I love the smell of coffee. I do not drink coffee,  by the time I get done adding sugar and cream to a cup of coffee it would be considered a meal calorie wise so I just don’t drink coffee. I do however, love coffee ice cream, and all things scented coffee.

I have made several varieties of coffee soap over the years but this one is my favorite so far…   the longer we soap the more adventurous we become with our recipes, superfatting and oils.

The expresso fragrance oil I used in this recipe I purchased from brambleberry and it just smells absolutely delicious.

This soap uses 64 ounces of oil and I used a 5lb wooden loaf soap mold. If you have never created cold process soap, you may want to start with a simpler recipe. Don’t forget to use PPE when created your soap. I do not give lye and water amounts here, you should always run your recipe through a lye calculator.

3.2 oz.  Almond oil sweet

3.2 oz  Avocado Butter

16 oz    coffee butter

6.4 oz Cocoa Butter

6.4 oz  coconut oil, 76 degree

5.76 oz coconut oil, fractionated

1.92 oz Karanja oil

3.2 oz Shea Butter

3.2 oz Ucuuba Butter

14.72 oz Olive Oil

2 tsp Cappuccino Mica

2 tsp Titanium Dioxide

1tsp super pearly white Mica which I mixed in with the titanium dioxide to give the flat white some pearly color.

3 oz expresso fragrance oil 

3 tbs of coffee grounds

some whole coffee beans for the top of my soap.

4% superfat

after melting down all of my butters and oils. I mixed my lye water and let them both cool down to around 110. Mixed my lye into my oils using a stick blender, added my fragrance oil then separated out 30% to mix with my cappuccino Mica while mixing the other 60% with my titanium dioxide to make the batter a lighter color with all of the dark butters/oils I used.

I mixed the 3 tbs of coffee grounds with the lighter mix and then alternated pouring the lighter mix first, then some of the cappuccino mix and kept going until I was all out of both.  I used a wooden disposable chop stick to swirl the mix at the top of the soap only placing my coffee beans in when I was done. Then covered and waited 24 hours before unmolding and 48 hours before cutting. I like how it came out, I am sure I can perfect the look the next time I make it, it smells so yummy I love it.

If you have any questions or even some suggestions  please feel free to comment. Their is no such thing as bad suggestions or questions.

 

In this recipe I only used 60% coconut oil, and found as you can see in the picture when you zoom in it crumbles a little around the bottom, but I also sprinkled salt in the bottom of the mold which may have contributed to the crumbling. The center of the bars are great, firm no crumbling at all.

This post does not go into the safety measures of cold process soap making, if you have never made cold process soap before please make sure you follow safety precautions when soaping.

This soap used 48oz of oils the percentages and oils used were

60% coconut oil, 76 degree

10% olive oil

10% Ucuuba Butter

10% Shea Butter

10% Avocado Oil

24 ounces of extra fine pink Himalayan sea salt (from SaltWorks)

20% Super fat

2 tsp buttercup Mica from brambleberry dispersed in 2 tbs of Fractionated Coconut Oil

As you can tell from the picture, I did an awful job of blending the colors in this soap. So although not beautiful, or perfect the soap works great. This soap does not dry you out in the shower, or leave you sticky. Overall the soap turned out ok. I think I will try this recipe again using 65-70% coconut oil, maybe take out avocado oil and not adding salt to the bottom of the mold and see if I like it even more. So far I like my Lemon Lime salt Bar recipe best.

If you have any questions/comments or would like to share your ideas, or let me know your thoughts on ways to improve this recipe please let me know I would love to hear from you.

 

 

I made a CP Salt bar for the first time 2 years ago, and loved it.  So as I was standing in my workspace thinking of what to make next I decided maybe it was time to experiment more with salt bars.

This post is may  not be suitable for a first time cold process soap makers, I do not go into details on safety, or temperatures but if you need this information I would be happy to send it you. If you have never made Cold process soap before please make sure you research the safety precautions for soapmaking and working with lye.

If you like using silicone molds Salt Bars are an excellent choice because they just pop out of the mold every time.

I have read how many soap makers like to make their salt bars 90-100% Coconut oil. I usually make mine more like 60-70% Coconut oil but as with almost everything in CP soap making  when it comes to oils it is a preference and it is all up to the maker, you can try just about anything to see what happens, sometimes it may not work out, and sometimes the result are just amazing.

Theses Lemon Lime CP Salt bars smell amazing, and turned out very well. Here is my recipe in percentages,  you can run thru your preferred Lye calculator.

I usually use soapcalc.net/calc/soapcalcwp.asp because they have just about every oil and butter imaginable in their calculator.  I also like Brambleberry’s Lye calculator but it does not have Karanja oil or Ucuuba butter on it which are two ingredients I like to use in many of my soaps.

40 ounces of oils

52.5% Coconut Oil, 76 degree

20% Coconut Oil, Fractionated

17.25% Olive Oil

10.25% Ucuuba Butter

20 ounces of sea salt (I used fine grain Pacific Sea Salt from SaltWorks for this recipe)

2 tsp Kelly Green Mica from Brambleberry dispersered with 2 tbs of fractionated coconut oil.

Once I mixed the oils, lye, Essential oil and got to thin trace, I added the 20 ounces of salt and stirred in slowly making sure the salt was mixed in well.  I poured part (30%) of the soap mix into a glass Pyrex container and mixed with the dispersed Kelly green Mica.

I then poured one color, then the other until all of the molds were filled and used a disposable wooden chop stick to swirl the green into the soap. I let set for about 12 hours and they popped right out of the molds no problems and are pictured at the top.

I used a 12 cavity silicone round soap mold and I still had a little bit of soap left so I poured the remaining into 3 cavity’s of a 6 cavity silicone loaf bar mold.

The first time I made cold process soap in a wooden loaf mold, I did not line it at all and learned that even though you don’t have to line your wooden soap molds, it sure can make your life easier. The second time I used the mold I thought ok let’s try wax paper.

Wax paper works, but it is so thin and it tends to stick to the soap making it very hard to pull it all off of the soap at once. I find myself having to pick tiny little remnants of wax paper out of the corners and it can be quite time consuming making sure you get all of it off your soap. Sometimes I find it easier to just cut off the ends and throw them out or use them at home.

Freezer paper on the other hand, works so  much better. It is a thicker more stable liner for the inside of a wood mold, or other molds you may choose to use. Comes right off of your soap when you un-mold it. I was so excited the first time I tried it.

Some soapers prefer to purchase silicone liners, but I purchase my wooden soap mold from a couple who make them and I can not always find the right size silicone liner to fit inside my wooden loaf mold. I have heard you can make your own silicone mold but I have not tried that yet. Maybe in a future post.

If you ever find yourself in the kitchen about  to make a batch of soap and are trying decide what to line your mold with, pass right by the wax paper and head for the Freezer paper.  I have purchased both name brand and store brand Freezer paper and have great results with both.

If you have used something different please let me know what you have found works well to line your soap molds.

 

Marcia

At first I was not sure about exfoliating soap bars. I for one have a really sensitive face, so the thought of using an exfoliating soap bar on my face just seemed harsh.

Of course over time I have learned exfoliants do not have to be harsh, they have some really gentle exfoliants you can add to a bar of soap that will still be wonderful for a sensitive face like my own. For instance JoJoba beads are  not too harsh for the face, oatmeal finely ground, sugar, pumice are all good for use in a facial soap.

I made the soap pictured above, it smells good enough to eat in blueberry/strawberry, and I feel I got a little over zealous with the strawberry and blueberry seeds.  After the soap cured and I went to try it out I saw all of those seeds, and thought no way am I using this on my face.

So after thinking about it for a few minutes I decided to try it out on my legs, I needed to shave and my legs were dry, … so I got into the shower and prepared to use the bar in my legs.

Have you ever ever scratched a bug bite, or your dry arms/legs and you can see the white scratches you are leaving but it feels really good so you just scratch harder? It may just be me, that something weird only I do… but when I used this bar on my legs it felt so good on my dry skin I used it everywhere even my feet, and I feel like I was really scrubbing hard it felt so good on my dry skin and didn’t hurt at all.

Which then got me to thinking why did I think an exfoliating bar has to be for your face? Or even your feet, why not start making exfoliating body bars? Whose body doesn’t need a really good scrubbing every now and then?

Think about it, when your outside doing lawn work, hot sweaty, bug bites, then you can go in the house and get cleaned up with a great exfoliating body bar before settling down on the couch for some tv or making another batch of soap.

I wanted to make some new shampoo bars, but I was having a hard time figuring out what I wanted to try  next. My fist couple were just your pretty basic shampoo bars, this time I really wanted to do something a little outside the box.

In researching I came across some sites that referenced using Apple cider vinegar in place of distilled water when mixing the lye. Of course I also came across some sites that said do not mix your lye with Apple cider vinegar it will not come out.

So of course I had to try it, right? Right, I had to know for myself if this would work,  so I set out on making a shampoo bar with Apple cider vinegar in place of distilled water. I also wanted to use several hair loving oils, and butters but not the standard shea butter, coco butter, olive oil, coconut oil you usually see.

In general I tend to stay away from short shelf life oils, unless I have a specific recipe I am going to make that requires sunflower, hazelnut, soybean, wheat germ, and walnut oil.  I keep my sweet almond oil refrigerated so it remains good for 1 year.

I used braggs Apple cider vinegar, but if you wanted to try making this soap I would think any Apple cider vinegar would work the same.

I measured out my Apple cider vinegar and lye and set them both to the side. I then measured out my DL Panthenol, water and citric acid, mixed them together then set the mixed solution to the side.

I mixed all of my oils,  and when the oils and lye water were within 10 degrees of each other I poured the lye water into my oils and using a stick blender mixed them together for a minute and added the dl-panthenol and citrus acid mix and blended until I started reaching thin trace and added my peppermint rosemary essential oils. When the batch was ready to pour I poured into (2) 2lb loaf molds, covered and left for apporimately 24 hours before I unmolded.

After 3 days I cut the loafs into bars . Maybe I should have cut after 24 hours, or waited longer not sure which. At first I thought this loaf was going to end up crumbling on me, but it didn’t. After 6 weeks I used it and loved it.

I feel I made this bar work but it does not look amazing, so I will continue to try this different ways to see if I can master making this work and look amazing.  Let me know if you have tried and succeeded.