one two three jump!: Homemade Tea Soap

My good pal Katrina had a great idea to make homemade tea soap to give out as Christmas gifts to her daughters' teachers at school. Having never done this ourselves, we went ahead and dove right in. What could go wrong.. right?!

We used both Goats Milk Soap base and Shea Butter Soap base for our soaps.
They set up pretty much the same and had the same final result.

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Our teas included Celestial Seasonings Chai Tea, Lipton Cranberry Pomegranate Green Tea, and a Vanilla Caramel Truffle tea.. Mmm.. it was hard not to drink up all that tea.. especially the Chai!
I'm thinking any tea would work well, whatever your preference.

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We searched around for soap molds, but couldn't find any we really liked, so Katrina picked up a cheap 8x8 cake pan to use..our plan being once the pan was filled with soap, we'd let it cool and harden, then cut into soap bricks.

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For our soap, we used half of a 32 oz package of soap base for our first layer, then after that layer had hardened, we melted the remaining soap base, added different tea, and poured it on top. If you are not making layers of different scents/colors of soaps, I'd melt the entire 32 ounces of soap. This amount with the 8x8 pan will have you end up with a good size soap brick.

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What you will need:

Soap base- 32 oz package or however much you prefer.

Soap molds or 8x8 pan

Microwave safe bowl

Spatula

Butter knife

Tea

Step One:
Heat desired amount of soap base in the microwave for 40 seconds on high, then 10 second intervals until melted. Or if you prefer you may melt your soap in a double boiler.

Step Two:
Once completely melted, add desired amount of tea. We used one type of tea for each batch. We used quite a lot of bags.. I want to say maybe 10? It's your preference. If you prefer to add any oils, now would be the time. Stir.

Step Three:
Pour your soap into your pan or mold. Use a spatula to scrape along the edges of your bowl to get all of that tea goodness in your soap. Let it cool for about 30 minutes or longer.

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As I stated above, we made a 2nd batch, using different tea, and poured it on top of the hardened soap for a layered effect. This is the time to do that step if you want..
One note- the green tea will turn out a green color, so if you want a single colored soap, do one entire batch (using the 32 ounces) with just green tea.

Can you see the two-toned colors of the teas in this picture? The bottom layer is the green tea.

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Step Four:
If using a mold, tip upside down and apply gentle pressure to release.

For the pan, we scored the soap to the desired size using a butter knife. We then set the pan on an oven burner that was on low for a minute or so to get the bottom a little melty so we could pop it out.