In this short lived webcomic by Katie O’Neill, Greta, a blacksmith apprentice, discovers a lost tea dragon in the marketplace, and learns about the dying art form of tea dragon care-taking from kindly tea shop owners. As she befriends them and their shy ward, Greta sees how the craft enriches their lives—and her own. Since published in graphic novel format in 2017, It also has a companion graphic novel, The Tea Dragon Festival.
Tropes Relating to The Plot:
- A Dog Named "Dog": The tea dragons are referred to by the tea leaves they produce. For example, the jasmine tea dragon is called Jasmine, the chamomile dragon is called Chamomile and so on and so forth.
- Aerith and Bob: The names of the tea dragon society members have fantastical names like Hesekiel and Minette. Then there’s commonplace names like Greta and Erik.
- All There in the Manual: In the published graphic novel, there’s a tea dragon handbook that describes the different species of tea dragons, how to care for them, and how to harvest their leaves.
- Ambiguously Brown: Greta and her parents. Also Erik.
- Ambiguously Gay:
- Flashbacks to Hesekiel and Erik are shown to be close but some of their dialogue implies that their relationship is more Interspecies Romance than Heterosexual Life-Partners.
- Greta and Minette also become close in the first year that they know each other. But it’s unclear if it’s a Pseudo-Romantic Friendship or something more than that, considering that Minette kisses Greta on the cheek in one chapter and Greta herself often blushes in Minette’s company.
- Ambiguous Species:
- Hesekiel is bipedal with ears and a snout similar to most land mammals, but there’s no name given to what genus or species he is.
- It’s unclear what Minette’s ancestry is as she has antlers, a horn similar to a rhino, furry animal ears, and hooves.
- Greta’s familiar, Brick, looks like he could be a dog or a cat shaped glowing ember, but he’s not given any focus.
- Audience Surrogate: Greta as she’s learning the art of tea dragon husbandry.
- Author Appeal: Author Katie O’Neill has a fondness for tea, creatures, and anything that grows.
- The Blacksmith: Greta comes from a long line of blacksmiths.
- Boyish Short Hair: Greta has shorter hair. Though she does have a braid in the back.
- Cool Old Guy: Hesekiel
- Good Parents: Greta’s parents are shown to be loving and supportive.
- Friendless Background: For reasons unexplained, Greta isn’t shown to have any friends prior to assimilating into the tea dragon society.
- Friend to All Living Things: Greta has a glowing charcoal familiar, and she also rescues Jasmine from some hellhounds by distracting them with meat.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Greta and her mother have human and goblin ancestry.
- Horned Humanoid: Greta and her mother are partly goblin and have horns. Minette has one horn protruding from her forehead.
- I Can't Feel My Legs!: Erik doesn’t say this word for word, but he is paralyzed while bounty hunting with Hesekiel.
- Informed Flaw: Tea dragons are supposed to be hard to care for, but other than grooming them and harvesting their tea leaves, it doesn’t go into more detail than that.
- Invisible Parents: Minette’s parents are alive and well, but they’re never seen in the story proper.
- Last Episode, New Character: In the epilogue, Greta becomes the new owner of a ginseng tea dragon.
- Mr. Exposition: Hesekiel acts as this for Greta.
- No Antagonist: Thanks to the Slice of Life premise (albeit one with dragons and other fantasy elements) this is a given.
- Our Dragons Are Different: And how!
- Tea dragons are lap sized and domesticated.
- They’re capable of living to be hundreds of years old.
- Contrary to common depictions of dragons, many tea dragon species are soft and fluffy.
- They grow tea leaves from their horns and antlers.
- Really 700 Years Old: Hesekiel is described as having a lifespan longer than that of goblins or humans.
- Skintone Sclerae: While the characters have white sclerae in the webcomic, in the published graphic novel, they have skin toned sclera instead.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Greta is the tomboy to Minette’s girly girl.
- True Blue Femininity: Minette often dresses in blue.
- True Companions: By the end, Greta, Minette, Hesekiel and Erik reinstate the tea dragon society. It also overlaps with Intergenerational Friendship and Interspecies Friendship.
- Waif Prophet: Minette, having psychic abilities, is implied to be this. Though her messing around with her powers proved to be a danger to her memories more than anything else. Eventually she ran away from the monastery where she was training.
Tropes Relating To Tea Dragon Species:
- Attention Whore: Peppermint tea dragons do not like being ignored.
- Big Eater: Hibiscus tea dragons are described as fond of eating and sharing food.
- The Big Guy: Rooibos tea dragons are one of the biggest and playful species.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Ginger tea dragons are said to sense illness in others and will create a ruckus if they think someone is unwell and needs help.
- Intellectual Animal: Jasmine tea dragons are the most intelligent and self aware.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: Ginseng tea dragons don’t understand the concept of ownership, and they’ll often steal food to please their owners.
- Not So Above It All: Earl Grey dragons are described as being proud and dignified, but can be caught in “all manner of silly poses.”
- Sleepyhead: Chamomile tea dragons sleep eighteen hours a day.
