We Love Coffee: Coffee Scrub

I shall confess that I'm not a coffee drinker. But I love working with coffee, making coffee soap, which is an excellent deodorizing soap (specially for those who work with garlic & onion in the kitchen) and coffee scrub.

This scrub is probably more suitable for winter and cold days but this tutorial is response to a special forum discussion so you can decide to make it right now or to keep the recipe for later.

You are all aware of antioxidant and anti-cellulite functions of coffee. Coffee scrub is nothing new and not my invention. It is being applied since decades in SPA and cosmetics. Almost all of coffee scrubs that I know and have heard of, are in a liquid oil matrix which I find a little bit difficult to apply. Since we're specialized in solid scrubs and prepare formulations and samples for other companies as well, I came to the idea of preparing a sold coffee scrub which is easy to apply, additionally the solid form which you can select depending on your molds is an attraction itself.

You can apply different grades of ground coffee, for facial scrub the particles should obviously be very fine, for a body scrub you can apply bigger particles and for an scrub specifically designed as an anti-cellulite scrub you can apply even bigger particles. The basic formulation however is the same.

Key component in this formulation is lysolecithin which is a natural ingredient, a modified lecithin from soybean, sunflower or rapeseed oil which is more hydrophilic than the lecithin. In water based products such as shampoos or shower gels it is applied as a water soluble emollient. In addition to that, it adds a phospholipid touch to your products and pampers the skin. In this oil based product however, it is applied as an oil solubilizer to help mix the oils and butters with water during rinsing, facilitate the rinsing and to improve the skin feel. In this case, you don't have any unpleasant greasiness (which is accompanied by applying water to an oil-based product) during and after rinsing and the skin feel after rinsing would be silky and smooth.

Before we start I want to recommend you to read our older posts and general information regarding hygienic manufacturing practice in cosmetic lab, introduction to Basic equipment and utensil for a cosmetic lab.

You can basically prepare this recipe in any possible mold, from milkyway to silicone molds. You can prepare single dose sizes (for professional SPA applications) or bigger sizes for home application.  

Disclaimer No.1 

Unless you're in a very hot area (over 40 degrees Celsius)  the scrub should not necessarily be kept in the fridge but it should be kept safe from direct heat and sunlight. Mine survives even summer temperature in the shower cabin. Be sure that it's far away from the radiator during winter and away from sun in summer.

Disclaimer No.2

I've applied grapefruit essential oil to boost the anti-cellulite effect of the coffee.  Although the product is a rinse-off product it is still better to be aware of the phototoxicity of grapefruit essential oil and to inform your customers about it: Avoid sun and solarium for at least 2 hours after application.

For this project (500 gr Coffee scrub) you'll need:

67,0% Cocoa butter (335,0 gr)

6,0% Shea butter (30,0 gr) 

2,5% Babassu oil (12,5 gr)

11,0% lysolecithin (55,0 gr)

1,0% lipophilic aloe extract (5,0 gr)

0,5% alpha-Tocopherol (2,5 gr)

1,0% Fragrance oil Coffee (5,0 gr)

1,0% Grapefruit essential oil (5,0 gr)

10,0% Coffee powder (50,0 gr) 

You'll need as well:

Beakers to melt and mix the ingredients

disposable pipettes

a water bath to melt the butters

glass rods or suitable spatulas or spoons

a suitable mold (try our mini-oval mold for example) 

Here we go:

One: Set the temperature of the water bath @ around 60 degrees centigrade. Melt the cacao butter. Stop heating and add the shea butter and babassu oil to melt as well.

Two: After all solid ingredients are melted add lysolecithin, Tocopherol and Aloe extract and mix gently.

Three: After all ingredients are mixed and as the mixture reaches a temperature of around 40 degrees centigrade add the essential oil and perfume oil and mix.

Four: You can add the coffee powder to the melted base, agitate it and pour it into mold cavities, or you can pour the coffee powder directly into cavities and then pour the melted base over it. Since coffee has a higher density than the base it would settle down at the bottom of each cavity. This gives a very beautiful color contrast as the butter hardens.

Five- Bring the form immediately into the fridge. This is the most difficult part by a mass production: to find enough space in the fridge.

Six- Depending on the mold, the scrubs need about half an hour to a few hours to harden. Be patient.


After unmolding, depending on the ambient temperature, the scrubs should be kept in the fridge or not. Remember: these are butters and would melt by exposure to heat and sunlight. Store them under 25 degrees centigrade. Pack them in cellophane or in wax paper.

You can purchase all the ingredients for this project in SkinChakra® Online Shop.

BeHappy and have fun.