Coffee + Mint Cold Process Soap Recipe

This cold process soap combines two of my favourite aromas… coffee and peppermint.

This recipe is palm free, and contains lots of goodies such as freshly ground coffee, creamy cocoa butter and pure peppermint essential oil.

Aside from adding an awesome “scrubbiness” to the soap, coffee has lots of other benefits such as being skin softening, anti inflammatory, reduces redness, helps reduce cellulite and is full of antioxidants. Why wouldn’t you want to use a coffee soap!?

Peppermint essential oil is also fantastic for your skin, it helps relieve itching, inflammation and sunburn. Softens skin, removes blackheads and helps with oily skin.

This cold process soap uses coffee in two ways. I’ve replaced the water content of the recipe entirely with freshly brewed coffee which gives a rich coffee aroma and a very dark brown colour, then the used grounds are mixed in the soap for exfoliation.

Because the coffee causes the soap to discolour to a very dark brown, we won’t be adding any colourants as there wouldn’t be much point, the brown will overpower anything else. That’s OK, because I think the brown colour is perfect for this soap.

As usual, before making cold process soap, please ensure that your work area is safe. Make sure kids, pets, and other distractions and tripping hazards are out of the way. Always soap in a well-ventilated area. Always wear eye protection, gloves and long sleeves for safety!

Coffee Prep

Measure out the distilled water and bring to the boil. Add the coffee and boiled water to a coffee plunger and brew the coffee. I let mine brew for about 10 minutes because I was doing a few other things, but a few minutes would suffice. Strain the coffee into a measuring jug and pop in the fridge or freezer to cool completely. Save the used grounds for adding to the cold process soap later.

Instructions

Step One:

Add the lye very slowly and carefully to the fully cooled coffee, stir gently until the lye is completely dissolved. Because the coffee is so dark, it’s hard to see if the lye has dissolved so to be on the safe side, stir for a bit longer than usual. Once you’re sure the lye has completely dissolved, set aside in a safe area to cool.

Step Two:

Combine the coconut oil, olive oil and cocoa butter into a heat safe container and fully melt. Once the lye has cooled to between 40-50C add the sodium lactate to the lye water and mix. Once both the oils and the lye are between 40-50C slowly add the lye to the oils and stick blend until you reach a thin trace. Add the fragrance and essential oils and stick blend until you reach a medium trace (this has the consistency of pudding).

Step Three:

Add the coffee grounds and stir in with a spatula until evenly incorporated. If you add the coffee grounds before medium trace they might sink to the bottom of the soap.

Pour the soap into the mould. For this recipe I’m using a silicone loaf mould but you can use any mould you have on hand. Just adjust the quantity of soap by using the percentages I provided for the oils and running your new recipe through Soap Calc to get the correct amounts of lye and water.

Step Four:

To get a textured top, use a spoon to create the peaks by pushing the soap towards the centre and angling the spoon around. There is no right or wrong way to texture your soap tops so go nuts!

Spritz the top with isopropyl alcohol, this can help prevent soda ash from forming. Cover the soap and allow to sit in the mould for 24 hours before cutting. Allow the bars to cure for 4-6 weeks then enjoy this coffee & minty goodness!

Note, the soap will get even darker over the next few days as it cures to eventually be a very dark brown.

Cutting and Curing

Usually I un-mould and cut my soaps within 48 hours.

Once cut, let the bars cure in a well ventilated area for at least 6-8 weeks. Although, the longer you leave it to cure, the longer it will last in the shower!

Notes

You can substitute the peppermint essential oil for peppermint fragrance oil.

Some of my other favourite fragrance oils for this soap are Cafe Mocha or Smoked Coffee Whiskey