Flavorah Black Tea
ConcreteRiver
Disclaimer: I didn't pay for this, shoutout to Flavorah for sending this to me.
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 12 wrap 24g 3.5mm SS316 @.31 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: Flavorah Black Tea, .25%, 1% and 3%, 60/40 VG/PG base, Steeped 10 days.
Flavor Description: A black tea with something jasmine-ish and floral.
For a black tea, this is a relatively mellow flavor overall. Tastes fairly accurate, but doesn’t seem like chopping lines of pekoe like some other tea flavors. Some very light earthiness separating this from something like a green tea, but no real hint of that really intense, almost bordering on dirt flavor I get with something like TPA Black Tea. Some astringency to remind you it’s a tea, but, again, pretty subtle without that heavy tannic oversteeped black tea thing.
Light indistinct citrus here. Could easily be a bit of lemon rind. It seems like more of a component of the tea flavor instead of being “lemon tea.” Light tartness folds itself into that tea astringency fairly delicately. I am also getting something floral here. Tastes a lot like Jasmine, which is a bit odd for a black tea flavor, I’d expect that in a green tea. It’s fairly prominent, but it does taste like steeped jasmine in a tea rather than just jasmine perfume. Picks up some green, leafy notes at higher percentages.
Tastes like a sweetened tea. It’s not blindingly sweet like delicious regional diabeetus “Sweet Tea” but there is definitely something sweeter than just straight black tea. Less sweet than Snapple but moving in that direction. Vapes like a tea, relatively thin and fairly warm.
I know that FA Black Tea goes south relatively quickly after bottling so my only comparison test here is with a well aged bottle, so YMMV. Compared to the FA, the FLV version seems more floral and less earthy. The FA version has a more aggressive astringency to it, while the FLV just feels a bit softer overall. Sweetness level seems fairly similar. Also, TPA Black Tea tastes like dirt and the FLV doesn’t.
Off-Flavors: Some kind of floral, tastes a lot like steeped jasmine. A bit jarring in a black tea, but not unpleasant.
Throat Hit: Moderate. Seems a bit throaty solo.
Percentage testing: At .25% I’m mostly getting dry black tea leaves. Dark and a bit astringent. The leaves are coming through fairly clearly, but I’m missing the body, sweetness, and overall beverage type feel.
At 1%, this is starting to feel more like a beverage than just dry tea leaves. Warmer, sweeter, fuller, and less dry overall. That jasmine-esque floral is starting to creep in for me though.
At 3%, that floral thing is fairly prominent and I’m getting a green leafy thing. That actual tea here seems a bit less aggressive with everything else going on here.
Just based on these tests, seems to have at least some workable range. Flavor is present down low and would fine as a black tea accent at .5% and below. For a fuller tea with a greener accent for a base or solo flavor, I’d be around 2%.
Uses & Pairings: At lower percentages, pretty standard black tea flavor. Feels a bit dry for me that low, but could pair up well with juicier fruit flavors like mangoes, strawberries, and peaches.
You could also be a tea purist and just add some cream or something and call it a day. Should pair well with some extra citrus if you drop in some EM or something to knock off the throatier edges.
Or add some more jasmine and play with that floral thing going on.
User “Silhouette ” writes: “Notes of Rose Hip, Dark and Robust Black Tea flavor. The Rose Hip flavor is unmistakable, although very delicate. It is lighter than say, an Irish Breakfast Tea, which can have slightly bitter notes and an 'in your face' flavor, it's actually more like a well brewed cup of Black Tea. No bitter notes, and the Black Tea flavor is actually there, prominent and sweet. So far it is lovely, and potent. Testing at 0.5/1%. This will make an incredible Black Tea flavor base, especially for incorporating fruit/citric flavors.”
User “Jazzy_girl” writes: “Day 1: All I can say is wow! This is a robust slightly sweet n dark rich tasting black tea. It hits the tongue with the sweet and then I taste this explosion of wonderful black tea. It has no off note what so ever. I could vape this as a single flavor and see it pairing well with any fruits, citrus, dairy, or floral flavors. It's spot on flavor and tastes like a very expensive high quality black tea 10/10”
User “Laura” writes: “This is a complex flavor. Many elements working together to create a “hot cup of tea”. Even amounts of bitter and sweet. The inhale is dry. The flavor is light. The taste is predominantly tea leaf.”