Teas

Teas are one of the best ways for a witch to help others and be a part of the Disc Economy (which means makin' money, always a good thing!). Few warriors wish to go into battle without a bottle of well-brewed healing tea (and I recommend keeping one fer yerself, as well, you never know), and there's nothing like a good cure for colds or poison when you're feeling down.

Teas:


Making teas is a lucrative and interesting endevour. Some teas need to be brewed, some do not; you'll want to learn about the Brew command once you are skilled enough to earn it.

BWB means Brewed With Bonus, ie, "This tea was brewed with a brewing bonus of 260." This is a good indicator of the strength of certain teas, especially Healing Tea, so it's good to note what your brewing bonus was on any batch you intend to sell. Upping your brewing bonus is therefore an excellent idea; improving your dex by making sure you are not burdened and using Dex Gloves is also a good idea when brewing.

You will need some sort of heat source when you brew; fires are good. However, if you let your containers brew too long, you will burn yourself when retrieving them. At Granny's house, there's a hot pad near the hearth if you find yourself needing it. Some ingredients need to be ground in a grinder before using them; it's polite to clean out the grinders when you've finished using them.

I have given ingredients for teas, but I cannot give you proportions or precise measurements because, firstly, it seems to be different for every witch what proportions will be effective. For some teas, the proportions must be more precise than for others. Ground materials can be measured in pinches or handfuls, 50 pinches to a handful. Also, you can brew in any number of containers (though medium bottles of various colors are by far the most popular), which also affects how much of each ingredient you will need. The point is that you'll need to experiment to get it right, but that's part of the fun anyhow. To experiment, use few pinches and find out what tea color you get, then compare proportions to give yourself a rough estimate of how many pinches/handfuls are needed to fill the container with the correct tea color.

Many teas use water. There are many sources of water on the Disc, and most witch houses contain at least one as well as a few bottles, ingredients, a grinder, and places to brew, all of which you'll be welcome to use. At Granny's, you may need to refill the sink by pumping water into it--check first that it's just water in the sink, though. When I was a very wette henne trying my hand at potions for the first time, a wizard had just got a notion to fill the sink with whiskey...and I didn't happen to notice until I'd drunk a whole bottle of it.


Healing Tea

Ingredients: Ground Yarrow, Ground Comfrey, Water
Unbrewed Color: Green Tea
Brewed Color: Brewed Green Tea
Effect: A sip of healing tea will speed up regeneration of hit points.
Notes: Drinking more tea will speed it up further; a higher BWB (brewing bonus) will also increase the speed of regeneration further. Nearly all witchy spots have the ingredients for healing tea available.

Antipoison Tea

Ingredients: Ground Spiders, ground basil, ground fennel, water.
Unbrewed Color: Octarine Elixer
Brewed Color: Brewed Elixer
Effect: Will stop the effects of poisoning.
Notes: This is one of the trickiest teas to get right. Spiders can be acquired in the chimney at Granny's house.

Focus Tea

Ingredients: Ground Floppy Madmen Mushrooms, Water.
Unbrewed Color: Pale Brownish Green Water.
Brewed Color: Does not need brewing.
Effect: Allows you to "focus" on a spell in your head, thereby learning basic information about how the spell works and how well you'll be able to cast it given your current skills.
Notes: Focusing on a spell will knock you unconcious while you examine the spell. You can't do anything while unconcious.

Cold Cure

Ingredients: Honey and ground Garlic.
Unbrewed Color: Golden Syrup
Brewed Color: Thick Golden Syrup
Effect: Slowly ends the effects of a cold caused by catching it from Our Pewsey, another character, or staying wet or cold too long. Preventing colds is always better than curing them, but there is a cure.
Notes: Results in garlic breath, which can be cured in turn with Breath Freshener.

Intelligence Tea

Ingredients: Ground Sage and water, and an owl feather to stir it with.
Unbrewed Color: Grey-green tea, which becomes teal green potion when stirred
Brewed Color: Syrupy, green potion
Effect: Increases your intelligence stat for a bit, with a decrease in intelligence for a while after the tea wears off.
Notes: There is an owl in Granny's lean-to; he does not have to be killed to get feathers from him. The feather can be reused.

Breath Freshener

Ingredients: Ground Parsley, water
Unbrewed Color: Dark Green
Brewed Color: Does not need brewing.
Effect: Freshens your breath after taking a cure that left it less than appealing, eating certain foods, or after casting a spell that backfired.
Notes: I've heard that some witches have mixed successfully with brewed cold cure, to make a cold cure that doesn't leave your breath stinky.

Energy Tea

Ingredients: Coffee or ground coffee beans, ground borage, ground ginger, and water.
Unbrewed Color: Cloudy yellow
Brewed Color: Glistening yellow potion
Effect: Increases your guildpoints and the rate of GP regeneration for a period of time.
Notes: There is a cost in GP when the potion wears off. I found it easier to get the amounts correct with ground coffee beans than with brewed coffee purchased at a shop or from a seller.

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Last updated: 20:42 Tokyo Time, Tuesday, December 6th, 2005.
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