EDIT - v4 is already in the works. I've got some great suggestions and ideas for it. I already have a lot more notes written up and I'm fairly sure I figured out the cream base's percentages finally. Expect to hear more sometime next week if my new flavorings arrive.

So some of you might remember me going completely fucking insane trying really hard to clone Shurb. I had two major versions and probably about 6k failures. Something like that.

Well after completely giving up and deciding my last attempt was good enough, I finally went back and took a good hard look recently. I knew something was off. Just something, maybe one ingredient, was just throwing it all off the rails. It was a good juice, I'll give myself that, but it still wasn't Shurb.

So today, I'm bringing you my third published version. I feel that this one is VERY close compared to my previous attempts and I'm honestly pretty proud of it. Like my last version, I feel that whether or not you think this is close to the real deal, it is still pretty damn tasty if you're in to that "sherbert but not really, more a candy" deal.

Let's just get right in to it:

#SHURB v3

• FA Mandarin 4%
• TFA Key Lime 3%
• FA Blenderize (Tutti Frutti) 3%
• TFA Whipped Cream 3.5%
• CAP Harvest Berry 5.5%
• TFA Vanilla Swirl 2%
• TFA Cotton Candy (EM) 5%

And now let's talk about why I'm so sure that this is so much better than before:

#BREAK IT DOWN

• FA Mandarin
  I've discussed it before but I really feel this is the orange we want in our Shurb. It isn't too harsh and it isn't too candy-like. It is juicy and delicious which is exactly what we need. Things like TFA Mandarin seem either too artificial or too harsh to be the right pick.

• TFA Key Lime
  Absolutely massive shoutout to /u/botboy141 right here. His Shurb-alike recipe that he created really opened my eyes here. Pretty much everybody agreed there was no actual lime in Shurb, just something citrus-y that tasted similar. They (and me) were wrong. I'd bet on that. TFA Key Lime is perfect here, it has a sort of "candy" lime while still being realistic. At this percentage, it gives just enough lime to match what we get on Shurb's exhale. Vital part of the mystery right here.

• FA Blenderize
  This is the thing keeping me from calling this a "perfect clone", if you want to say that. I never really thought about this until I let my friend try Shurb once and his very first comment was "that reminds me of Juicy Fruit a little". Absolute revelation right there. If you smell Shurb you can ABSOLUTELY smell Tutti Frutti. Unfortunately, FA Blenderize is very strong and even at this percent it's a little more dominant than I'd like. I've tried some other Tutti Frutti flavors and they just weren't right at all. They were more like actual tutti frutti and less like Juicy Fruit. If you don't have this, feel free to try leaving it out. The recipe should still hold up alright.

• TFA Whipped Cream
  I've talked about this at length before, so all I'll say is the MSDS that was done on Shurb pretty much guarantees this is in there. It has the same ingredient as TFA Smooth, which (as the name implies) smooths out the flavors and adds a little bit of a softer mouthfeel.

• CAP Harvest Berry
  This stuff is now something else I'm finallly questioning as well. I really thought it HAD to be the source of the raspberry. People have often theorized that there are other berry flavors in Shurb and this seemed like the perfect answer. Every other raspberry I've tried just wasn't right. Too sweet, too realistic, etc. Harvest Berry always seemed perfect. The one issue I'm having now is the recipe is just missing something that makes Shurb pop. I think next version I'll try FA Raspberry. Unfortunately I ran out from my original attempts. If anybody has everything for this recipe AND has FA Raspberry, PLEASE try it out and let me know your thoughts. It'd be hugely appreciated.

• TFA Vanilla Swirl
  Creamy vanilla. Pretty much nothing else to say. If you take it much higher than 2% it starts to get too obvious. The vanilla in Shurb is more something you notice on the exhale, and it's very slight.

• TFA Cotton Candy
  Again, no need to really get in to this. The MSDS showed there's a ton of EM in there. Lower amounts of EM just mute things and don't help much here. At this percentage it really adds a nice sweetness.

As always, thanks everybody for your suggestions and your support. And especially a big shoutout to everyone who made a Shurb recipe before me as those were how I really got obsessed and what gave me my starting points.

Enjoy guys!