How to Make Pretty + Exfoliating Coffee Soap
This coffee soap recipe adds coffee grounds for exfoliation and brewed coffee for color to a well-balanced, moisturizing bar soap. An easy-to-make and beautiful cold-process soap recipe.
Coffee Ground Soap
Equipment
- goggles and gloves
- pyrex measuring cup
- old pot or saucepan
Ingredients
- 10 ounces cooled brewed coffee
- 4.3 ounces lye
- 9 ounces coconut oil
- 9 ounces olive oil
- 2 ounces castor oi
- 8 ounces palm oil
- 2 ounces shea butter
- 2 tablespoons ground coffee
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Instructions
- Make the lye and coffee solution. Measure out the lye and coffee in separate containers using a digital scale. The coffee must be cooled to room temperatue. Carefully add the lye to the coffee and stir until it is fully dissolved. The liqiud will shoot up in temperature and give off a burned coffee smell. Set aside to cool in a safe place.
- Melt the oil and butters. Measure the oils separately, then combine them in a large pot. Melt the over medium-low heat until the shea butter is fully melted. Set aside to cool.
- Stick blend to trace. Once the coffee solution and oils have both cooled to about 100-115 degrees, it's time to blend. Get out your coffee grounds, soap molds and any fragrance or color you'll be adding. Pour the lye water into the pot with the oils and blend with your stick blender until you reach trace. Add fragrance and color if using, and quickly pour into the soap mold.
- Cure and unmold. Allow the soap to cure in the mold for 24-48 hours, then carefully remove it. Slice into bars. Store in a well-ventilated place and let it cure more for at least 3 weeks before using.
Video
Notes
- The coffee grounds provide exfoliation, while the brewed coffee gives the soap a beautiful brown color.
- It’s super moisturizing. The coconut oil and shea butter make it rich and creamy, while the olive oil and palm oil ensure that your skin stays soft and smooth.
- It’s easy to make! The brewed coffee will behave just like water.
Coffee Soap Benefits
Using homemade coffee soap offers many benefits for various skin types. The natural caffeine present in coffee can improve blood flow and help reduce the appearance of cellulite. Coffee grounds serve as an excellent exfoliant, helping to remove dead skin cells and rejuvenate the skin.
The coffee grounds provide exfoliation, while the brewed coffee gives the soap a beautiful brown color.
It’s easy to make! The brewed coffee will behave just like water.
I recommend Nurture Soap for the best selection of colorants and fragrances.
Substitutions and Variations
- For a second option, try a goat milk soap base for a creamier texture.
- You can also use a melted soap base and add extra coffee grounds for more exfoliation.
- Consider trying a vanilla coffee soap by adding a tablespoon of coffee grinds and a few drops of vanilla essential oil.
FAQs
It doesn’t matter. Just use what you have on hand. If you have a type of coffee you don’t like anymore, use that!
Yes, you can!
Nope. The finished bar has no fragrance.
No, since there is no sugar in the coffee it will behave just like water when you add the lye. You’ll notice the scorched smell and (obviously) the color, but that’s it.
Yes, you can substitute the base oils. For instance, using cocoa butter instead of shea butter can provide different moisturizing properties due to its rich fatty acids.
Used coffee grounds can be added to your soap mixture for additional exfoliation. They can also be used to make a coffee soap scrub.
Making your own coffee soap at home is a great way to enjoy the benefits of coffee for your skin. This simple recipe uses ingredients you likely already have, and the process is straightforward. Whether you’re looking to exfoliate, improve skin texture, or simply enjoy the smell of coffee in your soap, this recipe has you covered.
Remember to follow the instructions carefully, especially when handling lye, to ensure your handmade soap turns out perfectly. With a little patience and practice, you’ll have beautiful, moisturizing bars of coffee soap that make great gifts or a special treat for yourself. Happy soap-making!
By Katie Shaw
Katie shares simple, reliable recipes from her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband, three daughters, a chocolate lab, and over thirty chickens.
HI! I would love to try this soap today however, I do not want to use palm oil. What else can i use? Can i add more olive oil?
hey Jenna, search for my lemon soap recipe and use those measurements, it is palm free! 🙂
Love what you do
great video!
Any alternative to using lye?? And the base I have is a melt and pour shea/mango butter combo. Would that work too?
hi amanda, you can’t make your own soap without lye but if you want to use the soap base you have, you definitely can! I would use a little instant coffee and mix it with liquid glycerin and add to the melted base. then add the coffee grounds.
Hi,
I tried this recipe today—followed it as exactly as I could—meaning I didn’t sub out anything. However, not 15 minutes after pouring into the mold, it got too hot and cracked along the length in the center. I am sort of new to soap making; I’ve made around a dozen or so batches, and most of the other recipes have advised me to cover/insulate, or even place a heating pad under the mold as it goes through the gel phase. . . I noticed you didn’t give any direction along those lines, so could that be the reason it overheated and cracked?? If you could advise how to avoid that in the future, much appreciated! Crack or no crack—im looking forward to enjoying this soap! Thank you so much!
I am new to CP soaping ….. If I don’t have palm oil, do I need to reconfigure in a soap calculator if I wanted to sub it out for an avocado or hemp seed oil – to make sure the lye amt will still saponify correctly?
yes that is exactly right 🙂 i’d recommend subbing the amount with 75% olive and 25% shea then recalculating… avocado with be quite expensive and a softer bar
I made this recipe last night at 8:00 p.m. I unmolded it this morning at 10:00 a.m. and cut it around 11:00 a.m. it is soft but I set it to cure. I grabbed an end slice and took it to the shower with me this morning. Not even 24 hours old yes I know I’m a bad girl. But let me tell you this was the most luxurious beautiful soap ever!
Love it Cathleen! I am the same…. so impatient! Happy you enjoyed it all the same. 🙂
Tried this recipe so far so good…Eagerly waiting for this soap to cure
I will have to try this! What size loaf pan did you use? How much soap does this make? TIA