Decadent Vapours Earl Grey Tea
ConcreteRiver
Disclaimer: I didn't pay for this, shoutout to Decadent Vapours for sending this to me.
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 12 wrap 24g 3.5mm SS316 @.30 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: Decadent Vapours Earl Grey Tea, 5% and 10%, 60/40 VG/PG base, Steeped 50 days.
Flavor Description: A drier black tea, relatively heavy on the bergamot.
The tea here is largely solid if a bit light on flavor at the tested percentages. Black tea astringency, actually feels a bit tannic and dry for something based on a liquid, but it does sell the tea thing fairly well. Recognizable black tea earthiness, but on the subtle side. Pretty nondescript but pleasant. Very light bitterness, but nothing that feels too earthy or aggressive.
The “earl grey” part of this, the bergamot, is coming on fairly strong for how relatively subtle that base tea seems. The bitterness of the bergamot comes through pretty clearly, with some of those bitter orange zest notes. A bit of a floral edge here as well, but it works pretty well the tea. Seems fairly accurate. Peppery bergamot notes are present, but this feels more weighted toward the bitter rather than spicy side.
Mouthfeel overall feels maybe a bit dry and thin. The bergamot was out of control for me at the DV suggested 20% but the vape itself was even drier, so I don’t think it’s a concentration issue here. Drier than FA Black Tea or FLV Black Tea for me, even though the actual tea flavor seems a bit less aggressive than either. Sweet enough to vape well, but doesn’t really seem like a heavily sweetened tea. Maybe a light bit of sugar, but nothing approaching full tablespoons or honey or whatever.
No mention of cream in the description for this, but there is definitely some cream added in the product photo on the DV website. I don’t pick up any kind of cream in here, FWIW. I’m not picking up anything that tastes like dairy. Off-Flavors: Vapes more like dry tea than a hot cup of tea. Nothing out of place for earl grey though.
Throat Hit: Moderate? The dryness, florals, zest, and peppery notes can get a bit much and there isn’t a lot of body to smooth it all out.
Percentage testing: At 5%, this feels a bit underflavored to me. The drier mouthfeel is still in full effect, but I’m losing the actual tea flavor behind the bergamot.
At 10%, this is again pretty dry. I’m getting more that tea flavor though, and it seems a bit better balanced with the bergamot. Bergamot is getting a bit peppery though.
DV suggests their usual 20%, and nope. That bergamot and dryness is even more intense. Just based on these tests, I’d be using this as a primary flavor, with something behind to bulk it out a bit, around 8-10%. I’m not sure where you’d use an earl grey accent, but it would probably work around 3-4% for that.
Uses & Pairings: Not a bad earl grey solo, but feels like it needs some volume. Just messing around, I mixed some of my 10% tester of this with 2% FLV Black Tea and it seemed to add some warm tea volume and made it vape a bit more like a hot beverage.
Not particularly sweet, some sucralose would probably add some sugar here. You could also go with a relatively non floral honey like FA Honey or even some VT Golden Syrup for additional sweetness.
Or hey, cream. Add your fresher cream of choice. I’d stay away from anything too buttery as it would probably get a bit weird with the bergamot, but this should work well with FA Fresh Cream or that OOO milky undertones that I refuse to buy.
Second Opinions: I’m not finding anything out there via google.