Preparation of Handmade Soap Scented withAlcohol Extract of Wuyi Rock Tea Discards

An experiment was carried out to utilizethe discarded materialfrom Wuyi rock tea manufacturing. The alcohol extract of the discards was addedas a scent to formulate a handmade soap. The single factor and response surfaceexperiment rendered the optimized preparation that applied a solution of causticsoda to water in the ratio of 1:1.7 to constantly mixing for 3.5h in a 51℃ water bath. The resulting soap contained 0.1467% sodium hydroxide. The basic formulationand preparation might lead to further development of similar products thatcould find a proper application for the otherwise waste material from the teaproduction.