OSRS How to Make Nettle Tea A Step-by-Step Guide

OSRS How to Make Nettle Tea A Step-by-Step Guide

In Old School RuneScape (OSRS), nettle tea is a simple yet valuable item that players can craft with minimal requirements. Whether you’re completing the Ghosts Ahoy quest, the Skippy and the Mogres miniquest, or just looking to heal a few hitpoints, knowing how to make nettle tea is a handy skill. This guide will walk you through the entire process, from gathering materials to brewing the tea, while offering tips to avoid common pitfalls. With a low Cooking level requirement and easy-to-find ingredients, nettle tea is accessible to both new and seasoned players. Let’s dive into the details!

Nettle tea is a hot drink in OSRS that requires level 20 Cooking to make and grants 52 Cooking experience upon successful preparation. When consumed, it heals 3 hitpoints and restores 5% run energy if your hitpoints are not at maximum. However, if you’re at full health, the run energy restoration effect won’t apply. This makes nettle tea a niche but useful item for early-game healing or specific quest requirements. It’s untradeable, so you’ll need to make it yourself, and it cannot be stored in a tea flask.

Why Make Nettle Tea?

Nettle tea serves multiple purposes in OSRS, including:

  • Quest Utility: Essential for the Ghosts Ahoy quest (milky nettle tea) and the Skippy and the Mogres miniquest.
  • Healing: Restores 3 hitpoints, useful for low-level players.
  • Run Energy: Restores 5% run energy when not at full health.
  • Cooking XP: Provides 52 Cooking experience, a decent boost for early levels.

Gathering the Required Materials

Before you can brew nettle tea, you’ll need to collect a few key items. The process is straightforward, but there are specific requirements to avoid taking damage or wasting time. Here’s what you’ll need and where to find it.

Essential Items

  • Nettles: Found in various locations across Gielinor. You must wear gloves to pick them safely.
  • Bowl: A standard bowl, purchasable from general stores or obtained from item spawns.
  • Water Source: Any fountain, sink, or body of water (except wells) to fill the bowl.
  • Gloves: Any pair except Beekeeper’s gloves to avoid taking up to 2 hitpoints of damage when picking nettles.

Optional Items

  • Bucket of Milk: To make milky nettle tea, required for the Ghosts Ahoy quest.
  • Empty Cup: To turn nettle tea into a cup of tea or cup of milky tea, though this doesn’t change the effects.

Where to Find Nettles

Nettles are scattered across OSRS, often in areas accessible to both free-to-play and members’ players (though nettles themselves are members-only). Here are some prime locations:

Location Details Accessibility
Edgeville South of Edgeville Monastery, near the yew trees. Close to a general store for bowls. Free-to-play area, but nettles are members-only.
Lumbridge Near the Lumbridge cow field or east of Draynor Village. Easy for early-game players.
Wilderness Near the Chaos Temple or south of the Lava Maze. High-risk for PKers, but good for Ironmen.
Port Phasmatys Near the Ghosts Ahoy quest area, ideal for quest preparation. Members-only, requires quest progress.

Tip: Edgeville is the most convenient spot due to its proximity to a general store, bank, and water source. Always wear gloves when picking nettles, or you’ll take damage and fail to collect them.

Step-by-Step Guide to Making Nettle Tea

Follow these steps to successfully brew nettle tea in OSRS. Be mindful of the Cooking level requirement and the potential for failure, especially at lower levels.

Step 1: Equip Gloves and Pick Nettles

Wear any pair of gloves (leather gloves are a cheap and easy option) and head to a nettle patch. Click on the nettle plants to pick them. There are no skill requirements for picking, and nettles respawn quickly, so you can gather as many as needed. Each nettle plant yields one nettle.

Step 2: Obtain a Bowl and Fill It with Water

Purchase a bowl from a general store (e.g., Edgeville’s general store for 5 coins) or find one at an item spawn. Take the bowl to a water source, such as the fountain in Edgeville or a sink, and use it to fill the bowl with water. Warning: Do not heat the water before adding nettles, as a bowl of hot water cannot be used to make nettle tea.

Step 3: Combine Nettles with the Bowl of Water

With both nettles and a bowl of water in your inventory, use the nettles on the bowl to create nettle-water. You can choose to make multiple nettle-waters at once if you have several nettles and bowls. Be careful not to accidentally consume the nettle-water during this step.

Step 4: Cook the Nettle-Water

Take the nettle-water to a fire or cooking range. Use the nettle-water on the fire or range to boil it, requiring level 20 Cooking. If successful, you’ll receive nettle tea and 52 Cooking experience. However, there’s a chance the water may boil over, leaving you with an empty bowl and no experience. The success rate improves with higher Cooking levels and reaches 100% at level 54. For example, at level 20, the success rate is approximately 56.25%, increasing to 70.7% at level 31.

Step 5: Optional Modifications

Once you have nettle tea, you can customize it:

  • Add a Bucket of Milk: Use a bucket of milk on the nettle tea to create milky nettle tea, required for the Ghosts Ahoy quest. This doesn’t change the healing or energy effects.
  • Pour into a Cup: Use the nettle tea (or milky nettle tea) on an empty cup to create a cup of tea or cup of milky tea. This is purely cosmetic and doesn’t affect the tea’s properties.

Tips for Success and Common Mistakes to Avoid

Making nettle tea is simple, but low Cooking levels and small errors can lead to frustration. Here are some tips to streamline the process and avoid setbacks.

Increasing Cooking Success Rate

The chance of successfully cooking nettle tea improves with your Cooking level. At level 20, you have a 56.25% success rate, which can lead to frequent boil-overs. To minimize this:

  • Train Cooking: Cook fish or other low-level foods to reach at least level 30 for a better success rate (~70%).
  • Bring Extras: Carry multiple nettles and bowls of water, as boil-overs are common at lower levels. A Reddit user reported overboiling eight bowls in a row during Ghosts Ahoy, highlighting the need for spares!
  • Use a Range: While fires and ranges have the same success rate, ranges are often closer to banks and water sources, saving time.

Avoiding Common Errors

Here are some mistakes to watch out for:

  • Not Wearing Gloves: Picking nettles without gloves causes 2 hitpoints of damage and yields no nettles.
  • Heating Water First: Heating a bowl of water before adding nettles creates a useless item that cannot be used for nettle tea.
  • Accidental Consumption: Be cautious when clicking nettle-water, as you might drink it instead of cooking it.
  • Using Beekeeper’s Gloves: These specific gloves don’t protect against nettles, unlike other glove types.

Using Nettle Tea in Quests and Gameplay

Nettle tea is more than just a beverage—it’s a key item in specific OSRS activities. Understanding its role can help you plan your inventory and quest progression.

Ghosts Ahoy Quest

In the Ghosts Ahoy quest, you must provide the Old Crone with milky nettle tea to jog her memory. This requires a bucket of milk in addition to the standard nettle tea ingredients. Since boil-overs are possible, bring extra nettles and bowls to avoid trekking back to a nettle patch. The quest is members-only, and the tea must be made during the quest, as it’s untradeable.

Skippy and the Mogres Miniquest

For the Skippy and the Mogres miniquest, nettle tea (non-milky) is used to sober up Skippy. This miniquest is also members-only and requires level 20 Cooking to complete the tea-making step. Having a few extra nettles on hand is wise in case of cooking failures.

Other Uses

Beyond quests, nettle tea can be a low-cost healing item for early-game players or Ironmen who lack access to better food. Its 3 hitpoint restoration is modest but useful in a pinch, especially when combined with its run energy boost. However, it’s less efficient than other foods like trout or salmon for sustained combat.

Mastering the art of making nettle tea in OSRS is a small but rewarding skill. With just a few ingredients and a bit of Cooking know-how, you can brew this tea for quests, healing, or a quick energy boost. By following this guide, gathering materials in places like Edgeville, and avoiding common mistakes, you’ll be sipping nettle tea in no time. Happy brewing, and may your adventures in Gielinor be filled with success!