I’ve always loved Robbie Burns day, so when January 25 fell on a Thursday this year I knew I wanted to make something Scottish inspired. I’ve been loving bath bombs lately, so that’s where I started. As far as themes go, haggis seemed… unappealing… as did Chicken Tikka masala. So, I settled on milky tea. A British friend of mine once told me my Scottish ancestry was apparent in the vast quantities of milk I put in my tea, which I thought was rather amusing. Scotland by no means owns milk tea (it’s delicious, of course lots of other places have figured out it’s wonderful!), but whenever I think of Scotland I’m reminded of the lovely little cafe I visited when I was last in Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Larder served the most wonderful oat scones with clotted cream and jam, and beautiful milky tea. I was there in September, and it was rather prone to rain and chills throughout my visit, and so warm milky tea always makes me think of Scotland. Hence, these lovely bath bombs.
I’ve been working on stepping up my bath bomb game lately, which was inspired (necessitated?) by my finally trying out a spherical bath bomb mould. They’re quite a bit fussier than I’d guessed, requiring some practice and formula improvement to get the whole deal to cooperate. I made two fairly small, but impactful changes.
Change #1 was blending the melted butter and solubilizer (polysorbate 80) into the powders before adding any other moisture, and making sure there was enough moisture there for the mixture to hold together reasonably well before any other liquid was added. This blending time also serves to break up any clumps in the powders.
Change #2 was incorporating some 70% isopropyl alcohol as well as my more standard witch hazel, allowing for a wetter mouldable mix that still wouldn’t set off and react (thanks to Carrie for the suggestion!).
For the milk I incorporated some milk powder into the bath bombs, which gives them the loveliest, creamy, milky froth when they fizz up in your bath. Palmarosa essential oil smells quite a lot like sweet black tea, which is quite lovely when it works up with the milk in your bath. The bombs are decorated with a few whole tea leaves to complete the effect.
The final bath bombs can be a touch crumbly, so do make sure you get them wet enough to properly press them together. They pair beautifully with a mug of tea in the bath, and perhaps a warm scone with clotted cream afterwards, and a good book.
Milky Tea Bath Bombs
Powdered phase
208g | 52% baking soda (USA / Canada)
104g | 26% citric acid (USA / Canada)
22g | 5.50% Epsom salt (USA / Canada)
18g | 4.50% whole milk powder
20g | 5% Cream of TartarOil phase
8g | 2% Polysorbate 80 (USA / Canada) or Olivem 300 (USA / Canada)
16g | 4% mango butter
4g | 1% palmarosa essential oilWitch hazel in a mister, as needed
70% isopropyl alcohol in a mister, as neededBlack tea leaves, for decoration (optional)
Brown mica, for decoration (optional).Weigh the oil phase ingredients into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Melt the ingredients together—both a water bath or short bursts in the microwave will work.
Add the melted oils and essential oil to the powdered ingredients, and add the essential oil. Blend everything together thoroughly using a flexible silicone spatula—the final mixture should be uniform and resemble cookie dough a bit. If you grab a handful of the mixture and squeeze it should hold together a little.
Now it’s time to add just enough liquid to get the mixture to hold together in a mold. Not too much, though, or it will react in the bowl/mold, not in your bath. That’s why we’re using misters (they’ll spread the moisture better) of witch hazel and 70% isopropyl alcohol. The reaction isn’t as vigorous when you use witch hazel and alcohol (with the alcohol being less vigorous), plus the bath bombs dry faster.
Spread your mixture out in your bowl so you have as much surface area as possible, and spritz in some witch hazel—I found I needed 6–8 spritzes of witch hazel. Use your hands to quickly combine, misting and mixing. Once you can grab a fairly good handful of the mixture and it’ll hold together, mix in a few spritzes of alcohol. The final mixture should hold together quite well—you should be able to tap a squeezed handful with your finger and have it hold together.
Once the mixture will hold together, it’s time to mold it! I sprinkled a couple tea leaves into the bottom of a 2″ bath bomb mold and then formed my bath bombs from there. Tap the bath bombs out onto a sheet of wax paper, and dust with some brown mica if you’d like. Let dry overnight.
To use, drop in a hot bath and enjoy! This recipe will make about five 2″ bath bombs.
Because these bath bombs don’t contain any water once they dry, they do not require a broad-spectrum preservative (broad spectrum preservatives ward off microbial growth, and microbes require water to live—no water, no microbes!). Be sure to keep them dry to ensure they last as long as possible—don’t let any water get into the container/bag you store them in and they should easily last a year.
Substitutions
- You can use a different kind of milk powder if you prefer; goat or coconut would be nice
- You can use more citric acid instead of Cream or Tartar
- You can use a different soft butter in place of the mango butter
My wife is from Glasgow, and would definitely argue that her taste for tea “so strong you can tap dance on it” is part of her Scottish heritage!
These do sound wonderful, though- I love the idea of adding milk powder.
I made some bath bombs, for the first time, at Christmas, and they worked out amazingly- I melted the butters, then blended them with the essential oils, before thoroughly mixing that oil mixture in to the powders. Everything distributed really well, and I had no trouble getting them to hold together in quite a detailed mould- I was well chuffed!
It’s funny the things we associate with our heritage—there seems to be at least a dozen nationalities claim frugality as a trait, for instance! I have no idea why my British friend thought milky tea was such a Scottish thing, either 😛
Aren’t DIY bath bombs the best?! I’ve never stopped being thrilled with them—they were so precious when I was a kid and now I am pretty much rolling in them 😛
I’m curious about the function of cream of tartar in these bath bombs. I’ve seen cream of tartar in the ingredient list of bath bombs here and there but have never understood its action. Does it help the bath bombs harden up? Is it just a replacement (that works the same) for arrowroot or corn starch (which I’ve seen in several recipes)?
Jill, from my understanding, COT can help and bath bomb become harder. Apparently you can interchange cornstarch with arrowroot powder or tapioca starch. Hope this helps some.
It’s an additional acidic ingredient and I find it makes the bath water feel super silky and luxy 🙂
Oh my goodness, you’ve visited Edinburgh! Please come back!! I live just south of Edinburgh but I suspect I wasn’t aware of Humblebee when you were last here as I’ve only subscribed for a year or so. Your newsletters and recipes are truly inspirational and a real treat when they drop into my inbox over here so I just wanted to say a great big THANK YOU!! The bath bombs look fantastic and a wee dram of Scotch while you are enjoying them would definitely be in the Burn’s Night spirit!
I LOVED Edinburgh! I’ve been twice; once in 2007 and once in 2012—and I would love to return! There was no Humblebee & Me in 2007, and nobody cared about it in 2012; I think I visited right around the first birthday of Humblebee & Me when I was lucky to get one comment a month, ha. I ended up going to a bit of a Burn’s night last with a marched-in haggis, highland dancing, and some scotch—it was lovely!
I’m so glad you enjoyed your time here. I’m sure you would have lots of local supporters interested in meeting up if you ever returned. I would recommend aiming for the warmer months though!
Definitely! I’ve been in August and September and both were a bit… temperamental 😛 One of the bonuses of living in Canada is that winter weather is technically better in most places, though 😛 I looked at staying a month in Edinburgh one February a couple years ago and it still would’ve been a weather improvement… I chose Costa Rica instead, ha!
I see in past bath bombs you have used Turkey Red Oil. I have this and use it in mine but I still find I get a little slip when getting out of the tub. (But not as much slip if I didn’t have any at all) Do you find Olivem 300 as a better emulsifier with less slip then Turkey Red Oil? I’ve been interested in purchasing some to use in various formulations but I like to make sure I have several different ideas in mind for an ingredient before I purchase it. Thanks!
Hey Jordan! I find Olivem300 to be better than TRO in pretty much every respect 🙂 It is lighter, has a longer shelf life, self-emulsifies beautifully (likely because it isn’t made with century-plus old tech!), and has FAR more uses than TRO because it isn’t irritating to the skin, even in high concentrations. I’ve published over a dozen different recipes using it 🙂
What a lovely way to commemorate Robbie Burns Day :] I need to get back into making bath bombs and, with my recently purchased palmarosa eo, this seems like the perfect way to do so. Though I also want to try London Fog bath salts… decisions, decisions!
Thank you! I ended up going out for a Burns night as well—there was highland dancing and whiskey and a haggis marched around on a platter!
I so want to make this, but don’t have Palmarosa EO. Can you recommend any alternatives? Thanks for your time.
Not really—palmarosa smells like tea, and I know of no other EOs that do. You could really use any other EO, but it won’t smell like tea.
The first haggis I tried was vegetarian – and very good. I love the meat version too. Both have in common that they are very peppery if you are going to make a veggie. I do love my tea strong and with milk and I feel very tempted to make these bath bombs. Palmarosa is such a great EO.
OOoh, I should make a veg one! I remember seeing them sold in cans at the St Lawrence Market, hahaha. Happy making!
This is such a fabulous DIY. I love the addition of the tea…it has many benefits, but I think it makes the bath bombs extra pretty! 🙂
Thanks so much! It’s always nice to have another use for a tea you’re a bit sick of, too 😛
Hello! I do love this recipe. Sounds like will hold together very nicely…. I DO have a question… can I use Sweet Fice Flour instead of cream of Tatar? I have never made these but I am really looking fortro it,& I love the way rice flour makes skin feel… thank you in advance! I wish I had my readers! I could maybe find the answer but they were broken 🙁
New one mandatory lol thanks so very much!
You can certainly try it, but it isn’t going to have anything close to the same effect as cream of Tartar. Cream of tartar is acidic, so it contributes to the fizz reaction of the bath bombs; starch/flour isn’t going to do that.
Hi there, thanks for the video of these wonderful bath bombs! It is currently a little hard for me to buy 90% ISO at the moment, however, I realized that I’ve got on hand some hand sanitizers that are 70% with glycerin. Would that work? Thanks!!
Hey June! I don’t recommend it—the glycerin and water content are likely to be problematic. Check out this formulation instead—it doesn’t require alcohol for the base bath bombs 🙂