Sakura Sweets

Modeled after cherry blossom candies I used to find as a kid, they were my first introduction to floral type flavors. As I began mixing I slowly began to collect an array of floral flavors, and this recipe represents some of my favorite elements from these flavors.

TPA Cherry Blossom: A faintly floral cherry, with a tart powdered candy type finish. At 4% this stands out brightly against some of the sweeter more syrupy flavors. A very delicate flavor, but not overly potent so this range works well. Once you take this over 4% it gets somewhat astringent.

TPA Honeysuckle: A staple in any floral fan's arsenal. Brightly sweet and juicy, and not perfumey at all. At 4% it acts well as a bright juicy base to help blend the TPA Cherry Blossom just enough to stand out against some of the stronger flavors to follow.

CAP Hibiscus: Mildly floral, but very sweet and almost syrupy in mouth feel. This flavor gets much more perfume like if you take it much higher than 2-3% so at 1.5% it adds just enough sweet hibiscus flavor to stand out from the TPA Cherry Blossom without overpowering it.

CAP Sweet Lychee: Another syrupy sweet. Not very floral but it adds the "Sweets" for our candy profile very effective. Another flavor like CAP Hibiscus that goes to perfume at a high percentage, at 2% it's just enough to shine alongside the others, without overtaking them.

INW Raspberry: A very potent, very sweet raspberry flavor. I was very hesitant to use it this high, but I found at lower percentages it just wasn't showing up. Much to my delight, at 1% it does a wonderful job tying the CAP Sweet Lychee and CAP Hibiscus together to finish our candied fruit profile, while still allowing the others to play their part.

This recipe is decent fresh, but in my humble opinion shines much more after a week steep in a dark cave while it thinks about it's life choices, and how it got here. It underwent countless revisions and revisits before I landed here. If you're into florals of any kind, this one is definitely worth a visit.