| Okay, I admit I am a complete and total Java junkie. However China is a predominately a tea drinking culture. Don’t get me wrong, I love tea. I just happen to be craving coffee and it kills me because here in a Beijing a simple cup of joe is a little more expensive than what I am used to. By the end of the week, we will have a coffee lovers dream body care basket! So come join me for a good old fashioned coffee fix.
I wanted to start this coffee fix goodie basket with a soap. I mean, can you think of a better pick me up than a coffee soap as you groggily stumble into the shower in the morning? I can’t! I think a coffee soap sounds so good I might need to have a bar at every sink, including the ones at work! Yum! For this recipe, I only used a quarter of an ounce of coffee oil. I thought it would give me a nice strong scent while still allowing the soap to be economical to make. I thought a full ounce of coffee oil would actually be overpowering. Also, only use a quarter of an ounce still made made me comfortable enough to use another luxury oil. Isn’t that great?! Coffee lovers, take heart! If the expense of the coffee oil has deterred you before, let it no longer! While it seem a little pricy, so little is actually needed that it is actually quiet economical to add to you cupboard. Try some today. You will be glad you did! I used Palm Kernel Oil so I would have a nice firm bar and lots of wonderful lather. Palm Kernel Oil is one of my favorite oils for soap. I am easily distraught if I have run out! It is a great oil to have on hand. It is also economical. It makes a wonderful bar of soap without making the cost rocket sky high. Hydrogenated Soybean Oil also helps keep the cost of the soap down. Its benefits are that is is easily found, makes a smooth hard bar. It also makes a beautiful white bar. This contributed to the Latte like color of the soap. Isn’t it beautiful? Another easily found oil is Olive Oil. I like Olive Oil because it gives a soap a very dense, creamy lather. I always feel like when blended with other oils that have lots of lather, you have the perfect bar. Olive Oil is also conditioning to the skin. Have you ever used a bar of soap that is made just from Olive Oil? Try one! The lather and your skin feel heavenly! I wanted to use another luxury oil besides the Coffee Oil in this recipe. I decided on Shea Butter. Shea Butter is one of my favorite luxury oils for soap. I personally think it adds a creaminess and conditioning that perfect for the this delectable bar of Coffee Oil soap. Are you ready to make soap now? Let’s go!
Recipe:
Weigh all of the oils into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until liquid. Add the Sodium Hydroxide to the water to form a lye solution. Allow the oils and the lye to cool to a lower temperature. We do not want to have the soap overheat and volcano. Mix the oils and lye solution and blend until trace is achieved. Pour into a mold and allow to sit for 24 hours. Cut the soap. Allow the soap to cure. Longer curing time will result in a harder bar. Enjoy!
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 Finished Coffee Soap  Weighing Oils  Heated Oils  Adding Lye Solution to Oils  Mixing Soap  Soap in Mold |
What? No coffee for the liquid? No grounds for grit? Oh yes, you did say that coffee is pricey there… not so pricey here, so I’ll prolly be subbing them… hope that doesn’t make you drool too much. LOL …and this is meant to be an economical bar of soap, so I get that. I’m looking forward to seeing how this coffee lovers dream body care basket shapes up. Good idea! Especially since I’m working on something similar right now. ; ) THANKS, TAYLOR!
Oh! That sounds so yummy. I am having to make do on instant coffee. I so miss the local roaster and coffee shop. While I know I will miss the tea when I get home, I miss coffee now. Sigh, always wanting what I can’t have. 😉
I made soap with coffee as the liquid (super duper STRONG coffee!), and with grounds for grit – but I ended up with no coffee scent at all, and the grounds were SOOOO scrapy that it actually hurt! I’d love to hear if you have a better way of doing it!!!
The coffee oil will rescue you!
This recipe uses 16 total ounces of oil/butter … if I typically do a batch with 50 ounces, I’m guessing I’d need to use close to an ounce of the coffee oil to get the same scent, yes? I LOOOVE that this isn’t a fragrance oil, btw! What percentage would you use in lip balm?
That sounds about right. For a lip balm I would probably use any where from 0.5% to 2%. This would depend on how strong you would want it.
I love using coffee oil and coffee butter in lotions and lip balms. I’ll have to try it in soap!
Hmmmmm….while I am not a coffee drinker, I love the smell of it. I have been eyeing the coffee oil for a while now, and this makes me feel like it may be doable on a regular basis. Thanks for the usage info!
Sounds divine!
I can’t stand the taste of coffee but I sure love the scent of it.
Mmmm! Coffee! 🙂 How strong is the fragrance of the coffee oil in the soap? Would you still need some sort of coffee fragrance oil?
Thanks!
-Cheyenne
Think more like a latte. However, if you wanted it stronger you could certainly use a fragrance oil. Enjoy!
THANK YOU THANK YO THANK YOU!!! Been waiting for just this recipe using coffee oil! You need to work on MORE! Is the lye in grams 62? I think you put ounces in the gram recipe? Is there any substitute for palm kernal oil here?? Would LOVE to make this over the weekend but, alas, no PK oil on hand
You can use Coconut or Palm Oil. Just make sure to recalculate for the lye. Have a great time!
I am suprised at how white this is compared to what it looked like when it was still a liquid. Does it still have the coffee smell from the coffee oil?
It does have a nice mild coffee odor. It is wonderful and it even gets stronger when wet! Whoot!
Ooooohhhhh, I am sooooo going to have to get some coffee oil, love the coffee scent, the real thing, not the fake coffee smell!!!
Where do you get your coffee oil? I’ve seen a number of “recipes” online for mixing ground coffee with oil to make “coffee oil” infusion. And many of the online sources of “coffee oil” are really selling FO. Is the coffee oil that you’re using an essential oil?
Thanks!
The coffee oil is in our catalog. TheSage.com
It is a fixed oil and is wonderful. Not an essential oil at all!
Tina
Oh what a fun idea! I wondered if the coffee scent made it through saponification or not. Good to know it did ^.^