What better way to start off this new year than with a fresh, clean slate … and a fresh, clean soap recipe? This green tea and lemon grass bar was my first try at cold process soap and I don’t think I could be more pleased with the results. The scent is lovely without being overwhelming and the bars are luxe and beautiful. Even after experimenting with my own special blend of oils to get the perfect consistency, it ended up being exactly what I had hoped – the perfect balance of cleansing and conditioning. Spa day anyone?
My favorite part about it is the main ingredient is lard … from the pigs we processed this last year. I can’t even describe how good of a feeling it is to be able to repurpose and be resourceful. It’s such a rewarding experience.
New to soap making?
Check out the Royal Soaps YouTube channel for all the resources I used to learn, including how to videos and what you'll need to get started.
Ingredients
This recipe makes 10 bars of soap in a 42 oz mold.
- Green Tea – 14.06 ounces
- Lye – 5.15 ounces
- Lard (Pig Tallow) – 11.10 ounces
- Shea Butter – 7.40 ounces
- Olive Oil – 9.99 ounces
- Coconut Oil – 8.51 ounces
- Lemongrass Essential Oil – 1.16 ounces
- Green and yellow mica powder pigments
- Green Tea Leaves (from brewed tea bags) – 6 teaspoons
Optional:
- Dried lemongrass leaves
- 99% isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle
- Gold mica powder pigment
Step by Step
1. Brew Your Tea
Double the amount of green tea you would normally use for 14.06 ounces of water. Set the used leaves aside for later. Make sure that there is still 14.06 ounces of tea by supplementing with additional water to account for steam.
IMPORTANT: Your tea must be cool before moving to the next step. Allow tea to cool to room temperature (or put in the refrigerator before continuing). To minimize steam from your lye solution in the next steps and practice better safety, pour half of your tea into ice cube trays and freeze them.
2. Make Your Lye Solution
Lye can be a very dangerous chemical when not handled safely and with precaution. If you are not already educated on how to make a lye solution and prepared to safely proceed with the necessary safety equipment, please do not proceed. You can learn more about lye here.
Proceed with making your lye solution by replacing the water with your green tea and ice cubes.
FRIENDLY REMINDER: Pour lye into tea – do NOT pour tea into lye.
3. Measure Your Oils
Prepare all of your oil measurements for the lard, shea butter, olive oil, and coconut oil.
4. Make Your Batch of Soap
Proceed with making your soap batch like normal.
5. Add Scents
This recipe calls for lemongrass essential oil. Add 1.16 oz to your mixture.
6. Add Visual Interest
Now, you can add in the tea leaves you saved as well as the green and yellow mica pigments. The amount of pigment can be adjusted based on your desired appearance.
7. Mix and Pour
8. Get Creative!
Over the next few hours, monitor the progression of your soap as it begins to harden. As soon as it’s at a point where it will start holding its form, you can take a plastic spoon and pull up the batch from different angles on the top to create texture to the bar. Sprinkle some gold mica on top as well as dried lemongrass leaves. Seal the deal by spritzing the top of your design with alcohol.
9. Let it saponify
Give your soap 48 hours to saponify in its mold. Saponification is a chemical reaction that occurs when lye mixes with other oils and fats in order to create soap.
10. Let it Cure
Curing is the process of pulling water out of something (usually using salt, sugar, or a combination of ingredients) to get it to a place of preservation. In this case, you will need to wait 4-6 weeks before using your soap while you wait for it fully cure, removing excess water and drying the bar into a fully hardened state. Once the bar is hardened (this usually occurs a weeks into the curing process), you can remove the bar from the mold and cut it into 1″ sliced bars and store them in a cool, dark place (like a shoebox) for the remainder of the curing process.
I’d loved to see your completed creations! Feel free to tag me on social media. Do you have a favorite soap recipe you like to make?
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