Flavour Art Florida Key Lime
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.18 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FA Florida Key Lime @ .5% and 1.5%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 9 days.
Flavor Description: Bright, fresh key limes. Relatively subdued zest, juicy and tart body, and pretty heavy but still natural tasting sweetness. On the harsh side, but sells a fresher, sweetened key lime pretty well. Fairly potent, I'd use at .5% for a lighter accent and up to 2% if you're sinking it heavier creams or custards or complex bakeries.
Inhale is tart key lime juice, with clear but not overwhelming bright acidity. Lighter, slightly airy mouthfeel with a warm, building sugary sweetness. Exhale is fuller, with a solid key lime right down the middle. Higher brighter acidity with a slight bitter zest edge. I'm getting a bit of actual juiciness here, with a deeper sweet body that doesn't quite cross the line into syrupy. Moderately harsh, but pretty well balanced overall. Lingering zest and some acidic rawness. A little bit of a sugar lips effect. I do a get a bit of warm, waxiness in the mouthfeel, but only when the wick drys out a bit. Fully saturated, I can't really pick out that waxy note.
Off-flavors: Nah.
Throat Hit: Pretty solid. It's not necessarily harsh for a citrus, but it's fairly harsh overall.
Uses & Pairings: Pretty versatile flavor. Used low, it should be a pretty good accent flavor in fruit mixes. Good bright acidity to set off other fruits without adding too much bitter zest. Kind of tossing fruit in lime juice to bring some extra brightness and "pop."
Good for a more realistic key lime note in creams and custards. I think it'll work better overall in heavier creams and custards, but it'll taste a bit raw and uncooked. Still not a fantastic fit for lighter creams, but probably better than TPA Key Lime.
Maybe a bit bright and acidic for bakeries solo, but It could end up working, especially with a deeper citrus body.
Good beverage lime. Think more like a sweeter limeade rather than a cocktail lime twist.
Notes: Concentration testing at .25% and .5%, this tastes a lot like a sweeter version of the distilled version of FA Lime Tahity. Bright, a bit acidic, with some (pretty subtle) carbonated mouthfeel. Sweet, but not too thick. 1% has a sweeter body overall, with less of a carbonated mouthfeel and a bit of juicyness. Thicker, but still on the light side. 1.5% is sweeter, with that acid balanced pretty well by that sweetness. Decent body here. 2% is heavier, with just a touch of waxiness. Sweetness is pretty heavy, right on the verge of syrupy. Still pretty bright, but a bit fuller. 3% is a bit too much for me personally. I'm finding it syrupy, waxy, harsh, and bitter. I'd recommend using this at around .5% for a lime accent for fruitier mixes, and 1.5%-2% for a primary flavor.
Comparing this to TPA Key Lime, The FA Version seems to have a bit more natural acidity and zest and is quite a bit less syrupy. I think they are both on the harsh side. TPA seems like a heavier, thicker flavor than the FA Version, with a candy kind of profile. FA overall seems a bit fresher and nuanced. I don't necessarily think one is clearly better than the other, but I'd lean towards the FA version because I think the flavor seems a bit more balanced and I like the freshness. TPA Key Lime is a bit bolder, but I've never been a huge fan of that flatter, heavy sweetness.
Second Opinions:
Still pretty new, so not a lot out there.
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