Chai Tea Soap!

I first tried chai tea (the actual beverage) when I was about 16 years old, in a now-long-gone coffeehouse on Bardstown Road in Louisville, KY (Twice Told Coffeehouse, guys - *tear*). They even offered a chai shake that was to die for. When I started selling soap, nailing a chai tea scent for soap became a huge priority. Spicy, sweet and warm - who wouldn't be thrilled with that combination?

Chai Tea Soap. A bit spicy, but very much like the real thing!

I went through several, ahem, "drafts" of this soap. I knew I wanted the color split, a sprinkle of nutmeg on top, and soap curls on one side. The color split, believe it or not, is the toughest thing to pull off! Vanilla and vanilla-based items tend to make soap turn brown. I found that I got the most authentic chai tea scent when I used (of course) real chai tea extract (which I make myself from bags of certified organic chai tea). The extract is oil-based and takes several months to make; I tend to have several mason jars of it going at any given time!

Infusing!

When I make this soap, I measure out my butters and oils with a discount in the olive oil. The entire batch is scented with a blend of mace, clove, cinnamon, and ginger essential oils (all at skin-safe levels according to IFRA guidelines for soap). I then carefully split my batch by weight and add in the discounted olive oil to each pot: regular olive oil goes into the soap batter that's intended to go white, and vanilla oleoresin and chai tea extract (in olive oil) goes into my "brown" pot. Vanilla naturally turns soap brown due to its vanillin content, which works perfectly for the design of this soap! 

So where's the math? Well, for every batch I make, I have to carefully calculate the amount of lye that I use in order to turn all of my butters and oils into soap. In fact, I actually discount my lye amount (as most soapers do) in order to have a % of free/unsaponified oils and butters in my soap, which makes it extra moisturizing! I have a regular recipe that I use for most of my soaps (the ones with the super high shea butter content) and I tend to follow that base recipe with variations on scent and color. For this particular soap, it's less straightforward as I have to account for extra oils with my extract. So it's back to the calculator!

Curls, the dregs of my last infusion, and powdered nutmeg for the top!

In the mold, mission accomplished!

The result, thankfully, is very much worth the effort! Chai Tea is a popular bar with quite the following - great for folks who can't decide which bar to start off with!

Available here: Chai Tea Soap

Jennifer