Okay, so I wanted to try my hand at making some white tea essential oil. I’ve been seeing it all over the place lately and, well, I’m a sucker for anything that smells amazing. Plus, I heard it’s good for your skin, and who doesn’t want better skin, right?

First off, I gathered all my stuff. This was a bit of a scavenger hunt. I found some white tea leaves at this little specialty tea shop downtown. Snagged some sweet almond oil from the grocery store – had to make sure it was the kind suitable for skin, not just for cooking, you know? Then I needed a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Found an old mason jar in the back of the cupboard. Gave it a good scrub. Oh, and I also got a saucepan and a strainer and a dark glass bottle.

Next, I started the process. I put about a cup of the white tea leaves into the mason jar. Then, I poured the sweet almond oil over the leaves until they were completely covered. I made sure to leave a little bit of space at the top, just in case it needed room to expand or something. I mean, I’m no chemist, but better safe than sorry, right?

Then came the waiting game. I sealed the jar up tight and put it in a cool, dark place. My pantry seemed like the perfect spot. The instructions I found said to let it sit for about six weeks. Six weeks! That’s like, forever. But I figured it was worth a shot. I shook it up like once a week.

After six long weeks, I finally got to see the fruits of my (very minimal) labor. I put on a youtube video about how to do it and started the process of separating the oil from the tea leaves. I put a cheese cloth inside the strainer over a bowl and poured the contents in the jar. Then I strained the oil. I poured the infused oil through a fine-mesh strainer into the saucepan. I heated it on the stove for 30 minutes and checked to see if the oil was hot. This is supposed to help get rid of any water that might have gotten in there. I let it cool for a couple hours and poured the oil into the dark glass bottle. I used a funnel to pour it into the bottle. I capped it and labeled it and that was that.

So there you have it. My white tea essential oil adventure. It was a pretty easy process, just a lot of waiting. The oil does smell really nice, though. I’ve been using it on my skin for a few days, and it feels super soft. Don’t know if it’s actually doing anything, but hey, at least I smell good!