So I'm currently tinkering around with a kinda 'lemon cheesecake' flavour mix for myself - here's my WIP recipe thus far - after an impulsive flavour-fluke combining Lemon (TPA/TFA) and Cheesecake (Graham Crust) (TPA/TFA) turned out to be pretty spectacular. Bit by bit I'm trying out little 10ml test batches by changing one variable at a time.
Anyway, my point: which brand does the best 'Lemon' flavour? So far I've only tried the one by TPA, and have nothing short of praise. However, I'm open to the idea that there may be more for me to discover. Ideally I'd like a pretty authentic and full-spectrum 'lemon' taste, albeit with the primary intention of using it in a dessert mix, so sweetness wouldn't hurt.
On a similarly-related note, if you dismiss my previously mentioned ambitions, I'm also on the lookout for any kind of lemon concentrate that deserves attention in itself, either as the only, or at least the dominant/primary ingredient in a single-mix lemon flavour. For instance, I tried a premium flavour (at VapeExpo a few weeks back) by Canadian manufacturer 'Tea House' called 'Asuka' which is primarily a Lemon/Peach fruit-tea flavour... the kind of tea that I am desperate to recreate. Are there any concentrates of this nature? Flavourah's 'Lemon Tea' caught my attention, as did FlavourArt's 'Lemon Ice Tea'. Any feedback?
Similarly, how is Capella's 'Lemon Meringue Pie'? And anything else I should keep an eye out for as I'm about to do another shopping order for concentrates today or tomorrow (so I'll wait for a response).
You have my muchos "muchos" and many many s'il-vous-plaits and/or other such expressions of gratitude.
EDIT/UPDATE:
Thanks for all the suggestions. It seems like Iwanera's Lemon was mentioned a few times as well as Lemon Sicily (we're talking about the FA flavour here not the Flavour Creatives one right?).
Anyshoe at the moment in my shopping basket (I'm ordering from Chef's Flavours) and amongst my selection I think I'm definitely gonna get another 30ml of TPA's Lemon Flavour cos I already know what it tastes like and that I can work with it (plus it's dirt cheap £3.50 for 30ml unlike the others). Along with the INW Lemon and FA Lemon Sicily, although they're a lot more steeply priced than, say, TPA or Capella flavours. I guess I'll have a play around with all three combined in different amounts until I settle on the right ratios for use in my Lemon Cheesecake which I'm still trying to figure out.
Another query, then - what's the general consensus on steeping time & importance for these Lemon flavours? Currently with my mix I've only been making it in 10ml 'test' batches at a time and always finish it off within two days or less and it's always tasted spectacular as just a shake'n'vape and never really had a need to instead forget about it and leave it to steep... but now I'm curious if and/or how it will improve over time.
I have FE Lemon, JF Juicy Lemon and CAP Italian Lemon Sicily all awaiting the single-flavor tests that I'm waayy behind on, thanks for the reminder.
Lemons I've already tried include INW Lemon, INW Lemon Mix, FA Lemon Sicily, CAP Juicy Lemon... and then if you want to include them, LA Lemonade, INW Lemon Cake, and TFA Lemonade Cookie. Of those, I've definitely had the most luck with a combination of INW Lemon & INW Lemon Mix:
But that said, I doubt there is any single one "best" lemon. Some are going to work better than others for some applications, some are going to work better than others in other profiles. It's like asking which shade or tint of yellow on an artist's palette is the best yellow. Just depends on the painting.
I also have juicy lemon(smells just like a real lemon) and lemon sicily. I use them both together. I mad a lemon sugar cookie with juicy lemon, lemon sicily, and sugar cookie, and cotton candy and it was nice.
I whipped up 100 ml of Frosted Lemonade the other day. Digging it so far.
Awesome, I'm so glad you've enjoyed it! You don't have to be in a huge rush to finish it. One of the problems I had with previous versions using different lemons was staying power. The INW blend doesn't fade out nearly as badly as the others did when mixed with VBIC.
/u/coop34 has a great lemon cheesecake recipe that utilizes CAP's Lemon-Lime. It much more of a lemon then lime flavour and works really well in his recipe.
Yeah, like others have said it really depends on what kind of lemon you're looking for. Based on the profile, I would think just a lemon flavor would be good without too much of the tartness, so I would go for JF Lemon Juicy in that application. The CAP Lemon Meringue would also be a good fit here since it's kind of a creamy lemon with very mild bakery notes.
I would actually get some JF Juicy Lemon, alas it's currently out of stock on Chef's Vapour and I don't want to split my order if I can help it since most vendors charge a delivery fee that I wouldn't be able to justify for one or two juices. shrug
As for CAP Lemon Meringue, are we talking the V1 or V2 flavour? I know at least with CAP Vanilla Custard V1 was kilometres better than V2... (so again) shrug
Thank you for making this thread. I also recently started the quest of developing my own Lemon drizzle cake recipe using TPA Lemon.
http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/995047/EBR+Lemon+cake+v1
I used TPA Lemon because it was the only one I could get at the time, but I'm finding that whilst it smells really lemony it fades really quickly - after a 3 day steep I can barely taste any lemon any more, which is a shame because it feels like the cream and the cake batter in this recipe could use a few days to shine.
Have you tried mixing multiple Lemon flavours yet - to try and get a more rounded lemon flavour?