The Flavor Apprentice Berry Mix
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.17 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: TPA Berry Mix @ %3, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 11 days.
Flavor Description: TPA calls this "A fresh tasting blend of raspberry, blueberry, and other berry flavors!" and I sort of see it. To me, at least, this tastes like a blueberry and pomegranate mix. It's a berry mix though, I'm sure if you gave this 10 people they'd pick out 10 different flavors. There is some brighter, candy blueberry in here up front, but a syrupy pomegranate underneath it with just some medicinal tasting camphor.
Inhale is warm, syrupy candy blueberry / raspberry. Not super tart or anything, but with enough brightness it doesn't go full pancake syrup. Exhale has a syrupy red-berry kind of base with some higher blueberry top notes. Good amount of actual skin in those top notes, with some tartness and tannic bitterness. That base is mostly just red sweetness, no real tartness or identifiable "berry." Doesn't taste a whole like raspberry or anything, but there is a medicinal woody camphor note underneath everything. Fairly sweet and dense, but the sweetness is pretty neutral, with no weird off-notes. A bit of a jammy mouthfeel, and some lingering sugar-lips going on. Otherwise finish is fairly clean, with some lingering medicinal woody taste.
Big caveat here is that I can't taste much in the way of strawberries, so this may have a bit more a strawberry character to it. I didn't see it mentioned as a dominant flavor anywhere else so I'm skeptical, just wanted to throw that out there.
Off-flavors: Well, that camphor / woody taste going on is a bit jarring. Tastes a lot like FA Pomegranate. I don't find it overwhelming, but I kind of enjoy that weird warm woody note.
Throat Hit: Light to moderate? This seems like a flavor that people will different sensitivity. I get a really deep throat / almost chest hit that's noticeable but not super harsh.
Uses & Pairings: By all indications, this is largely similar to CAP's harvest fruit, so pretty much that usage. I see that stuff being used a lot in cheesecakes and creamy applications but I'm not completely sold. That camphor-woodiness doesn't seem like a great match with creams, custards, and bakeries... but people end up pulling it off.
Personally, I'd sort of relegate this to fruitier mixes. Should go well with citrus especially something sweeter like lemonade. I'd also mix with brighter berries like Strawberry or Raspberry, or tarter stuff like Acai or Blackcurrant.
Notes:
S&V concentration testing, this seems fairly weak at 1%. Just sort of a light, tart accent. Sweeter, but not overwhelming at 2%. Jammy mouthfeel is starting to come in a bit but doesn't feel super saturated. 3% tastes a whole lot more red, with those tarter blueberries playing with a jammy base fairly well. 4% is starting to get a bit woody for me, sweetness is also fairly intense. 5% is definitely medicinal, sweetness has hit a plateau and I'm losing the tarter blueberries. 6% just tastes like a sort of bad, syrupy, pomegranate. I'd mix with this at 2-3% if you're using other berries to fill out a mix. I'd probably go up to 4% if you're using a more dominant citrus and 5% if you want to smooth out the berries and the citrus by adding some EM or Cactus or something.
Second Opinions:
/u/Sandcastles/ quick take: "Tastes pretty similar to harvest berry from capella but maybe a little bit more tart, I mixed it at 8%." I haven't had Harvest Berry (the horror!) but here is wh1skey's review.