I hope that someone gets my message in a bottle
The growing village of Hateno is home to quite a few side quests in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, with some overlap between them. But if you want to open up a new shop, and put a new good on the map, you’ll need to complete a ‘cheesy’ quest called A Letter to Koyin in Tears of the Kingdom.
This quest starts out up at the Hateno pasture, up the hill from the village. The easiest way there is to head up the hill like you’re going to the research lab, but take the opposite fork at the sign.
How to find the recipe in A Letter to Koyin side quest
Out behind the farm, near the small lake, you’ll see Koyin standing on the docks. She’s trying to recover a lost letter from her great-grandfather, but it’s in a bottle and drifted out into the lake.
It is Ultrahand-able, but not from the shore. To get it, you’ll need to get a bit crafty.
For our own purposes, we just chopped down a few trees nearby — which is useful if you’re also doing the Dantz’s Prize Cows side quest and need acorns — and slapped a fan from a Zonai capsule onto it. One airboat later, and we were cruising towards the floating bottle.
Fish it out of the water, put it on the boat (maybe even attach it, so it doesn’t roll off), and head for shore. Then just drop it on the docks near Koyin and speak with her.
Koyin will open the bottle and unfurl the letter, which is written in handwriting so awful that apparently only their family can read it. She’ll rush off in a hurry, but ask you to come see her when you’ve got the chance.
Opening the cheese shop in Hateno Village
If you couldn’t tell from the bits of recipe you’ve heard, Koyin’s great-grandfather invented Hateno cheese. With this recipe, you can start pumping out batches of cheese. Koyin will thank you with a free hunk of Hateno cheese, and also open the Hateno cheese shop. Here, you can trade one glass of Fresh Milk for a chunk of cheese. Which, if you’ve done the Dantz’s Prize Cows quest, now means you can turn acorns into cheese. Magic!
Completing A Letter to Koyin is also helpful for the Mayoral Election quest line in Hateno Village, as you’ll need to present some cheese to acting mayor Reede to fulfill the side adventure A New Signature Food. So as tempting as it is to chomp down on some cheese, save it and you’ll benefit greatly later on.
