French Vanilla (Thick) (WF) 3.5% (12-16-22) – I was REALLY looking forward to getting into this one, and the slight delay in posting was because I couldn’t stop “sampling” it, hehe. It is and was a GREAT French Vanilla, and honestly, it WAS “thick”. I burned through two testers trying to figure out how to explain the thickness, because I was sure the assumption would be that of a milkshake flavor, which this was not. I’m not sure how Wonder Flavors did it, but they made it thick, but NOT into a milkshake. Pretty impressive to my tastes. It had all the characteristics of a good French Vanilla, no overt dairy or milkshake notes, BUT, it did convey a thickness that carried over onto a great mouthfeel. Obviously this would work VERY well in anything where you needed an FV, including anything Milk Shake-y. @ 3.5% this one was very full, fairly rich, and at about mid level sweet. Two testers in, I think I already added a bigger bottle to my cart. No off-putting notes, and it was convincingly accurate, tasty, and clean. The room note, smell, and taste were all spot on, and it was hard to put down. What makes this a real winner is where, and how much you could use it. Nicely done, and placing it @ 9.9/10.
Graham Cracker Pie Crust (WF) 3.5% (12-16-22) – I have been obsessed with GC’s about as long as I’ve been with S’mores, so I’m always on the prowl. This one presented as a “foundational” graham cracker. Wait, what ?? Yes, foundational. It had all the aspect of a great graham cracker, BUT didn’t fully have the impact, even at 3.5% to carry the full freight IMO. Now, it was not bad in any way/shape/form, as it checked all the boxes, and the only minor markdowns would be for presence, and grain. It didn’t really have the grainy bakery nuances that would have pushed it up into the stellar category. Very true and natural tasting, with ZERO off-putting notes, and @ 3.5% it felt at or near it’s top end. Now what I REALLY liked was it was DEVOID of any coconut notes, which would completely open up it’s usage. It wasn’t dry, and I didn’t get much if any buttery-ness to it, but more just a great, natural tasting graham cracker. Until I narrowed in on the lack of coconut notes I was going to rate it @ 7.5, but with the no coconut in play, it felt better @ 8.75/10.
Orange (Citrus Tangy) (WF) 3.5% (12-16-22) – Going into this one, I wonder whether or not it would be LIKE Tang, or Tangy. It turned out to be the latter, with a mostly natural tasting orange, with a decidedly “tangy” finish. I couldn’t find any Lemon or Lime, so how they did it exactly MAY remain a mystery. Tang not only has an interesting history, but uses a combination of Ascorbic and Citric acids (plus other ingredients) to give it that punch. Bright, punchy, and I’d say a 75% natural / 25% artificial taste is what this delivered in spades @ 3.5%. Super present, but non-fatiguing, nor hitting the ceiling, and about 2 ticks above mid-level sweet. It’s an interesting flavor to taste, as I had aasumed (again) that it would have been a simple Orange with “Tart and Sour” added, but it actually presented as more complex than that. This one was spot on to it’s name. No off-putting notes, and hard to mark down. Tang-ily placing this one @ 9.2/10.
Orange Juice (WF) 3.5% (12-16-22) – I intentionally wanted to run this one back to back with the Orange (Citrus Tangy), so I could really A/B compare/contrast them. What do you know, everything BUT the PULP !!! This one was exempt from much of the “tangy” that I got from the aforementioned, but it was still really good. Except for orange creamsicles, I don’t really dabble much in the orange realm but after these two from WF, I think I might change that. This one was more of an even keeled orange, with about the same 75% natural / 25% artificial as the tangy, and it just tasted like it should. Start to finish, it didn’t leave you wanting, and had no off-notes at this weight. Sweetness was about mid level, and much like eating a real orange, the orange citrus notes lingered after you were done. Although this and the tangy presented at about the same ratio of natual / artificial this one would work better where a more tradional orange was needed. Despite NOT being an Orange-Head, I liked this one, and had issue trying to down rate it. For a clean, natural tasting orange, without the pulp, this one gets it done. 9.0/10.
Shortbread Cookies (WF) 3.5% (12-17-22) – Butter, butter, and MO butter is the word of the day with this one. OK, maybe not THAT much, but this flavor, but you get a healthy dose. Now that’s good, because WF kept this one true to a true Shortbread Cookie, which literally has three ingredients. Flour, sugar, butter. All three were present, and surprisingly, not as sweet as I had predicted, with a below mid level sweetness. The “crumbly” aspects of a SBC were captured pretty well, as well as the (duh), butta !!! The butter while predominant, wasn’t dominant or overbearing, and sat well in the mix. At 3.5% it was full, and rich, without any off-notes or signs of over-flavoring. Somewhat relaxed, and fairly neutral, which left it as a blank canvas to build from with enhancers, jams, whatever you needs. I didn’t get a huge amount of grain/grainy-ness, and not sure if that detracted or not. All in, a nice accurate, true to name Shortbread Cookie, which was a blank canvas to build from. Minor take offs for lacking grains, but that’s about it. 8.8/10.
Tangerine (WF) 3.5% (12-17-22) – This one smelled great in the bottle, and when finger testing, but something got lost in translation when testing. It simply presented as an almost dull orange hue, almost like the base body of “Tang”, but missing most of the upper mid and high notes. It’s hard to explain, but it wasn’t muted, but rather just a non-descript orange-ish, sweet flavor with no real direction towards a tangerine. Maybe a sweetened citrus oil of sorts, but hard to identify with specificity. Would surely work in the low end of a base, but def. not the star of the show, or carrying the main freight of a tangerine. At 3.5% it seemed as full as it would ever get, and at about mid-level sweetness. As a base/r only, would leave it solidly at a 5.5/10.
Tahitian Vanilla Cream (WF) 3.5% (12-17-22) – Ohh yes, HERE we go. YES, this one is a MUST HAVE. There you go, in the second sentence in the review. Stop reading, go clicky, clicky, buy now LOL. OK, I have to give you more than that, right ? OK, for starters, this isn’t what I would call a pure Tahitian Vanilla, BUT, that’s OK, because it is a flavor POWERHOUSE. Total stand alone, One-Shot right here people. Tahitian Van actually has lower levels of vanillin, but if I didn’t know better, I think Wonder Flavors snuck in a smidge of Crumble Topping in here !!! I’m surprised no one else caught this, as I’ve seen NO mention of it anywhere, but I’m convinced. This was super delicious, rich, and full @ 3.5% and it tasted perfect at this level. Rich, but not buttery per se, but very full, complex, and did NOT leave you wanting. Many Vanillas with very high levels of Vanillin can be very Vanilla-y, but can come across as thin overall. Not this one. as it was FAR more than JUST a Vanilla. It did have a nice creamy nuance to it, but it really had an impact, and far more so than JUST a vanilla and cream. As a crude ratio analysis, call it a 50% vanilla, 25% cream, and 25% crumble. Now it that doesn’t wet your whistle, I don’t know what will. Utterly countless uses for this one ranging from everything bakery, to custards, creams, and more, so buy a BIG bottle, as you’ll be using it a lot. 3 full testers down, enjoying it, errrrr, trying to find faults with it and I couldn’t. If you are looking for a strict, or pure vanilla, this one isn’t that, but if you want a deliciously rich, and full vanilla desert, this one IS it. Sorry guys, I can’t go lower than 10/10 on this one.
Vanilla Custard (WF) 3.5% (12-17-22) – Alrighty, the LAST ONE in this big ass series, the VC. I think reviewing VC’s is one of the HARDEST flavors to review, as what people actually want out of them, varies WILDLY. So there isn’t one that the best for everyone. This one to my tastes, was actually quite good, and here’s why. It presented as a mix of a traditional eggy custard, and a pudding. The ratio was hard to quantify, but I’m going to settle on 60% Custard / 40% pudding, with the custard obviously in the lead. Although there was some egg-y-ness, it wasn’t overpowering, overwhelming, or off-putting (for those of you who don’t love the heavy eggy-ness). I think WF did a good job straddling both sides of the road, to increase the appeal. Now if you want(ed) a straight eggy custard, or straight pudding, this isn’t for you, but if you’re in the middle, I think it will be. At 3.5% it was smack on delicious and full, and had similar nuances like many of the existing VC’s, egg, butter, some vanilla, rich, creamy, etc. It was actually below mid level sweet, and I didn’t detect any off notes throughout 3 testers (for science and #$%^&). the mouthfeel was great, and with my personal tastes being a custard/pudding mix, I couldn’t really mark it down. Just a very slight dryness on the finish, but it was so minor, I hesitated to mention it. For a great, creamy, rich VC, that straddles both the traditional custard and pudding this one might need a spot on your rack. With nothing other than some vanilla swirling around, this one could be push/pulled into almost anything you could want or need. Finishing the series with a BANG, and leaving this at 9.8/10.