Capella Kiwi
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.19 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: CAP Kiwi @ %3, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 9 days.
This concentrate was provided by bullcityflavors.com, for the sole and express purpose of publishing an honest review for r/DIY_eJuice.
Flavor Description: Tastes like candied bartlett pear skin. Relatively dark or heavy flavor for a kiwi, as opposed to a bright, tart, kiwi. Mouthfeel is bit dry, but very sweet overall.
Inhale is dense, with some deep, very sweet, apple or pear notes. Beginning of the exhale tastes like gummy strawberries, or a green haribo gummy bear. Tail end is more like that candy bartlett pear skin type of taste, with just a bit of brightness and some green non-vegetal top notes balancing out some deep pear sweetness. Sweet but dry overall, with a moderate density. Tastes reasonably like a candy kind of kiwi flavor, but I don't get the melon kind of base that really makes a kiwi for me.
Off-flavors: Nothing bad, just a bit dry and pear-heavy for a real kiwi.
Throat Hit: Light, mostly from the drier taste. Not particularly juicy or smooth.
Uses & Pairings: Kiwi is one of those flavors that shares elements of a lot of other fruits, so you have a fair amount of mixing options. Strawberries and melons (especially honeydew) are a great fit, but darker berries should work as long as they aren't too syrupy. Almost has a bit of a passionfruit taste with the strawberry in here, so tropical fruits are also on the table, especially fa banana.
Mixing with creams, I'd keep it light and fluffy. This is pretty sweet overall, so something like CAP Vanilla Whipped Cream should take advantage of the sweetness without being bogged down by the heavier flavor here. Sort of in the same vein, would pair well with coconut as well.
I'd take advantage of that bartlett pear skin thing, and use it at a low percentage on top of FA Pear for a more realistic full pear if you're into that thing. Or even for a green apple mix to add a bit of depth and interest.
Works well with candy texturizers, and has the sweetness to carry a candy flavor with just enough brightness to make it pop a bit.
Notes:
S&V Concentration testing, .5% is really light in flavor, but still pretty heavily sweet. Should work as a fruit sweetener. 1% actually tastes a bit more like a kiwi then higher concentrations, with all of those component flavors still really light, but the sweetness is still dominant here. Could definitely pass as a lighter candy strawberry here. At 1.5%, I'm getting a lot of pear as those greener, bright notes start to creep in. 2% is a getting a little flat and heavy, and by 3% you've got a murkier "candy" flavor overall. By 3%, you start to notice the dryness. 4% seems pretty sugary, and your green notes have mellowed out and you get a dense almost overripe pear sweetness. I'd use this at .75% for a fruit sweetener, 1.5% for mixes trying to evoke a bartlett pear or green apple, and 2.5% for mixes where you want something approaching a kiwi. I'd go up to 3.5 or 4% for a base for a candy recipe, knowing it'll taste a little more pear than kiwi.
Overall, this doesn't really scream Kiwi to me. FA Kiwi is brighter and more vibrant, and definitely heavier on the strawberry kind of notes that make it awesome. I think this has some serious potential in pear flavors though, and at lower percentages it shouldn't be distracting in any kind of fruit mix you come up with.
Second Opinions:
I can't find much, so not really.
Instead, have some Capella website copy:
"New Kiwi Flavor Concentrate from Capella Flavors. The taste of kiwi fruit, which varies from sweet to tart, is reminiscent of strawberries, nectarines and melons, yet with its own unique sweet flavor. Kiwi fruit blends well with other fruits or creams and makes a striking garnish, but is also highly satisfying on its own."