I was looking to try something new last night, and had read about making tea flavor extracts on here before so I decided to try it out. I raided my looseleaf tea supply, and also ground up some of my Kirkland espresso coffee beans. I ended up with four that I decided to try extracts of:
- Coffee
- Vanilla Spice Chai
- Irish Breakfast
- Green Heaven (Green tea infused with natural vanilla)
I know there's been discussion about making your own tea/coffee extracts on here before, but I thought I would add in my $.02 and share my process and results with everyone.
The Process
I took four 30mL bottles, and place approximately 1 tablespoon of tea or coffee in to each. I topped up the bottles with VG, and gave them a good shake. After topping them up again (the tea and coffee created a bit of a vapor-lock bubble in the bottom of the bottles), I placed them in to a warm water bath (provided by a Betty Crocker Little Dipper dip warmer). After about an hour, I gave them another shake, then back in the bath to soak overnight. Today, I filtered them by rigging half a tea ball over a small funnel that was held over an empty 30mL bottle. Dump in warm extract and wait. After about 5 minutes approximately 90 to 95% of the VG was through and clear of any particles.
First Impressions
Coffee
This is a very dark, almost black extract. Strong coffee smell, like a good shot of espresso. A drop on the tongue is very sweet, and strongly coffee-flavored, like chewing on a coffee bean, but much sweeter. Noticing some fine particles of coffee in it, will send for more filtering (warm it up & through a coffee filter).
Vanilla Spice Chai
Again, very dark, with a sweet & spicy aroma. Smells and tastes just like a good chai should. A little milk and this would be an amazing chai latte.
Irish Breakfast
Just as dark as the chai, but with a lighter aroma. On the tongue, it is like a very strong, very sweet cup of tea. Standalone or as part of a more complex mix, this should be a really interesting flavor to work with.
Green Heaven
This one turned out to be quite different than the other three. It is a light golden color, with a subtle aroma. As far as flavor goes... WOW is all I can say. Sweet and fresh, the vanilla is there but definitely secondary to the green tea. Overall tastes like a cup of green tea with honey. This one is much less concentrated than the other three, and basically vapeable as it is, but more on that in a minute :D
In a single flavor mix, shake and vape
Apart from the green tea, these concentrates are mixed at 10%, Max VG & 3mg Nic. Test rig is a Royal Hunter Mini RDA, running dual 8 wrap 2.5mm ID spaced SS316L coils on an iStick Pico in TC mode, 75W 200°C.
Coffee
I couldn't test this one at this point as I need more time to filter it. Will revisit once I have it filtered to the point I like.
Vanilla Spice Chai
Vaping this, the spice notes are dead on, if a little bit harsh off the bat. Still very tasty overall, and honestly tastes like chai tea. Needs some cream notes to really pop IMO. I will be checking back on this one in a couple weeks to see how it changes.
Irish Breakfast
Yep, this tastes like a cup of tea. Don't know what else to say about it at this point. Quite tasty, bit more throat feel than I typically like, but I imagine that will go away in a couple of weeks.
Green Heaven
This one I did not mix at 10%. I added enough VG and Nic to boost it up to a full 30mL & 3mg. Shake shake. Perfect. This one is amazing just like this. Honestly tastes like the best cup of straight green tea you've ever had in your life. The vanilla is just barely noticeable, but works perfectly. Maybe a bit of a honey flavor added in if that's your thing, but other than that I think it's good to go.
Overall I will call this a resounding success! I will update in a couple of weeks after the flavors have a chance to steep. Otherwise, I am happy to answer any questions. Just please note I am still a pretty novice mixer and my knowledge of specific flavorings is nearly nil.
Nice write-up! Yea extractions are fun and rewarding, getting to vape your favorite coffee or tea :) I'd use PG and you can get pretty solid extracts in under an hour if you're impatient, filtering is actually the lengthy part of the process. Be advised though that you will be getting lipids and organic matter in your juice no matter how many times you filter it, which is actually very bad. Making a habit out of it is not recommended.
purely out of curiosity, isn't organic matter pretty much expected with any natural flavoring, or are all the flavorings we buy artificial? And I thought that I read on some thread here at some point that while most plant matter has some type of oil in it, most is not lipids, so therefore no risk of lipid pneumonia?
Not trying to argue, or downplay the risks, just trying to get a better understanding.
Don't apologize for being inquisitive, there are a lot of gray areas and a lot we don't know. I don't have all the answers, just wanted to give you a heads up that it's not entirely safe.
Most flavors are entirely artificial. The natural flavorings you see in e-juice are distilled, not simply filtered. This removes lipids and most organic matter. And you are correct in that not all oils contain lipids, which is the main concern, can't speak for which plants contain what though.
There are some natural lines, but they are extremely expensive and go through a distillation and filtration process that removes nearly all organic material. If he's active again, /u/abdada knows a good deal about the creation of organic concentrates.
Organic, whole-food extracts are definitely not recommended.
Dr. Kurt Kistler is an Organic Chem. professor at Penn State, and an advisor on the board of AEMSA. He is also an avid DIYer, and vaper. He discussed the inherent dangers of whole-food extracts without professional grade filtering on the Jeannie K. Show a couple years back:
https://soundcloud.com/jeannie-kerswill/dr-kistler
The long and short of it is that in these extracts, even with distillation, are complex sugars, polysaccharides. There are proteins, lipids, and a swath of LARGE molecules lungs were not designed to process. They are fine to eat, not to vape.
He makes a super interesting point around 30 mins in about natural flavors, I've always wondered about that. He says that all components of flavorings are synthesized, not extracted. The difference between natural and artificial is that natural flavors actually exist in what it's mimicking (the natural apple flavor can be found in an apple), while artificial apple just gives a similar impression. But neither were ever taken from an actual apple.
Yep. Dr. K. is a treasure trove of info. So all those products touting "Natural Flavoring" as something special are just blowing smoke. If it is a naturally existing compound, it is a "natural flavor". Goes to show how ridiculous gov't regs can be.
He also drops some great knowledge about nic storage. JK needs to have him back for a follow up. Perhaps InTheMix might seek him out for an appearance?
PG is a much better solvent for extracting plant matter. I'm not usually a proponent of doing extractions in the first place, but if you're gonna do it, that should help increase flavor retention.
Yeah, I didn't have any PG on hand, I only mix max VG, but if I decide to do more of this, I will probably order some.
I've tried several brands of coffee with no success, always seems to have a bitey flavor and just tastes like watered down coffee when I do it.. (Pretty much same method), I've been thinking of warming it slightly hopefully to get it to maybe "brew" a little.
I'm kind of thinking I may have to use a lighter roast though..
I have a big box of individual tea bags that have been building up for years, all sorts of flavors maybe I'll give them a try :D
I say go for it... Worst case, you're out, what, $0.50 worth of VG or PG?
Or a wicked respiratory infection from some random shit that you might not want to inhale. It's great that yours worked out, but this is a very risky way to make an extract, especially with such a nonchalant attitude towards the risks.
Yeah.
Especially when done with VG this seems like a surefire way to get a juice loaded with all kinds of contaminants.
I mean the idea of having whatever bacteria / virus was sitting on that plant matter breeding in that juice for weeks and then inhaling the stuff... Yeah... No thank you.
Thank you for sharing this! It reminds me of a decent one I made a while ago using coffee beans, a piece of cinnamon stick, and a couple of cloves. I too was concerned about the oil presence. One recommendation I have would be to run an additional filter of the infused VG or PG through a paper coffee filter or even a cotton cloth muslin bag (like the type used to prepare kava kava, cold brew coffee, etc.). I have read that one of the benefits of cloth and paper is that they can absorb some of the bitter oils, yielding a smoother drink. In your case, this may be an extra measure you could take to try and remove as much of any oil as possible. (I don't have any sources for you, so please take this with a grain of salt.) And please keep us posted! This is really fascinating.
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