eLiquid Review: Nonna’s Tiramisu (Redux) by Sydney Vape Co

It was a year ago when I first tried Sydney Vape Co’s “Nonna’s Tiramisu” flavour, and as it happens, unfortunately it just didn’t quite catch the profile enough for me.

Well, they’re back again, this time with a reconfigured recipe, and considering the attention to detail I’ve seen from their other new flavours, this one is bound to be a very much improved version of the previous.

Today, I’ll be reviewing “Nonna’s Tiramisu” from Sydney Vape Co.
(This eliquid was supplied by the vendor for review.)

Flavour Description

[From the website]
“Tiramisu – just the way Nonna makes it. Ladyfingers dipped in coffee with generous layers of mascarpone cream, dulce de leche and a drizzle of cocoa on top.”

The Review

Tiramisu is a tricky beast. It’s has a specific texture, and set of flavours that are so very easy to mess up. One flavour stronger than another when it’s not supposed to be, and it’s instantly unrecognisable.

I’ve referenced “Coffee Cake” in the past when talking about Tiramisu, and while it does have a coffee element to it, Tiramisu is so much more complex and to not pay attention to it’s many subtle notes and broader profile is simply not giving it the credit it deserves.

Sydney Vape Co know this and have improved this recipe greatly since it’s first version.

Individual Notes

Tiramisu has a tonne of intricate notes and flavours, but typically it is ladyfingers (long biscuits) with espresso and a boozy liqueur drizzled all over them, a tonne of mascarpone or ricotta, and cocoa powder. Very much a bunch of saturated biscuits than a cake, just like a “chocolate ripple”, Tiramisu is a popular favourite, due to it’s zero baking time.

You can pick out a few very important flavours right there from that previous paragraph, lets run through what we get from this e-liquid.

Lady Fingers are the main biscuit note in the real thing. In this e-liquid, I notice that the biscuit is not far from the mark, very much a bready sweet biscuit which is a great match.

The coffee is quite a smooth coffee this time around. You’ll remember my previous review where the coffee was grainy and very gritty. This time it’s a little subdued and smooth, letting some of the other flavours through instead of being overly dominant. A great improvement.

From the Liqueur side of things, I don’t notice it too much vaping it, however, with a finger test there is definitely a very genuine Amaretto or bitter almond feel to it. While this is not so important, as not all Tiramisu’s have the boozy element in them, it’s greatly appreciated and makes this a lot more convincing.

Tiramisu is also not Tiramisu without the cream. The Mascarpone, which really is just cream that has been curdled with citric acid, is a nice smooth full textured cream. The cream is easily the more prolonged established note in this mix, and it extends throughout the vape, in it’s various intensities and textures.

Cocoa and Dulce de leche finish up the dessert profile, providing a much richer and rounded flavour, with more dimension and complexity.

Inhale & Exhale

At lower wattages… The inhale instantly shows you the cream, coffee and biscuit, a little lighter on the flavour that you’d expect, but a smooth blend with notes in all of the right places. As the inhale progresses, at lower wattages, that smooth creaminess really takes hold, increasing the intensity of the existing biscuit, coffee and cream until you get to the top.
As you exhale, you’ll notice the slightest touch of something a little richer, a honey/caramel note that blends wonderfully with the cream giving it a little more depth, but still quite a smooth coffee, bicuit and cream flavour right through to the end of the vape.

At higher wattages, the inhale is still very similar to a lower wattage setup, with the cream, biscuit and coffee taking centre stage in a smooth and subdued blend. However at the top of the inhale, a richer note, very honey like turns to Dulce de leche, with cocoa, quickly quickly forming also as you go into the exhale. That height of the inhale really is the pinnacle, and will give you the most contrast of this dynamic flavour. As you exhale, you run the full gammut of honey, biscuit, cocoa, cream, and every flavour in between that makes up that legendary Tiramisu blend of flavour, smoothing out over the exhale, whilst still holding it’s richness and complexity.

Final thoughts

Doing a taste test on the finger, this is an absolute spot on Tiramisu. You notice the darker dulce de leche and slightly deeper liqueur notes quite easily with the flavour levels throughout being just perfect.

Unfortunately, I am finding that I’ve had a very different experience while vaping it. Don’t get me wrong, this does taste like Tiramisu while vaping it, it’s just that it seems to require a bit of a perfect storm for the full Tiramisu effect to come through.

On a single coil with lower wattage (approx 50watts) I get a much lighter, and less layered or complex flavour, its creamy, with just a touch of coffee and biscuit. Once I open up the wattage though with a dual coil setup and really soak those wicks, it gets much richer and full flavoured showing me the real Tiramisu that is hiding in there in plain sight.

Not an issue right? I mean, you can just use a bigger setup if you want to vape this! Sure you can, but unfortunately any vaper that is running under 50 watts is going to miss out, which really is a shame, and why I’ve had to mark this down a little. This is still a lovely flavour even at lower wattages, but you just will not get the full profile of the Tiramisu with all of it’s intricacies.

Don’t let this put you off though if you’re looking to try it. Like I said, this is still a very nice flavour for you lower wattage users, and quite a genuine Tiramisu flavour for those of you with hotter setups!

Where to Buy:

This whole range can be found on Sydney Vape Co’s online store, or alternatively from one of their many stockists around Australia.

Colour:

Honey Tint

Aroma:

Coffee/Cake/Honey

Coil and wick damage:

No noticeable damage to wicks or coils.

PG/VG Ratio:

70VG/30PG

Texture:

Thick creamy dessert

Steeping:

This one will definitely benefit from a good steep.

Presentation:

As always, Sydney Vape Co, have some impressive presentation. Each bottle comes in it’s own similarly branded box. I received 30ml clear Chubby Gorilla style bottles with black child-proof caps, tamper proof ring-seal, and needle tip dispenser.

The labelling is comprehensive with juice name, respective imagery and company logo front and centre. General warnings, ingredients, bottle size, and even flavour profile are printed on the colour coded matt finish labels.

Most impressive of all is the use of “Born on” and “Batch Number” stamps. This is a great addition to any label, and builds confidence, letting the consumer know how old their bottle of juice really is.

If you haven’t seen them yet, SVC also have some fancy pants sample boxes available, so that you can try all of their flavours in smaller bottles, the whole set is only $59.99 which is some pretty great value!

Test rigs:

Original Haku Cruiser running a single 0.17 framed staple coil on a mech mod.
Augvape Intake RTA with a 0.2ohm Stainless coil running @ approx 50-80 watts.
Bonza RDA with x2 Framed Stapled coils (0.2 ohm-ish)

Shane Presser

Shane Presser has been vaping since 2013, and has extensive experience with advanced equipment, coil builds and DIY mixing. He is the man behind VapersGarage, and also more recently Aussie Vape Stores, a resource to help vapers find their nearest Vape Shops, and eLiquid Vendors.