Extracting Tea? For soaps, scrubs, balms, ect.
So I’m planning on attempting to extract the essence of some tea that I like the smell of, but can’t seem to brew quite right. I want to use it for things like sugar scrubs or lip balms, all that good stuff. Has anyone done this? I don’t want to just put tea into soap, that doesn’t feel like I’m getting the most out of it, you know? Has anyone got any knowledge they can loan me?
I’ll also use this thread to keep updates on how it goes.
Tea aromas and flavors extract better into something with a fat component. (Like when you make tea truffles or chocolate and you want maximum tea flavor, you should infuse it directly into heavy cream.) Maybe try adding an amount of jajoba, coconut, or the oil that will be in your final product into what you’re steeping. Otherwise infuse oils directly with the tea for extended periods. If you’re trying directly to make essential oil directly and go from there, you’re looking at something more like what aardvarkcheeselog has posted.
Okay, so it’s a bit like spices in that way? I was thinking of possibly steeping directly in coconut oil or something. I just don’t know if the temperatures and whatnot should be considered. For instance, 212F degrees is sort of overkill for oil, but it’s what black teas should be steeped at with water, right? So…? Ignore temperatures?
If you’re steeping directly in the oil (which is what I’d honestly recommend to avoid water solubility in something like lip gloss) I’d put your leaf in the water and walk away for weeks and just let it infuse. If you’re using water (and not drinking it) there’s not a real reason to mind temperature or time of general steeping parameters either. (And I think tea steeped too long at boiling kind of smells…off anyway)
I know someone who sells a Camellia tea oil and balm, maybe that’ll give some inspiration?
https://treasuregreen.com/products/camellia-tea-oil-essential-oil-body-blend
https://treasuregreen.com/collections/everything-wonder-balm-swan-by-kwan
Okay, so attempt #1 was… well it was a bust. I decided to use coconut oil because everyone praises coconut oil for it’s health benefits. I personally don’t like the smell, but it does make skin soft. I may have added way too many leaves for my oil, but more on that later. As the oil is more or less solid at room temperature, I melted it and put it with the leaves. I left them a few hours, but it still only smelled like coconut. :/ The sugar scrub itself after using this was like any other homemade sugar scrub. Today I’m going to put some tea leaves in some vegetable oil and we’ll leave it and see what happens.
The coconut smell of the oil is going to be pretty strong if you go with anything unprocessed or organic. I’m not sure if you could actually add enough tea to counteract that.
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