Liquid Barn Cappuccino
ConcreteRiver
Disclaimer: I didn't pay for these, they were sent to me by Liquid Barn. Shout out to Liquid Barn
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.14 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: Liquid Barn Cappuccino, 5 and 10%, 60/40 VG/PG base, Steeped 22 days.
Flavor Description: A sweeter, creamy coffee flavor with a hit of chocolate. I wouldn't call it cappuccino so much as a mocha, but it's pretty solid overall.
FWIW, I've been accused of tasting coffee flavors as chocolately, so take all of this with a grain of salt I guess. To be fair, I don't seem like the only person with that issue if you check the second opinions, especially the reviews on the liquid barn product page.
I'm not getting a really intense flavor from the coffee here. This is coming across as a bit lighter and less concentrated, more in the background of the mix like it would be in a latte rather than more up front like a cappuccino. I wouldn't call it a strong coffee per se, but there are some darker roasted notes. I'm not picking up anything like the burnt popcorn you get from a lot of really intense coffee or espresso flavors, so that's definitely a plus.
I'm picking up a some noticeable chocolate overtones here. Feels a lot like a chocolate syrup for a mocha. It's not overwhelming and doesn't have too much in the way of a waxy body here, working more as an accent overall. Pretty middle-of-the road kind of milk chocolate flavor without any really heavy dark cocoa. Well balanced with everything else, but more mocha than cappuccino.
There's a fluffy cream component here as well. It's a sweeter cream, without any really heavy dairy notes. With the fluffier texture and sweetness, seems a bit more like a whipped topping than richer whipped cream. Softens up that coffee and chocolate fairly nicely though, and the texture carries through really well.
This feels pretty intensely sweet for me. It tastes like there is already some kind of sweetener in there. It's probably pushing a moderately tasteful level of commercial juice sweet at 10%, but It stops short of being profoundly oversweet. This is a fairly dark flavor with that coffee and chocolate, but it hasn't been too bad on the coils. I'm not getting too much coil gore about 15ml in, although I do notice my wicks getting a bit crunchy and the flavor has gotten just a bit flat. Not awful for the profile though. I will say the coffee starts to taste a bit darker as those wicks darken up. So it's a feature, and not a bug?
Off-flavors: Balance seems off from a cappuccino and I wasn't really expecting as much chocolate as I'm getting here, but none of the components are in any way unpleasant or chemical.
Throat Hit: Definitely on the light side. Pretty smooth overall.
Percentage testing: 5% feels a whole lot like a lighter version of the suggested 10%. I'm getting less chocolate, very little coffee, and less texture and sweetness to the cream. Feels a bit thin here.
At 10%, this basically just feels like a sweeter but well balanced mocha vape. I get some coffee base, chocolate top notes, and a fluffier cream body.
Just based on these tests, Liquid Barn's suggestion 0f 10% seems pretty dead on. I'd be using this as a primary flavor, and I can't think of anything else strong I'd want with it to bump it down to an accent percentage.
Uses & Pairings: This is probably going to work best as a solo flavor. I'd guess that at least 75% of people looking for a coffee flavor actually want something sweeter and creamier like this and wouldn't mind that chocolate.
You could probably add a tiny tiny bit of FA UP to boost the coffee in here, but I'd probably stay away from the more burnt straight espresso flavors.
I'm getting a lot of cream in here already, but it would probably go well with a vanilla cream flavor if you find it lacking. I'd stay away from anything too rich or buttery though.
Second Opinions:
Here's the ELR Page. User "jojo" writes: "5% (SnV - Not feeling this at all. Kinda skunky and plastic-y. 10 days - tastes like a tire smells. 2 weeks - not liking this much. Still off tasting. 3 weeks - Kind of nutty now. I like it. 5 weeks - man, this took forever but it’s actually pretty great now.)" User "bikerdude" writes "10 day steep @ 5% I get a slight coffee hint but mostly sweetness and maybe a little vanilla."