[Commerce/Crafting] White As Snow

[Capsule]

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"Dear Esteemed Pharmacist,

I was in the market for a Brewer, but it is hard to find one at max level. And, since last year, it has become apparent that those of your crafting class are capable of performing Brewer crafts. And as you are a level ninety crafter… Well, you get the idea!

I am hosting a raid and banquet afterwards, so I need a lot of drinks! Both alcoholic and non! I am willing to pay a generous amount for these goods, and more if they are sent within two weeks."

Oh boy. Five types of drinks to make, half of those which needed to be non-alcoholic. Capsule was shamefully behind on these crafts. The discovery that certain crafting classes could borrow from the recipes of others came a year ago, though she had only mixed one official Brewer drink since then… and that was for her and her beloved. To be honest, Capsule had had very little use for drinks outside of consumption. And to top it all off, business was not going so well these days. People were simply not buying potions as much as they used to, and during her half off sale, she had been her best customer. So it was a relief to receive an order like this, but it would be rather time consuming.

She sorted through the available recipes, setting the complex ones like Distilled Spirits and Basic Wine to the side. That left Iced Beverage, Ordinary Beverage and Soda. These were all pretty much self-explanatory to her. Well, Soda might involve some minor research, but nothing too serious. Ordinary Beverage would be a good starting point, followed by Iced, Soda, Basic Wine, and Distilled Spirits.

Capsule moved out of her kitchen and into her Research Facility, which also doubled as a work space. It was missing most of the ingredients she needed, though she had taken the initiative and stocked her inventory up with materials to transfer into her mini-fridge. There. She had some glasses, bottles, pitchers, etc., as well, and set those out on a table. There was even a teapot, for she intended for her Ordinary Beverage to be a soothing brew -- Masala Chai, in particular. To get things started, the Enchantress filled the teapot and set it down on a lit burner. While the water boiled, Capsule would prepare the tea leaves.

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∝: 395
♫: White As Snow
✏: Brewing up a storm.
@: Capsule

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[Capsule]

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Cardamom pods, fresh ginger, cloves, a stick of cinnamon, one piece of star anise, milk, loose black tea leaves, pepper, and honey; all essential ingredients for a good Masala Chai. This was her first time making tea from scratch like this. Normally, she would rely on teabags or prepackaged loose leaf teas. But with her high crafting level, she would find it quite difficult to fail outright. Capsule would have to be actively trying to do so.

There was a soft clunk as she set her mortar and pestle down on the table. First things first -- she needed to mash these fresh, green cardamom pods up. The best part was that the pods were not as tough as the greenery she normally worked with, though it was odd to be mashing something that would not be used for medicinal purposes. And in tea, no less! She remembered how in her early days, before Avarice formed, she tried to make tea to sell in Londinium. Blackcoat, the first Cleric she met in game, practically told her that the tea tasted like crap. She was no Chef or Brewer, and only knew how to make medicinal teas, not something you would want to drink out of pleasure. And Blackcoat just so happened to be a Chef, too.

She dumped the mashed pods into a shallow bowl, and reached for the ginger. Rarely did she have ginger readily cut and prepared. There were too many ways to apply it, and never until now had she used it for the sole purpose of making tea. …Come to think of it, she had never used star anise, either, yet here she was. Everything else would require no special preparation. The cloves were previously ground, mostly for Mute to use while cooking.

With the ginger reduced to mere strips, Capsule pushed herself away from the table. A tall, clear glass was wrapped by her small hands. She would be brewing and sampling the tea in this cup, before transporting it to a tea cup as the final product.

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∝: 342
♫: Mirai Sekai Pt. 2: Neo-Tokyo
✏: Ordinary Beverage 1/2
@: Capsule

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[Capsule]

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In the bowl, Capsule combined the cardamom, cinnamon and star anise. The teapot was whistling loudly now. She shut off the burner and gingerly lifted the hot kettle up. The contents of the bowl reacted almost immediately to the boiled water, causing a small plume of fragrant aroma to drift up and tease her nostrils. She recognized the smell of a Masala Chai, though it was only a ghost of its grand splendor at this point. That was because she was missing some key ingredients, like the spices and of course the ginger. She planned on adding those last, however.

Humming quietly to herself, the redhead pulled one of the many books on brewing from the small shelf in the corner. She had come prepared, though there was still much she needed to learn -- especially about brewing liquor from scratch. Were it not for the need of money and to maintain her status as top Pharmacist, she would have been content to leave the area alone altogether. Capsule held very little interest in alcoholic drinks, and she was content to request her beverages from chefs and cooks. Being a jack of all trades just sounded exhausting. She had no idea how many others were capable of juggling several crafting classes at once. Then again… considering the lack of dedicated or high leveled crafters in some areas, like Artisan, Brewing or Woodcrafting, she could see the need. Was that not the cause of cross classing? To ease the burden while also allowing crafters to not have to level a second class?

Whatever the case, it gave Capsule a reason to tinker with a different crafting class. None of the others interested her, aside from Artisan. Scribe would be on that list, were it not for her lack of knowledge on the suspect. It was not quite as intuitive as pharmacy, cooking, brewing, or tailoring. Smithing intimidated her more than anything, however. There was no way she could figure something like that out on her own.

After confirming that her brew was going swimmingly during the last ten minutes, Capsule began peppering in the last few ingredients: the ginger, the milk, the pepper, cloves, and, of course, the tea leaves. The three minutes needed to steep the tea went by seamlessly, leaving her with a steaming bowl of chai. Capsule carefully strained the tea into a cup, and added some sugar to sweeten the brew. One sip proved satisfactory, and with that, she had completed her first beverage.

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∝: 417
♫: Kiss On My List
✏: Ordinary Beverage 2/2
@: Capsule

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[Capsule]

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With the ordinary beverage out of the way, it was time to move on to the Iced Beverage. Capsule decided to make more tea, namely a nice, cold Thai tea. The recipe was somewhat similar to the Masala Chai, in that it called for star anise, cloves, black tea leaves, and cardamom pods (once again, mashed). With most of her ingredients prepared ahead of time, making the tea would be as easy as pie. Though, she needed two star anises for this drink.

Capsule lightly skipped around as she retrieved two more of the strange plant. Star anise. It reminded her of dried up starfish, and startled a few times when she first bought a bunch. It felt so weird in her hands, and even stranger to dissect into equal pieces. It was hard to believe that people used the odd plant as a spice. It actually did not taste bad, though. Capsule could only assume that the pleasantly foreign tasting ingredient in her Masala came from the star anise, anyway.

She turned on the burner the kettle was still resting on, to bring the water back to a boil, and then moved to collect a clean bowl and her ingredients. The star anise pieces were scattered around in the bottom, and then covered with the tea bags, sugar, cardamom pods, and cloves. Capsule lifted the bowl and lightly jostled the contents around for a few minutes, patiently waiting for the shrill sound of a whistling kettle.

Already hot from the first boiling, the kettle was whistling in no time. Capsule shut off the burner for hopefully the last time today, and hoisted the still fussing kettle into the air. The steam that plumed out along with the water felt oddly pleasant. Capsule attributed that fact to the coolness of her research lab. It was cooler in here than the main areas of the underground home. The kitchen, located near the living room and fireplace, could keep itself warm with the heat generated from the oven, and of course their bedroom would be kept at a moderate temperature. But her lab? Not as lucky.

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∝: 355
♫: ---
✏: Iced Beverage 1/2
@: Capsule

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[Capsule]

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Well, seeing as how she would have to do more work in the future, Capsule considered having a heating source installed in here. It should not be so bad during the warmer times of the year, but as of now… The additional coolness from the winter season was doing her no favors. Heck, it was chillier here with the heartier snowfall. She had admittedly neglected her lab for a while, not having many orders this time of year. As usual, tailors and smiths reigned supreme. It was a tad frustrating.

The tea brewed quietly on her table. Capsule left it alone to place the now nearly empty kettle in the sink. She pulled a pitcher (ta da!) from her inventory, along with an insulated bag of pure British Snow. The snow came from her own property, cool and refreshing snow that was perfect for making slushies o other ice based treats. Much like the water that came from her well, it also took a good while to warm up. This was just one of the few occasions where she did not mind that fact. The Thai tea needed to be chilled to completion, after all.

Whistling a ditty and desiring a warm beverage, like cider or cocoa, Capsule schlepped back to her work table with the pitcher of snow. The Thai tea would probably be better with ice, but the stuff produced here was a little too hard, and she liked to be able to eat the ice when she was done with her drink. A glass materialized from her inventory, and shortly had its bottom stuffed with the frigid powder.

Capsule removed the tea bags and spooned out the anise stars, cardamom pod, and cloves, leaving the bowl clear of debris. With a funnel in one hand, and the bowl in another, the redhead carefully transferred the tea into the glass of snow. The result was visually stimulating; the powder at the bottom caused the tea to turn a shade of vanilla, while the top of the tea was dark in color. It only got creamier in color when she added in the finishing touch -- the cream. The glass was pleasantly warm at its center, and the scent was enough to driver her crazy, but she held back the desire to take so much as a sip. “There is no fulfillment that is not made sweeter for the prolonging of desire.”

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∝: 403
♫: Ultraviolence
✏: Iced Beverage 2/2
@: Capsule

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