Tea-time in Middle Earth

My farmer was planting fields of tea in Bree and found that she didn't just get tea leaves, she also got fine tea leaves, perfect tea leaves and young tea leaves.

Tea connoisseurs and people with legendary items may be interested to know that these tea leaves can be used by cooks to brew special drinks that provide a bonus to legendary item XP.

There's just one catch - the cook has to have at least Artisan standing in the Cook's Guild.

So, what are the benefits of a nice cuppa?

Red Tea

"A simple drink loved by hobbits."

Red tea increases your vitality by 26 for 20 minutes if you are level 50+.
A superior cup of red tea increases vitality by 39 for 30 minutes if you are level 50+.

Great for chain drinkers - the cooldown is only 30 seconds!

Red tea can be made by Supreme Cooks, no guild requirement. This recipe uses bundles of tea leaves.

White Tea

"Light, smooth and delicious."

White tea increases the amount of legendary item experience gained by 5% for 60 minutes. Requires level 51+.

The perfect wake-me-up drink to accompany breakfast - the cooldown is 1 day!

White tea can be made by Supreme Cooks with Artisan standing in the Cook's Guild once every 18 hours. This recipe uses bundles of tea leaves and a young tea leaf (which seemed to be the rarest type of tea leaf harvested from about 6% of tea fields).

Green Tea

 "Smoky, subtle and invigorating."

Green tea increases the amount of legendary item experience gained by 10% for 60 minutes. Requires level 51+.

This one will leave an after-taste that lingers - the cooldown is 2 days!

Green tea can be made by Supreme Cooks with Artisan standing in the Cook's Guild once every 2 days and 18 hours. This recipe uses bundles of tea leaves and a fine tea leaf (which seemed to be harvested from about 14% of tea fields).

Black Tea

"Bold, powerful and dark."

Black tea increases the amount of legendary item experience gained by 15% for 60 minutes. Requires level 51+.

This tea has such a strong flavour you'll have to wait several days for the shock to wear off - the cooldown is 3 days!

Black tea can be made by Supreme Cooks with Artisan standing in the Cook's Guild once every 6 days and 18 hours. This recipe uses many bundles of tea leaves and a perfect tea leaf (which seemed to be harvested from about 10% of tea fields).

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OK, so there's a long cooldown on most cups of tea, and the benefit to your legendary items may or may not be worthwhile. Perhaps while you slowly savour a cup (or make a special occasion of it and combine a nice cup of tea with Buttered Scones and Jam or Bubble and Squeak, also made by Supreme Cooks), you could take a moment to think of the English writer JRR Tolkien.

Random fact for the day - Did you know Tolkien and his school friends started a society called the T.C.B.S. (Tea Club and Barrovian Society) since they were fond of drinking tea in the school library and Barrow's Store near King Edward's School in Birmingham?

Cheers! Brewing Strong Drinks

There are a number of "strong drinks" in LOTRO that serve to make players tipsy and maybe make the screen go blurry. There are also vendors who sell a variety of beer and ale in taverns across Middle Earth, but sometimes it's more fun to try your hand at home-brew.

To make your own beverages in-game you need both a farmer and a cook.
The farmer grows the hops, the barley and perhaps some fruit for flavour while the cook turns the barley into mash, adds some yeast (ale yeast for ale, lager yeast for beer) and special ingredients then brews the mixture to perfection.

Bottoms up!

Below are some of the drinks you could home-brew in LOTRO.

Normally, drinking one of these will give you a status effect for 5 minutes (such as "You feel light-headed") and your character may have occasional bubbles floating around them. Having more than one drink will reset the timer.

Ales

Drink	Farmer Recipes	Cook Recipes	Comment
Apprentice Ale	2 Bunches of North Down Hops 2 Bundles of Spring Barley	Prepared North Down Hops Bucket of Spring Barley Mash Apprentice Ale	"A weak ale with a light, bitter taste." Effect: Light-headed.
Blueberry Ale	2 Bunches of Golding Hops 2 Bundles of Spring Barley 1 Bunch of Blueberries	Prepared Golding Hops Bucket of Spring Barley Mash Blueberry Ale	"The blueberry flavor is subtle, not too sweet, and surprisingly delicious." Effect: Light-headed.
Shire Spice Ale	2 Bunches of Pride of Chetwood Hops 2 Bundles of Spring Barley	Prepared Pride of Chetwood Hops Bucket of Spring Barley Mash Shire Spice Ale	"A few spices create a great aroma and add to the flavor of this Shire favorite." Effect: Quite merry.
Winterberry Ale	2 Bunches of Green Hill Hops 2 Bundles of Winter Barley 1 Bunch of Raspberries	Prepared Green Hill Hops Bucket of Winter Barley Mash Winterberry Ale	"A welcomed warmth on a cold winter's night." Effect: Quite merry.
Blackberry Ale	2 Bunches of Umbel Hops 2 Bundles of Winter Barley 1 Bunch of Blackberries	Prepared Umbel Hops Bucket of Winter Barley Mash Blackberry Ale	"A full-bodied fruity ale, made from only the finest blackberries." Effect: You've muddled your wits!

Slightly drunk

Beers

Drink	Farmer Recipes	Cook Recipes	Comment
Bold Stout Beer	2 Bunches of North Down Hops 2 Bundles of Spring Barley	Prepared North Down Hops Bucket of Spring Barley Mash Bold Stout Beer	"A humble brew with a bold taste." Effect: Light-headed.
Blue Bock Beer	2 Bunches of Golding Hops 2 Bundles of Spring Barley 1 Bunch of Blueberries	Prepared Golding Hops Bucket of Spring Barley Mash Blue Bock Beer	"A strong lager with a very berry flavor." Effect: Light-headed.
Honeybrew Beer	2 Bunches of Pride of Chetwood Hops 2 Bundles of Spring Barley	Prepared Pride of Chetwood Hops Bucket of Spring Barley Mash Honeybrew Beer	"A hint of floral aroma gives this beer a sweet, light flavoring. Just beware of nearby bears!" Effect: Quite merry.
Strawberry Stout Beer	2 Bunches of Green Hill Hops 2 Bundles of Winter Barley 1 Bunch of Strawberries	Prepared Green Hill Hops Bucket of Winter Barley Mash Strawberry Stout Beer	"Light berry flavoring combined with a hint of wheat make for a sweet brew." Effect: Quite merry.
Ultimate Honeybrew Beer	2 Bunches of Umbel Hops 2 Bundles of Winter Barley	Prepared Umbel Hops Bucket of Winter Barley Mash Ultimate Honeybrew Beer	"A beer for all true lovers of honey." Effect: You've muddled your wits!

Quite drunk

Farming Pipe-weed

I was recently asked about pipe-weed farming and cross-breeding in LOTRO and I promised to look into it. My farmer has never grown pipe-weed (until now) because she focused on crops used for cooking and dye-making, but she's decided she's willing to support the smokers and drinkers in Bree with pipe-weed and strong drinks.

Once she got started growing the pipe-weed, she found it very interesting. There's the descriptions of the pipe-weed, the celebration of harvesting a cross-breed seed and she even found the different smoke-ring patterns intriguing (after she got over her coughing fit from accidentally inhaling the smoke).

Pipe-weed Descriptions:

• Longbottom Leaf: "A sturdy variety of pipe-weed, long grown in Southfarthing."
• Rushlight: "A poor sort of pipe-weed, usually grown in the Shire."
• Southlinch: "A poor sort of pipe-weed, usually grown in Bree."
• Sweet Lobelia: "A novelty variety of pipe-weed, which many find distasteful."
• Muddy Foot: "A variety of pipe-weed with an earthy flavour."
• Tighfield Choice: "A decent sort of pipe-weed, traditionally grown in Tighfield."
• Hornblower: "Named in honour of the first hobbit to grow pipe-weed in the shire, Tobold Hornblower."
• Southern Star: "A variety of pipe-weed usually grown in the Southfarthing."
• Old Toby: "A fine grade of pipe-weed, named after Tobold Hornblower."
• Shire Sweet-leaf: "A fragrant variety of pipe-weed, prized by Lore-masters."
• Sweet Galenas: "A variety of pipe-weed believed to be a favourite of the ancient King."
• Roper's Twist: "An early variety of pipe-weed grown in Gamwich."
• Dragon's Breath: "A variety of pipe-weed said to glow with an eerie fire when smoked."
• Eagle's Nest: "Some of the finest pipe-weed to come out of the Southfarthing."
• Gamwich Braid: "The greatest variety of pipe-weed ever grown in Gamwich."
• Wizard's Fire: "A pipe-weed representing the best of all leaf known to hobbits."
• Fungo's Fuzzy-leaf: "A variety of pipe-weed that has distinctive hairy leaves."
• Gold-fire: "A tasty variation of pipe-weed that combines the best of both Wizard's Fire and Fungo's Fuzzy-leaf."

Pipe-weed Farming Results:

No special soil was used in growing these crops. Crop yields were rounded to the nearest 0.1, or for yields of less than 0.05, rounded up to 0.1 rather than down to 0.0 (since if the yield was zero there would be no reason to include it in the table).

I received 1-10 leaf crops per field plus the occasional cross-breed seed of the same or next tier (e.g. planting apprentice pipe-weed granted me a few journeyman cross-breed seeds).

It was actually profitable to vendor the pouches. For example, it cost 14 silver to plant 50 fields of Longbottom Leaf and vendoring the 856 pouches of pipe-weed earned 25 silver. Tool repairs reduce profits slightly. It may be even more profitable to sell pipe-weed or cross-breed seeds on auction house or via trade, but when I looked at the auction house on my server there was very little on offer.

The higher tiers of seeds are harder to get. You need to grow a lot of the common tier 3 seeds to get enough tier 4 cross-breed seeds and hope that those cross-breed seeds generate enough tier 5 seeds (Wizard's Fire) to get some tier 6 seeds (Fungo's Fuzzy-leaf and Gold-fire). I tried using special soil to see if that would increase the seeds yield, but although I got more crops (6.5 crops/field) and more seeds of the same tier (0.5 seeds/field), it didn't increase the number of seeds of the next tier (0.1 seeds/field).

At tier 7 (Westfold), you need reputation with Theodréd's Riders to buy the Wild Pipe-weed Field recipe. You can buy wild pipe-weed seeds from vendors. Unfortunately, my farmer isn't high enough level to get reputation, so I can't experiment with this just yet.

Pipe-weed (Tier)	Fields	Crops	Crop Yield	Smoke-ring
Longbottom Leaf (T1)	85	320 Longbottom Leaf 4 Muddy Foot Seed 5 Tighfield Choice Seed	3.7 0.1 0.1	One Ring
Rushlight (T1)	30	79 Rushlight 2 Muddy Foot Seed	2.6 0.1	One Ring
Southlinch (T1)	30	117 Southlinch 2 Muddy Foot Seed 1 Tighfield Choice Seed	3.9 0.1 0.1	Puff of Smoke
Sweet Lobelia (T1)	30	116 Sweet Lobelia 1 Muddy Foot Seed 1 Tighfield Choice Seed	3.9 0.1 0.1	Two Rings
Hornblower (T2)	30	97 Hornblower 4 Muddy Foot Seed 4 Tighfield Choice Seed 1 Dragon's Breath Seed	3.2 0.1 0.1 0.1	Double Ring
Southern Star (T2)	80	273 Southern Star 11 Muddy Foot Seed 4 Tighfield Choice 5 Roper's Twist Seed 8 Dragon's Breath Seed	3.4 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1	Double Ring
Muddy Foot * (T2)	21	79 Muddy Foot 1 Muddy Foot Seed 2 Tighfield Choice Seed 3 Dragon's Breath Seed	3.8 0.1 0.1 0.1	Triple Ring
Tighfield Choice * (T2)	16	62 Tighfield Choice 2 Muddy Foot Seed 2 Tighfield Choice Seed	3.9 0.1 0.1	Double Ring
Old Toby (T3)	80	297 Old Toby 7 Dragon's Breath Seed 13 Roper's Twist Seed 4 Eagle's Nest Seed 2 Gamwich Braid Seed	3.7 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1	Heart around Ring
Shire Sweet-leaf (T3)	30	99 Shire Sweet-leaf 3 Dragon's Breath Seed 4 Roper's Twist Seed 2 Eagle's Nest Seed 2 Gamwich Braid Seed	3.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1	3 Butterflies
Sweet Galenas (T3)	65	215 Sweet Galenas 11 Dragon's Breath Seed 7 Roper's Twist Seed 2 Eagle's Nest Seed 6 Gamwich Braid Seed	3.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1	Ship
Roper's Twist * (T3)	54	197 Roper's Twist 4 Roper's Twist Seed 3 Dragon's Breath Seed 2 Eagle's Nest Seed 4 Gamwich Braid Seed	3.6 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1	Spiral
Dragon's Breath * (T3)	50	193 Dragon's Breath 7 Roper's Twist Seed 9 Dragon's Breath Seed 3 Eagle's Nest Seed 4 Gamwich Braid Seed	3.9 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1	Dragon
Eagle's Nest * (T4)	21	65 Eagle's Nest 1 Eagle's Nest Seed 4 Gamwich Braid Seed	3.1 0.1 0.2	Eagle
Gamwich Braid * (T4)	28	88 Gamwich Braid 2 Eagle's Nest Seed 3 Wizard's Fire Seed	3.1 0.1 0.1	Fish
Wizard's Fire * (T5)	3	12 Wizard's Fire 1 Gold-fire Seed	4.0 0.3	Bird

Note: * indicates the pipe-weed is a cross-breed variety.

Longbottom Leaf produces one ring	Sweet Lobelia produces two rings
Old Toby produces a heart and ring	Shire Sweet-leaf produces 3 butterflies
Dragon's Breath produces a dragon	Gamwich Braid produces a dark fish

Summer Festival Special Varieties

There are three special varieties of pipeweed that are only available during Summer Festival. The recipes and seeds are sold by Pipeweed Vendors in major festival locations (i.e. Celondim and Thorin's Hall in Ered Luin, Bree Festival Grounds in Bree-land, and The Party Tree in The Shire).

Pipe-weed (Tier)	Fields	Crops	Crop Yield	Smoke-ring
Stonecrop Leaf (T1)	30	116 Stonecrop Leaf	3.9	Stampeding Beast?
Lengalenas (T3)	30	96 Lengalenas	3.2	Crossed Swords
Summer Green-weed (T5)	30	102 Summer Green-weed	3.4	Pipe

The Stonecrop Leaf smoke pattern seems rather hard to distinguish. At first I thought it a row-boat, then I thought it might be a galloping steed, but then it seems to have a huge jaw or horns or tusks ... or maybe it's just a puff of smoke and she's imagining things! If anyone has a better suggestion, I'd love to hear it!

Stonecrop Leaf produces confusion

Lengalenas produces crossed swords

Summer green-weed produces a pipe