eucalyptus essential oils, and add about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the steeped green tea leaves per pound of oils. In the above recipe, that's about 4 to 8 teaspoons of leaves.

  6. Stir

    Stir well. Add your colorants/swirl, if desired.

  7. Pour and Saponify

    Pour into the mold of your choice. Let it saponify overnight. Slice it when it's firm enough to slice.

Let it cure for 3 to 4 weeks before using.