Congrats! Hardly waiting for that episode.
@errrkah , @SquirrelSmash (& everyone else ofc), what are some CSC’s best-in-class must-haves? Thx.
5 Likes
Yeah, i know, but Chefs have a discount until the end of Aug only… It’s tempting to make another order before that. lol. 
5 Likes
I would say that Coconut Macaroons and Mojito are the stands out of the bunch.
6 Likes
@mikser (my mixing mentor), you know my tastes and palate at this point, and I had some VERY good luck with the CSC’s that I tried. To my tastes…
Biscuit (Speculoos) (CSC) 9.8/10
Biscuit (Speculoos) (CSC) 1.5% (6-12-21) – Living in the US, we have a much different meaning for “biscuit”, than across the pond where it is more of a cookie. A Speculoos Biscuit 2 is actually a spiced biscuit (cookie), and man was it good. Regardless on which side of the pond you reside, my tastebuds nailed this as an almost pumpkin spiced cookie, WITHOUT the pumpkin. The ingredients appear to vary from country to country, but seeing repeated mentions of cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, ginger and clove, yup, yup, yup. With this little gem floating in between an almost pumpkin spiced, to an almost gingerbread spiced cookie (biscuit), it was a TREAT. At 1.5% it was perfect, and was fairly complex with all of the spice elements floating around, with none taking center stage. You could EASILY push/pull this DIRECTLY into a full on pumpkin spiced, or a gingerbread by adding one or the other, but as it stood, a VERY good flavor. During the testing, I had to FIGHT the urge to run to the rack, and grab some FLV Frosting, or LA Cream Cheese Icing. Wow, if you like, want, or need a spiced cookie (biscuit), this one WILL get it done. Nothing off putting, and the fact that the spices continued to shift, and morph around, it stayed interesting throughout. I went into this flavor expecting a Bisquik type biscuit, but found a deliciously complex spiced cookie instead. Complex-edly set at a 9.8/10.
Coconut Macaroons (CSC) 9.8/10
Coconut Macaroons (CSC) 1.5% (6-13-21) – Many people don’t actually even know what’s IN a Coconut Macaroon, and they’re not complicated. Coconut, sweetened condensed milk, egg whites, vanilla, and salt. Did Chef’s nail this flavor ?? YES !!! —END of REVIEW----. Kidding. Wow, talk about an IMPACT from merely 1.5% of a flavor, this one has it, and it’s great. I think many times, peoples tastes regarding coconuts vary wildly, so keep that in mind any time you read a review of coconut flavors. For my tastes, this one had a perfect pairing of both a creamy-ish coconut, and almost a raw coconut. A tick above mid-level sweet, with a super delicious sweetened creamy back end. The coconut had no “greasy-ees”, or “oily-ees”, and at the very end it finished with a nice astringent, acidic note, which really carried the entire flavor home. Had the coconut been purely creamy, this wouldn’t have been there, and it WOULD have been missed. Tasting this flavor, really had a beginning, middle, and end. Quite interesting, and super delicious, and despite emptying two testers, I could find NO fault with this one. If you like coconut, this one might just end up on your short list. Unquestionably 9.8/10.
Creme Brulee (CSC) 9.9/10
Creme Brulee (CSC) 1.5% (6-13-21) – A rich custard base, topped with a crisp, caramelized sugar, who wouldn’t like that ?? !!! The first thing that struck me with this one, was how well Chef’s did the caramelized sugar. Custards are plentiful, but a good caramelized sugar, almost burnt, but not bitter can be hard to get right, and they did. Underneath it, was a nice somewhat relaxed vanilla custard. Eggs and vanilla were present, but it wasn’t overly eggy. The sugar topping was ALMOST the star of the show here, but not entirely. The custard held it’s own, and worked flawlessly with the topping, and what a one-two punch it was. Above mid-level sweet, and it tasted nicely full at 1.5%. Nothing off-putting, just a great tasting experience. The overall creamy level was about a 6/10, so it was not a super dense creamy flavor, but honestly, after you start tasting it, that won’t matter. Further testing revealed that the vanilla did take front seat from any egg notes, which was nice as opposed to a heavier egg-centric custard. Again, perfect pair between the custard and topping. More than rich enough to get your attention, but not oppressively so. All in, this might JUST be the best Creme Brule I’ve tasted. I could find NO faults with this one. Handily a 9.9/10.
Custard (CSC) 9.75/10
Custard (CSC) 1.5% (6-14-21) – If anyone knows how to completely ignore DAAP concerns, and dive RIGHT into the Custard pool, head first, it’s me. Matter of fact, I still need to try @woftam’s Custard Slut now that I think about it !!! OK, what in the hell do we have here. Hero / Zero ?? I’m leaning towards HERO people !!! Now, we don’t have to re-hash all the “What type of custard do you like” conversations, as we ALL have different tastes. I’ve got hundreds of uses for Custards thus far, and I use a wide array of them. I prefer a LESS heavy eggy custard, most of the time. This one presented as a rich, semi dense, not overly eggy custard, paired with an almost delicious pudding, BUT, there was something else. What in the hell ?? It’s almost like a lighter donut/fried dough profile. I thought I smelled donut when smelling the bottle, but wasn’t sure. Yup, that’s what I’m getting, BUT, at a much lower ratio, as opposed to the Custard/Pudding. At first I wasn’t sure, but now, I think it just works. I stopped focusing soley on it, and the sum total of the profiles, and it just works. Simple, lighter, but still heavy enough to grab your attention. Nice and tasty at 1.5%, and at about mid level sweet, having a hard time finding issues with it. For you numbers people, it was like 40% Custard, 40% Van. Pudding, and 20% Donut, and that’s what you get. If you like those three profiles, and ratios, you’ll love this flavor. For MY palate/tastes, I can’t go lower than 9.75/10.
Oats (CSC) **10/10**
Oats (CSC) 1.5% (6-20-21) – I think it’s safe to say I was COMPLETELY unprepared for this flavor. Not a lot of oats out there, because it’s HARD to get right. I assumed this would be some general bakery with grains, passed off as a “kinda close” flavor. Boy was I wrong. FULL on, OATS !!! No puffed wheat, not corn, not AP, OATS !!! It made me immediately think of Quaker Oats, no questions, no hesitations. Below mid level sweet, and the best part, it wasn’t FLAVORED. Blank slate, spot on oats. That’s it, that’s all. Was delicious at 1.5%, and man, the opportunities to use this one will be endless, and you could tweak to your hearts content. This, ladies and gentlemen is an impressive flavor, and I’m glad I added this one to the list. If you want some spot on oats, nicely sweetened, this is the one you should get. Full stop. 10/10.
Vanilla Ice Cream (CSC) **10/10**
Vanilla Ice Cream (CSC) 1.5% (6-24-21) – 2nd to last on deck in this huge series of Chef’s new SC’s. My initial reaction to this was, “This might be the BEST Vanilla Ice Cream” I have ever tried. 10ml later, that hasn’t changed, and that’s kind of a big deal. At 1.5% this one was a real show stopper, which had all the notes needed to convince you of it’s namesake. Missing were some of the commonly found dairy notes in some flavors, that were dairy, but not really Ice Cream. Chefs did a really bang up job on this one. Incredible mouthfeel for an ice cream, and while not “buttery” like another well known VIC, it didn’t need it, you didn’t miss it, and actually you didn’t even WANT it. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this one, but needless to say, all the players were here, creamy, rich, present, but not overbearing vanilla, and loads of mouthfeel. A few ticks above mid sweet, and no pepper, no off notes, no nonsense present. For a great, clean vanilla ice cream that truly captured all aspects of a VIC, this one should be on your rack. For anyone else, it should be on YOUR rack too !!! I would rate it at 10.1/10, but I promised I’d never do that again. Easily, 10/10.
6 Likes
Thx. I have that Coconut Macaroon already and i like it a lot. Had to buy it after @SessionDrummer’s review. lol.
Thx SD. These are on my list already 
4 Likes
You’re very welcome @mikser. I am always very anxious to hear your thoughts on them, if you feel like it mate. 
3 Likes
After seeing the list like that, LOL, it appears I have a bakery/custard/desert problem.
4 Likes
I blame @SessionDrummer for forcing me to get many. What he reviewed is generally spot on. Just skip the mints and tobaccos.
6 Likes
It IS comforting to hear that my palate is NOT out in left field. BUT, you never know …
6 Likes
Tru dat! Big thx for your reviews @SessionDrummer; those are so helpful (and save us a lot)!
6 Likes
I think we only differ on what is classed as a natural taste between a US and UK palate.
6 Likes
bummer to hear about the tobaccos not impressing! I grabbed most of those for the review. I love tobacco but have not delved too far into DIY tobaccos yet, so I was excited for those. all the mint options did seem repetitive to me as well; I still got most of them to compare + contrast against one another which I’m sure will help others decide between them. I’m not even a mint fan myself, lol!
and @Mikser don’t hold me accountable if you end up hating any of the flavors that I mention lol. I’m planning to do more in-depth reviews once I get through more of these SFTs but since the Chef’s sale ends Aug 31 I will give quickie notes here. These are just some of my faves so far (mostly fruits):
-Guava: (I LOVE CAP Sweet Guava but Chef’s Guava stole my heart! a friend of mine who also loves CAP SG said it was too boozey for her though so take my opinion w a grain of salt; I didn’t get booze out of it but it did feel a bit syrupy + almost thick with flavor at 2% like a pie filling Guava. it’s probably perfect at 1.5%). I feel like could possibly be considered a poor man’s almost-dupe for MF Guava. it’s so full + complex to me, like it could be pushed more towards bakery/ cooked desserts or kept in the sweet but natural realm.
-Banana Candy: this flavor was a very tasty, spot on banana runts candy! mildly sweet so there’s still room for sweetener which I prefer to something like LA Banana Cream (LA BC is way too fakey sweet for my tastes). I made a simple iced banana juice for a friend’s Caliburn with this flavor center stage + we both loved the results. although candied banana is not necessarily unique so you may already have something similar
-Dragonfruit: juicy + authentic. tastes like the real pitatya smoothies I make from frozen dragonfruit. similar to INW’s but different, it seems fuller in flavor to me. I probably will prefer this one to INW but will have to compare SFTs directly as I’ve only had INW in mixes.
-Exotic Fruits: OMG, so tasty! To me, it tastes mostly like mango, papaya + maybe a few more fruits that I can’t quite pin down. it’s one of those unique flavors that gives different tastes in different pulls to keep you guessing. tropical tasting with NO typical coconut, pineapple or banana notes so it feels very unique. not sure what the heck is in here bc the photo on Chef’s shows completely different fruits than I’m tasting. Chef’s Mango is definitely in here + that’s all I can distinguish so far
-Lemon: like SD reviewed, is great. it’s light, bright + somewhere between natural/ lemonade to me with a slight candy balance of sweetness + tartness. not totally overpowering like some of the good recommended lemons (FE, CNV lemons are great but can easily bully a mix imo)
-Lemon Meringue Pie: was pretty good, it has the Lemon flavor within but in a thicker, creamier way. I detected a bit of crust too. I couldn’t stop vaping this one for awhile, I had to remind myself I had more testers lol. Not sure if this will dethrone CNV LCW but lemon dessert lovers will rejoice.
-Lemon Custard: is sad as a custard but GREAT as a lemon frosting/ icing. reminds me of the frosting on those iced lemon Girl Scout cookies. seems like the same lemon is in this as well
-Lychee: OMG! a lychee that doesn’t taste like hairspray?! sign me up! it’s bright, authentic + ever so slightly candied while still feeling natural. reminds me of the lychee cube centers of some Filipino jello cup treats! love this flavor, it even has a slight floral when pushed to 2% that isn’t offensive but perfectly reminiscent of natural lychee (which i love + eat a lot of)
-Blackcurrant: tart, tasty, bright; seems less “bullyish” than FA’s BC. slightly top-note heavy as an SFT but decent mouthfeel for a tart fruit which can be rare. worth looking into if you like unique bright fruits. I feel like a decent mixer could do something tasty with this
-Meringue: there are already a few great meringue options out there, so probably not a must-have for most, but it is for me. I love meringues! this one really captured my attention. I just couldn’t stop vaping it! reminds me of those delicious Trader Joe Meringue treats, even in it’s mouthfeel. it’s creamy + still rich without being buttery. a slight authentic sharp dry crispness came through the exhale for me every so often, solidifying my opinion of this being similar to actual TJ Meringue treats. it has a distinct, clean, “strong” meringue taste at 2% which I love (I say “strong” bc meringue isn’t a strong flavor but rather in the sense that it was still distinguishably meringue)
alright folks, that’s honestly all I have time for right now, gotta get back on these SFTs! I don’t have the most experienced or distinguished palette but I do hope my thoughts can help out some other mixers
16 Likes
Fantastic Written opinions …This has really helped me out …Ty keep them coming
9 Likes
The tobaccos were a real miss. I was going to get all of them but after SFTing a few I just classed them as a generic mess.
I like to be tobacco free but create the feel of NETs and these just fell short.
5 Likes
Thanks to @SessionDrummer awesome reviews of the biscuit speculous and the vanilla ice cream my order from chefs yielded neither:joy:
5 Likes
Absolutely. Anything Chef’s goes here.
4 Likes
They are good but don’t have all.
5 Likes