Fleabag
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- Joined
- Apr 10, 2013
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Here is my initial feedback on a range of food flavourings from Fantasy Fudge AKA Nanny Bakes Kitchen
She has an ebay shop, where they are £2.99 per 30ml free P&P
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30-ml-INTE...80946105348&
But she also has a facebook page, where they can be bought for £2.50 per 30ml, with discounts for orders of 10+ bottles, but this price does not include P&P. Contact the vendor, Karen, for postage costs.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nanny...039738?fref=ts
All flavours tested on a generic FT dripper with itaste VV at 16mg 50/50
Flavours measured prior to start of test – 50 drops = 1ml.
Most flavours initially tested at 10% and increased if required after first test.
All initial results based on immediate unsteeped smell & taste test, I’ll add flavours as I test and follow up with results after steeping as I work through the flavours again in a week or two
Rose – tested at <5% - distinct rose flavour. Quite fresh. Reminscant of Fry’s Turkish Delight without the chocolate. Subtle sweetness – pleasant vape on its own, but may benefit from added sweetener or chocolate flavour for a true confectionary flavour
Cherry – Smells pleasant, not necessarily a strong cherry scent. Tested at 10% and then 16% - A little weak for my taste at 10%. Distinct flavour at 16%. Acceptable and discernible cherry flavour, a little like a better quality cherry sweet – not too artificial. As I like strong flavours, I might prefer it at 20%
Orange – Tested at <10% - strong and distinct. Fresh orange Tic Tac flavour
Champagne – Very strong champagne scent. Surprisingly realistic and pleasant, fresh flavour (especially considering I don’t much like champagne). This is very vapeable on its own, and would be a good palate cleanser after a heavy juice. Lone flavour suggests this would produce very accurate champagne cocktail blends. Very distinct flavour at 10%.
Lavender - Smells exactly of Lavender – tastes exactly of lavender. 10% provides a very strong flavour (in fact, on its own this could cope with knocking back a bit). It’s unusual tasting something I only know as a scent, but not at all unpleasant. Like other floral flavours, this is fresh and clean tasting and an effective palate cleanser between sweet/heavy juices. This would be very good as an addition to a blend of flavours.
Summer Berries - tested at 10% - flavour a little subtle for full evaluation. Increased to 16%. Fresh Summer Berry flavour is there, perhaps a slight hint of Vimto, but would probably need a dash of something else to be really convincing. Blackcurrant probably comes through more distinctly than any other berry (I’m not a huge blackcurrant fan), I’d prefer to blend this with something, and it would probably compliment one of the creamier flavours.
Coconut - Smells of coconut cream, perhaps with a slight chemical aroma. Good strong flavour at 10%. No indication of a chemical taste. Very Coconut Cream taste. I like this a lot. Much stronger and more natural tasting than my previous e-concentrate coconut. This would work very well in a Pina Colada, but is also very pleasant on its own.
Violet – Strong flavour at 10%. Smaells & tastes EXACTLY like Parma Violets
Lime - 10% provides a good strong Lime flavour. Fresh flavour, not too sweet. I'm not a huge fan of lime, so would probably save it for blends, but it's actually quite pleasant on its own.
Lemon Sherbet - Smells a lot like the Lemon Sherbet sweets. Strong flavour at 10%. Tastes very like Lemon Sherbet - puts me in mind of Sherbet Fountains, but perhaps more of a distinct lemon flavour
Raspberry - Fresh real raspberry taste. Not unlike raspberry sorbet. A little subtle for my taste at 10%, so increased to 16% - more distinct at this level. Will blend well with other fruit, drink and creamy flavours.
Passion Fruit - Smells generally fruity. 10% produces quite a strong flavour. I have more experience of passion fruit flavoured drinks than the fruit itself, and it does remind me of Rubicon Passion Fruit juice. For me, it has a slightly odd flavour on its own. I think it would blend well with a creamy concentrate, such as white chocolate or coconut and/or with a rum flavour.
Tropical - Definitely very fruity and strong at 10%. Can taste the mixed fruits, with Lime coming through more than any other. Very pleasant, but given my personal take on lime, this would be one for a blend for me. Would go well with coconut, rum and would freshen up a creamy flavour. Might be nice with butterscotch.
Banana - Smells of banana, tastes even more of banana. Discernible but muted flavour at 10%. Increased to 16% - better. I use banana a lot (mostly with butterscotch), and I think this will be an improvement on previous banana concentrate.
Old English Toffee - Dark brown coloured concentrate. Smells of toffee. At 10%, the toffee comes through, but as I'm fond of these flavour types, I prefer something more distinct. 16% definitely more obvious (I could still probably go further to suit my taste, but this is probably an adequate level for most people). It's very nice - a soft, sweet, mellow concentrate.
Maple - Dark Brown coloured. Smells and tastes of real maple. Good at 10%. Very distinct flavour. Would probably need to be lower % than other flavours in a blend, so as not to overpower more subtle ones.
Butterscotch - Clear coloured concentrate. 10% adequate level. It does smell and taste of butterscotch, though has a slightly strange flavour on its own. Possibly because it has a creamy taste, which I'm not a fan of in high quantities. I think this is one that will benefit from some steeping and/or blended with other flavours. I have already used this with FF banana, which was very nice, though next time will need more banana than butterscotch.
Butter - Has a very buttery scent. 10% fine, taste not dissimilar to the butterscotch. I thought this would taste sickly, but it's nicer than I imagined. I would definitely want to blend it with another flavour
Vanilla - Looks and smells like real vanilla essence. Flavour at 10% sweet, discernible vanilla taste, but not overwhelming. Vanilla a bit stronger at 16%. It's still not overpowering. The flavour's there, but it's soft - more like a vanilla tea than a custard. If used in a blend, would need a fairly high ratio of vanilla to other flavours to bring the flavour out.
White Chocolate - Very creamy smell and taste. Distinctive at 10%. Like the real thing, this doesn't have a strong cocoa flavour, and does taste quite convincing. A little too creamy on its own for me, but I've already used this with raspberry with great results.
Cream - Having used this already in a blend, I knew it was VERY strong, so this is made up at 4% - and that's plenty! I find it quite sickly on its own, but it really is a good strong buttery cream flavour. I would only use this in blends, and it was a very nice addition to a coffee blend - and could be tasted through the coffee, butterscotch, vanilla & cinnamon even though I only used 0.6% cream (3 drops) in a 10ml bottle.
Irish Cream - Strong Whisky Cream smell. Strong flavour at 10%. Tastes much like it smells. Cream is very distinctive, but the whisky flavour takes some of the sickliness out of it.
Irish Coffee - Smells like alcoholic coffee, tastes like alcoholic coffee. Both flavours come through really well at 10%. I already have a bottle of this made up and I love it on its own.
Coffee - 10% provides a distinctive coffee flavour. Just a straight, black coffee. Perfect as a base for the various different types of coffee blends
Christmas Pudding - Clove is the overriding aroma on this one. 10% a good level. Tastes mostly of orange & clove, with possibly some undertones of cinnamon & something else.
Amaretto - 10% provides a strong flavour. This does taste of almond, but has something of an orange/citrus taste as well (I used it in a tank after the orange flavour and thought the orange had tainted it). In a tank, this needs a lot of cleaning out to change flavours. I'm not crazy about it on its own, and it perhaps tastes less like the real thing than any of the other flavours, but it might blend well with other concentrates - perhaps in a small quantity with cherry.
Peppermint - Smells & tastes of peppermint. 10% fine. I wasn't expecting much from this, given how much I'd disliked another brand of Spearmint, but it's quite fresh and cleansing. Not a flavour I'd vape all day, but that's just me. This seems like it would work well with toffee or butterscotch.
Liquorice - This is a very dark, almost black, concentrate. 10%. It does taste of liquorice - like proper liquorice root. It has a slightly bitter undertone. I would say this is a pretty accurate liquorice, but it's the one flavour of all of them I would have to say that I don't like, and I can't think of anything I'd want to blend it with. With something sweet, it might take on more of a liquorice sweet flavour - or if you really love real liquorice, it could be right up your street
I will return to these in a couple of weeks or so if I can, though I am on my travels, so they may get a 3 week steep.
I enquired with Karen about her direct costs inc postage, and found that direct ordering is a little more expensive than through Ebay, so I plumped for the latter. She sends out first class on direct orders, which presumably explains the higher cost, but I've found she upgrades the postage on larger orders through Ebay anyway (though it's states as 2nd class). This order came in as "signed for" first class.
It also needs noting that her bottles no longer come with a dripper insert, so I decanted some of each into spare 10ml dripper bottles (alternatively, you could use a pipette)
Apple - Tried at 10% initially. I can taste the apple, but it is subtle. Increased to 20%. Still a soft flavour, and in a blend will need to have the lion's share of the total flavour allocation to be discernible. It is a light, pleasant flavour on its own, and probably more realistic than any other I've tried.
Black Cherry – Tested at 10%. I can taste Black Cherry, but a little weak. Again, this will need a high ratio alongside other flavours to ensure an even balance. Increased to 20% - adequate strength, though not overwhelming. Of the 2 cherry flavours, I think the regular cherry has a more distinct cherry flavour.
Fruit Salad – Tested at 10% - a good, distinct flavour at this level. Not dissimilar to fruit salad sweets. Pleasant flavour – I’ll use this in blends.
Tirimisu – 10% is a perfect level for this. The coffee isn’t overpowering in this, and I might play around with it with extra coffee flavour, but this is very nice as it is. Not unlike the Irish coffee, but with a lower level of coffee and a creamy flavour – perhaps something like a blend of irish coffee and irish cream.
Gingerbread – This smells and tastes just like Jamaican Ginger Cake – strong at 10%. Distinct sweet ginger flavour. I like this a lot
Cherry Menthol – 10% is a good level for me. Cherry isn’t overpowering, but it really does have a Cherry Tunes flavour. If I had a cold, I might increase it to 15%.
Menthol – 10% again is a good strength for this, perhaps 15% if you had a cold. Does what it says on the tin.
Aniseed – as opening this once permeated the office with aniseed for 5 hours, I decided to test this at 6% initially – I’m glad I did! This is strong at 6%, and any blend with this will need a tiny proportion of aniseed to create an even balance. It’s very pleasant and is a good, unadulterated, realistic aniseed flavour. I’m looking forward to playing around with this in blends.
She has an ebay shop, where they are £2.99 per 30ml free P&P
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30-ml-INTE...80946105348&
But she also has a facebook page, where they can be bought for £2.50 per 30ml, with discounts for orders of 10+ bottles, but this price does not include P&P. Contact the vendor, Karen, for postage costs.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nanny...039738?fref=ts
All flavours tested on a generic FT dripper with itaste VV at 16mg 50/50
Flavours measured prior to start of test – 50 drops = 1ml.
Most flavours initially tested at 10% and increased if required after first test.
All initial results based on immediate unsteeped smell & taste test, I’ll add flavours as I test and follow up with results after steeping as I work through the flavours again in a week or two
Rose – tested at <5% - distinct rose flavour. Quite fresh. Reminscant of Fry’s Turkish Delight without the chocolate. Subtle sweetness – pleasant vape on its own, but may benefit from added sweetener or chocolate flavour for a true confectionary flavour
Cherry – Smells pleasant, not necessarily a strong cherry scent. Tested at 10% and then 16% - A little weak for my taste at 10%. Distinct flavour at 16%. Acceptable and discernible cherry flavour, a little like a better quality cherry sweet – not too artificial. As I like strong flavours, I might prefer it at 20%
Orange – Tested at <10% - strong and distinct. Fresh orange Tic Tac flavour
Champagne – Very strong champagne scent. Surprisingly realistic and pleasant, fresh flavour (especially considering I don’t much like champagne). This is very vapeable on its own, and would be a good palate cleanser after a heavy juice. Lone flavour suggests this would produce very accurate champagne cocktail blends. Very distinct flavour at 10%.
Lavender - Smells exactly of Lavender – tastes exactly of lavender. 10% provides a very strong flavour (in fact, on its own this could cope with knocking back a bit). It’s unusual tasting something I only know as a scent, but not at all unpleasant. Like other floral flavours, this is fresh and clean tasting and an effective palate cleanser between sweet/heavy juices. This would be very good as an addition to a blend of flavours.
Summer Berries - tested at 10% - flavour a little subtle for full evaluation. Increased to 16%. Fresh Summer Berry flavour is there, perhaps a slight hint of Vimto, but would probably need a dash of something else to be really convincing. Blackcurrant probably comes through more distinctly than any other berry (I’m not a huge blackcurrant fan), I’d prefer to blend this with something, and it would probably compliment one of the creamier flavours.
Coconut - Smells of coconut cream, perhaps with a slight chemical aroma. Good strong flavour at 10%. No indication of a chemical taste. Very Coconut Cream taste. I like this a lot. Much stronger and more natural tasting than my previous e-concentrate coconut. This would work very well in a Pina Colada, but is also very pleasant on its own.
Violet – Strong flavour at 10%. Smaells & tastes EXACTLY like Parma Violets
Lime - 10% provides a good strong Lime flavour. Fresh flavour, not too sweet. I'm not a huge fan of lime, so would probably save it for blends, but it's actually quite pleasant on its own.
Lemon Sherbet - Smells a lot like the Lemon Sherbet sweets. Strong flavour at 10%. Tastes very like Lemon Sherbet - puts me in mind of Sherbet Fountains, but perhaps more of a distinct lemon flavour
Raspberry - Fresh real raspberry taste. Not unlike raspberry sorbet. A little subtle for my taste at 10%, so increased to 16% - more distinct at this level. Will blend well with other fruit, drink and creamy flavours.
Passion Fruit - Smells generally fruity. 10% produces quite a strong flavour. I have more experience of passion fruit flavoured drinks than the fruit itself, and it does remind me of Rubicon Passion Fruit juice. For me, it has a slightly odd flavour on its own. I think it would blend well with a creamy concentrate, such as white chocolate or coconut and/or with a rum flavour.
Tropical - Definitely very fruity and strong at 10%. Can taste the mixed fruits, with Lime coming through more than any other. Very pleasant, but given my personal take on lime, this would be one for a blend for me. Would go well with coconut, rum and would freshen up a creamy flavour. Might be nice with butterscotch.
Banana - Smells of banana, tastes even more of banana. Discernible but muted flavour at 10%. Increased to 16% - better. I use banana a lot (mostly with butterscotch), and I think this will be an improvement on previous banana concentrate.
Old English Toffee - Dark brown coloured concentrate. Smells of toffee. At 10%, the toffee comes through, but as I'm fond of these flavour types, I prefer something more distinct. 16% definitely more obvious (I could still probably go further to suit my taste, but this is probably an adequate level for most people). It's very nice - a soft, sweet, mellow concentrate.
Maple - Dark Brown coloured. Smells and tastes of real maple. Good at 10%. Very distinct flavour. Would probably need to be lower % than other flavours in a blend, so as not to overpower more subtle ones.
Butterscotch - Clear coloured concentrate. 10% adequate level. It does smell and taste of butterscotch, though has a slightly strange flavour on its own. Possibly because it has a creamy taste, which I'm not a fan of in high quantities. I think this is one that will benefit from some steeping and/or blended with other flavours. I have already used this with FF banana, which was very nice, though next time will need more banana than butterscotch.
Butter - Has a very buttery scent. 10% fine, taste not dissimilar to the butterscotch. I thought this would taste sickly, but it's nicer than I imagined. I would definitely want to blend it with another flavour
Vanilla - Looks and smells like real vanilla essence. Flavour at 10% sweet, discernible vanilla taste, but not overwhelming. Vanilla a bit stronger at 16%. It's still not overpowering. The flavour's there, but it's soft - more like a vanilla tea than a custard. If used in a blend, would need a fairly high ratio of vanilla to other flavours to bring the flavour out.
White Chocolate - Very creamy smell and taste. Distinctive at 10%. Like the real thing, this doesn't have a strong cocoa flavour, and does taste quite convincing. A little too creamy on its own for me, but I've already used this with raspberry with great results.
Cream - Having used this already in a blend, I knew it was VERY strong, so this is made up at 4% - and that's plenty! I find it quite sickly on its own, but it really is a good strong buttery cream flavour. I would only use this in blends, and it was a very nice addition to a coffee blend - and could be tasted through the coffee, butterscotch, vanilla & cinnamon even though I only used 0.6% cream (3 drops) in a 10ml bottle.
Irish Cream - Strong Whisky Cream smell. Strong flavour at 10%. Tastes much like it smells. Cream is very distinctive, but the whisky flavour takes some of the sickliness out of it.
Irish Coffee - Smells like alcoholic coffee, tastes like alcoholic coffee. Both flavours come through really well at 10%. I already have a bottle of this made up and I love it on its own.
Coffee - 10% provides a distinctive coffee flavour. Just a straight, black coffee. Perfect as a base for the various different types of coffee blends
Christmas Pudding - Clove is the overriding aroma on this one. 10% a good level. Tastes mostly of orange & clove, with possibly some undertones of cinnamon & something else.
Amaretto - 10% provides a strong flavour. This does taste of almond, but has something of an orange/citrus taste as well (I used it in a tank after the orange flavour and thought the orange had tainted it). In a tank, this needs a lot of cleaning out to change flavours. I'm not crazy about it on its own, and it perhaps tastes less like the real thing than any of the other flavours, but it might blend well with other concentrates - perhaps in a small quantity with cherry.
Peppermint - Smells & tastes of peppermint. 10% fine. I wasn't expecting much from this, given how much I'd disliked another brand of Spearmint, but it's quite fresh and cleansing. Not a flavour I'd vape all day, but that's just me. This seems like it would work well with toffee or butterscotch.
Liquorice - This is a very dark, almost black, concentrate. 10%. It does taste of liquorice - like proper liquorice root. It has a slightly bitter undertone. I would say this is a pretty accurate liquorice, but it's the one flavour of all of them I would have to say that I don't like, and I can't think of anything I'd want to blend it with. With something sweet, it might take on more of a liquorice sweet flavour - or if you really love real liquorice, it could be right up your street
I will return to these in a couple of weeks or so if I can, though I am on my travels, so they may get a 3 week steep.
I enquired with Karen about her direct costs inc postage, and found that direct ordering is a little more expensive than through Ebay, so I plumped for the latter. She sends out first class on direct orders, which presumably explains the higher cost, but I've found she upgrades the postage on larger orders through Ebay anyway (though it's states as 2nd class). This order came in as "signed for" first class.
It also needs noting that her bottles no longer come with a dripper insert, so I decanted some of each into spare 10ml dripper bottles (alternatively, you could use a pipette)
Apple - Tried at 10% initially. I can taste the apple, but it is subtle. Increased to 20%. Still a soft flavour, and in a blend will need to have the lion's share of the total flavour allocation to be discernible. It is a light, pleasant flavour on its own, and probably more realistic than any other I've tried.
Black Cherry – Tested at 10%. I can taste Black Cherry, but a little weak. Again, this will need a high ratio alongside other flavours to ensure an even balance. Increased to 20% - adequate strength, though not overwhelming. Of the 2 cherry flavours, I think the regular cherry has a more distinct cherry flavour.
Fruit Salad – Tested at 10% - a good, distinct flavour at this level. Not dissimilar to fruit salad sweets. Pleasant flavour – I’ll use this in blends.
Tirimisu – 10% is a perfect level for this. The coffee isn’t overpowering in this, and I might play around with it with extra coffee flavour, but this is very nice as it is. Not unlike the Irish coffee, but with a lower level of coffee and a creamy flavour – perhaps something like a blend of irish coffee and irish cream.
Gingerbread – This smells and tastes just like Jamaican Ginger Cake – strong at 10%. Distinct sweet ginger flavour. I like this a lot
Cherry Menthol – 10% is a good level for me. Cherry isn’t overpowering, but it really does have a Cherry Tunes flavour. If I had a cold, I might increase it to 15%.
Menthol – 10% again is a good strength for this, perhaps 15% if you had a cold. Does what it says on the tin.
Aniseed – as opening this once permeated the office with aniseed for 5 hours, I decided to test this at 6% initially – I’m glad I did! This is strong at 6%, and any blend with this will need a tiny proportion of aniseed to create an even balance. It’s very pleasant and is a good, unadulterated, realistic aniseed flavour. I’m looking forward to playing around with this in blends.
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