First Order Flavors: A History. Volume 2.

This is a continuation of my previous post, First Order Flavors: A History. Volume 1. Let’s pick up right where left off, at

11. FA Cookie. FA Cookie was 10th (in a tie with TFA Graham Cracker Clear) on the first-ever First Order Flavors list, created by this community in March 2015. It was the third-highest recommended FA flavor that year, behind FA Fuji and FA Vienna Cream. FA Cookie and TFA Graham Cracker Clear were together the most recommended bakery-type flavors on that list. The following year, it fell to 9th place, in a tie with FA Vienna Cream and INW Biscuit. That was the last the First Order Flavor list ever saw of FA Cookie. RIP.

12. TFA Graham Cracker Clear. Again, it tied with FA Cookie in 10th place in 2015. It was missing from the 2016 list, bumped off, it appears, by the community’s discovery of INW Biscuit, as well as all future lists to date. Again, RIP, but with more sincerity this time.

13. TFA Juicy Peach. TFA Juicy Peach came in 11th on the first First Order Flavors list, in a tie with TFA RY4 Double. It was gone from the list the following year. It made a reappearance in 2017 way down at 22nd, in a tie with CAP Graham Cracker. It was gone again in 2018, a year when no peach flavors made the list, and was nowhere to be seen this year, which again had no peach flavors. You’d think peach would be used more often, if just for the emoji opportunities and political puns (ImPEACHmint recipe, anyone?).

14. TFA RY4 Double. Did you know a tobacco (maybe tobacco-adjacent is a better description?) flavor made the very first First Order Flavor list? If you just read the TFA Juicy Peach entry and don’t have a Dory-level short-term memory issues, you do. It fell off the list the next year and never returned. 2016 and 2017 saw no tobacco or tobacco-ish flavors make the cut. In 2018, tobacco made a return to the First Order flavor list, but TFA RY4 Double had been unseated by FLV Red Burley, FLV Kentucky Blend, and the now-reformulated DIYFS Holy Holy Grail RY4 .

15. TFA Cheesecake (Graham Crust). NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH TFA CHEESECAKE – YUCK!!!. This debuted at 12th on the first-ever First Order Flavor list. It rose to 8th in a four-way tie with FA Meringue, FW Yellow Cake, and TFA Pear the next year. It remained in 8th place in 2017, but then fell off the list last year and did not return this year. We might have seen the last of TFA Cheesecake (Graham Crust) as a flavor being highly recommended to first-time mixers.

16. LA Banana Cream. Lorann’s Banana Cream clocked in at 13th on the first First Order flavor list, where it had the distinction of being the only LA flavor on the list. It shot up to 6th the following year, in 2016, no doubt buoyed by the extremely popular ‘Nana Cream Clone. However, in 2017, it fell to 21st. That placed it ahead of TFA Banana Cream, which was also on the list, but behind LA Lemonade and LA Watermelon (Colorless). Last year, there were NO banana flavors on the list. This year, banana is back, baby, but in the body of VT Banana Custard.

17. TFA Sweet Cream. This flavor’s 15 seconds of First-Order fame happened when it placed 14th on the very first list. It was never heard from again. There are those who will say that’s for the best, and I’m inclined to agree with them. But that’s just like, my opinion, man.

18. FA Cream Fresh. Although the aroma of the undiluted concentrate has famously been described as smelling “like old man breath,” this flavor made it on to the very first First-Order list in a three-way tie with our next two flavors, FA Meringue and TFA Peanut Butter. It sat out the following year but rose to 11th the year after that. It rose to 9th place, tied with TFA Dragonfruit, last year, but somehow did not even get a mention this year. Maybe that’s just because people assumed someone else would post it, and we haven’t seen the last of FA Cream Fresh being suggested to brand-new mixers?

19. FA Meringue. After placing at the bottom of the first list, mixers polled chose to elevate FA Meringue to the 8th place in 2016, in the aforementioned four-way tie with TFA Cheesecake (Graham Crust) et al. Muhr-En-Gay, as the pronunciation has been butchered in way that suggests a Freudian slip involving either enthusiasm for Dominican music and dance or a sexual orientation, or both, was 18th in 2017. It didn’t make the list last year, when some people expressed fatigue and dismay at seeing it appear in seemingly every recipe. It seems like the fact that it appeared in seemingly every recipe for a year or two would make it a no-brainer for recommending to brand-new mixers, and yet it missed the list again this year.

20. TFA Peanut Butter. This flavor made its mark on the first First-Order list way back in 2015, before long before everyone finally realized that TFA DX Peanut Butter was the better PB (fight me). That was the first and last time any nut flavor made the list. C’mon guys, what’s a new mixer who likes nuts supposed to do?

TO BE CONTINUED in First Order Flavors: A History. Volume 3. (Wherein we look at the rises and falls of TFA Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, CAP New York Cheesecake, FW Yellow Cake, INW Biscuit, TFA Marshmallow, TFA Raspberry Sweet, CAP Sugar Cookie V1, INW Cactus, LA Lemonade, and FA Lemon Sicily).