soapformulator
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Other liquids

Black tea (brewed)

Replaces some or all of the water. Tan to brown. Soap Queen supplier or guide

Try it in the lye calculator

Opens the calculator’s starter recipe, 1000 g of oils, with this additive at the dose it fills in, ready to change.

What it is

Brewed black tea, nearly all water. The lye turns the solution dark brown.

USDA FoodData Central primary source, Soap Queen supplier or guide

How much

The calculator fills in 100 % of the water: 283 g for the 1000 g of oils in its starter recipe.

When and how

  • Usually: as the lye liquid.
  • Also used: at light trace.
  • At light trace: Stir it in as it is.
  • Chill it well before the lye goes in.

Soap Queen supplier or guide, Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source

What it does to the recipe

  • 99.7 % is water, taken off the recipe’s water.

USDA FoodData Central primary source

Worth knowing

Spoons and drops

  • 1 tsp ≈ 4.94 g
  • 1 tbsp ≈ 14.8 g
  • 1 cup ≈ 237 g

USDA FoodData Central primary source

INCI name

Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract

CAS number
84650-60-2
EC number
283-519-7
As weighed
Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract 0.3 %, Aqua 99.7 %

Recipes that use it

Guides that discuss it

Sources

Soap Queen · supplier or guide

Soap Queen, black tea soap: brewed tea for the water, cooled to about 70 °F; the lye solution turns dark brown; "without a water discount, we got a lot of glycerin rivers".

USDA FoodData Central · primary source

USDA FoodData Central, food 173227: Tea, black, brewed.

Faiola, Pure Soapmaking · primary source

Anne-Marie Faiola, Pure Soapmaking (Storey Publishing, 2016), recipes in chapters 8–10. 100% Castile-Brine Stamped Cube: "1 tablespoon sea salt" dissolved in the water before the lye, for 33 oz of olive oil. Oatmeal Soap for Babies: "2 teaspoons bentonite clay dispersed into 4 tablespoons distilled water" and "2 tablespoons colloidal oatmeal" at thin trace, for 15.1 oz of oils whose olive oil is infused with "2 tablespoons Egyptian chamomile" in a teabag in 14.5 oz of oil, 2 hours in a double boiler. Nettle & Yarrow Upcycle: "2 teaspoons dried yarrow powder dispersed into 1 tablespoon apricot kernel oil" in one of two halves of 24.1 oz of oils. Buttermilk Honeycombs: "3 tablespoons honey" at thin trace for 25.1 oz of oils. Banana Cream Pie Layered Bars: "1.2 ounces banana, 1.5 ounces whipping cream, and 1.5 ounces water, pureed" at thin trace for 35.2 oz of oils, then the freezer "for 24 hours to avoid overheating from the sugars in the banana". Annatto-Yarrow with Embeds: "1 tablespoon spirulina powder" and "1 teaspoon yarrow powder", added "directly to the hot lye-water", for 7.1 oz of oils; "2 tablespoons poppy seeds" in one of two halves of 34 oz of oils. Cucumber Layers: "1 ounce cucumber puree" into the whole batch at thin trace, 22 oz of oils. Gardener Scrub with Coffee Grounds: 50 oz of oils, the batter divided "into four exactly equal sections", one each for "5 teaspoons paprika", "5 teaspoons ground orange peel dispersed into 1 tablespoon of canola oil", "5 teaspoons brewed coffee grounds" and "10 teaspoons green zeolite clay". Indigo-Annatto Negative-Space Funnel Pour: "1.5 tablespoons indigo powder" whisked into the lye-water and "1 tablespoon alkanet root powder dispersed into 1 ounce sunflower oil" at very thin trace, 35.2 oz of oils; "In order to bring out the best color for the indigo powder, the soap must go through a hot gel phase". Black Tea Funnel Pour: 5.5 oz of brewed black tea added at thin trace, 5.5 oz of water for the lye, 33.1 oz of oils. Goat Milk Sunset Burst: "0.7 ounce goat milk powder dissolved in 1 ounce distilled water" for 17.1 oz of oils and "1 ounce goat milk powder" for 25.2 oz, added at trace: "To help avoid scorching, this recipe incorporates the goat milk by using a concentrated solution of powdered goat milk."

Su et al. · primary source

Su et al., stability of tea catechins and theaflavins: "vulnerable to degradation caused by elevation of temperature and pH".

All 138 additives