Tannin is an uncommon tier 2 reagent in Windrose, and it sits at the bottleneck of the leather armor chain. You cannot pick it up in the wild. It is brewed at an Alchemy Table from Tree Bark and a Clay Bottle, and it feeds directly into Tanned Leather at the Tanning Rack.
Tannin recipe and item properties
Tannin is classified as an Uncommon resource at item level 2, with a weight of 0.3 and a stack size of 40. Its only confirmed use is producing Tanned Leather, which then branches into mid-tier armor and backpack upgrades.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Item level | 2 |
| Weight | 0.3 |
| Stack size | 40 |
| Crafted at | Alchemy Table |
| Ingredients | 1 Clay Bottle + 2 Tree Bark |
| Used in | Tanned Leather (at Tanning Rack) |
Unlocking the recipe
The Tannin recipe is gated behind a discovery flag tied to Tree Bark. Picking up your first piece of Tree Bark unlocks the schematic and reveals the recipe at any Alchemy Table you own. The same pickup also unlocks the Tanning Rack recipe on the building side.
Tree Bark only drops in the Foothills, the second biome, which opens after you clear the starting area's first boss. The starting Coastal Jungle does not yield bark that will trigger the unlock.
Gathering Tree Bark in the Foothills
Tree Bark comes exclusively from Divi-Divi trees, recognizable by their thick, twisted trunks and dark wood. They are scattered across the Foothills islands, with dense clusters in the central regions. Each felled tree drops both Hardwood and Tree Bark, so a single run stocks materials for Timber and Tannin at the same time.
Any axe will technically chop a Divi-Divi, but a Copper Axe (or better) cuts noticeably faster and uses less stamina. The Copper Axe is forged at a Level 1 Workbench from 5 Copper Ingots and 5 Wood, so smelt copper before heading north.
Crafting the Clay Bottle
Clay Bottles are the second half of the recipe and are produced at the Alchemy Table itself. They are made from Clay, which is mined from dark, earthy patches found along riverbanks and shorelines in the starting region. Batch a stack of bottles in advance so alchemy never stalls waiting on containers.
Building the Alchemy Table
The Alchemy Table is required for both Clay Bottles and Tannin. It does not need fuel, but it should be placed somewhere sheltered so storms do not interrupt your workflow. Keeping it adjacent to a dedicated supply chest for Tree Bark and Clay Bottles cuts down on transfer time during long crafting sessions.
Brewing Tannin: Quick Steps
Step 1: Travel to the Foothills with a Copper Axe and chop Divi-Divi trees until you have at least 2 Tree Bark per Tannin you want to brew. The first piece picked up unlocks the recipe globally.
Step 2: Return to base and craft Clay Bottles at the Alchemy Table from your Clay supply. You need 1 Clay Bottle for every unit of Tannin.
Step 3: With 1 Clay Bottle and 2 Tree Bark in your inventory or nearby storage, open the Alchemy Table menu, select Tannin from the recipe list, and queue the craft. Each unit finishes quickly and stacks up to 40.
Turning Tannin into Tanned Leather
Tannin's only role is feeding the Tanning Rack. The rack itself costs 10 Wood and 5 Rope and must be placed within a Bonfire's radius to function. Outside that radius, it stays inactive, and crafts will not start.
At the Tanning Rack, combine Rough Hide with Tannin to produce Tanned Leather. Rough Hide drops from boars, wolves, goats, and similar wildlife on the starting islands. Later in the main quest, the Tortuga merchant offers an Animal Products contract that, after the Coastal Jungle boss is defeated, upgrades to deliver Rough Hide passively.
Why the recipe might not appear
If Tannin is missing from the Alchemy Table menu despite having ingredients, the cause is almost always the discovery flag. Bark harvested from starter-zone trees does not count. You must pick up bark specifically from a Divi-Divi in the Foothills. Dropping and re-picking the bark can force the discovery check if the flag failed to register on the first pickup.
The other common blocker is station progression. The Alchemy Table requires a Clay Pot to build, which means a Kiln must already exist in your base. Skipping that prerequisite leaves you with bark and no way to refine it.
Once Tannin production is running, keep a buffer of at least ten units in storage. Tanned Leather demand spikes hard during mid-game tailoring, and pausing armor crafts to brew more reagent is the easiest way to fall behind on gear.