Hey Tea Witches, We’re heading into fall here, which to me is the perfect tea season — you can appreciate the joy of holding a hot, steaming mug without the rest of you freezing off. Plus, everyone’s talking about the leaves, whether they’re falling from the trees or turning colors, so might as well also think about the leaves in your cup! This morning I’m actually adding some fresh ginger and turmeric to my cup of white jasmine because I’m recovering from another bout with laryngitis, but recovery is going well, thank you for asking. Regardless of season or health situation, I usually like my tea strongly brewed. I put in extra leaves, or let it go a bit longer, for a more intense flavor. Maybe I’m not particularly sensitive, but I also can’t really get into more subtle or weakly-brewed teas, because to me they just taste like hot water. And Loose Leaf being such an in-depth tea-brewing sim made us add “strength” as a simulation element on the checklist. But that means we have to define, in code… when does an infusion become “strong”? Or “weak”? Or neither? Especially if you can’t actually taste the brew in question? [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44779548/9bdd2be1b00c6373e4ca87c0280309c1e54f0f0c.gif[/img] Well! We let ourselves be guided by our existing systems of “perfectly steeped” versus “oversteeped”, making the strength textured by both ingredient quantity and time. Essentially, every tea begins as weak, at the beginning of an infusion, after which it may become perfect — and, simultaneously, if there are 2+ servings of an ingredient, strong. And in fact, we added that if there are 4+ servings, the infusion of that flavor becomes “super”! So 4 green tea servings in one cup will, over time, taste “super green”, and can also be perfectly steeped, if served at the right moment. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44779548/dc07204c7aa47ce8b6a16f3df0babe291a5b73e2.gif[/img] The real question is, which guests order that? Some might prefer their cup to be super sweet… or iced… or a particular recipe… but now we have the capability to serve a Strong cup of London Fog, versus a weaker cup of London Fog, and guests can comment on what you’ve served them, according to their tastes. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44779548/fa97b88566f27ee2ea74009c5a2a980d231341db.jpg[/img] Next on the docket: more beauty! We’d love to cut a new trailer to show you how gorgeous the game has become over the past months, with all the new tea and wares and tarot and characters we’ve developed, but it’ll be a lot of work, so bear with us. We don’t want to spoil too much, but we also want you to know we’re making steady progress towards that witchy tea room you’re dreaming of. Make sure to join your fellow Tea Witch coven in the [url=https://discord.gg/kitfoxgames]Kitfox Discord[/url]! Thank you for your patience! Tanya & the Loose Leaf team