T Juice | the recipes beyond Red Astaire

For plenty of vapers, T Juice and Red Astaire have become one and the same. The flagship fills shelves, reviews and forum threads, to the point where it is easy to forget the British house makes anything else. The other names rarely come up, their descriptions even less, and most shop pages settle for a list of fruit. So what do you actually taste when you step away from Red Astaire and pick another recipe from the same maker?

What T Juice makes besides Red Astaire

The T Juice website lists around a dozen recipes alongside Red Astaire. They cover fruit with menthol, fruit without any chill, desserts, a tobacco, drinks and a mint. The maker nearly always describes them in two stages, the inhale and the exhale, which maps directly onto the attack and the finish of our tasting grid.

Red Astaire is the reference point. Its official description lists ripe red berries, black grape and sweet eucalyptus, followed by a warm kick of aniseed and a cool menthol finish. Several other recipes borrow one or two of those components, but none brings them all together.

Recipe	Attack, per the maker	Finish, per the maker	Format on the maker’s site
Clara-T	Deep red berries, grape	Light menthol	Concentrate
Northern Lights	Fresh grapes	Mint and menthol undertone	10 ml e-liquid
Black ‘N’ Blue	Blueberry and liquorice	Menthol	10 ml e-liquid, nic salt
Forest Affair	Blueberry and grape, juicy fruit	Warm, spiced note	Concentrate
Strawberri	Strawberry and a hint of cream	Raspberry	Concentrate
Green Kelly	Pink lemonade and raspberry	Tart cranberry	Concentrate
Colonel Custard	Custard	Vanilla building to a crescendo	Concentrate
UK Smokes	Burley tobacco	Smoky Latakia note	10 ml e-liquid, nic salt

The mid-palate is hardly ever described by the brand. Filling it in is the taster’s job, and it is where two neighbouring recipes most often part company.

Red Astaire’s close relatives

Three recipes borrow the grape, the berries or the menthol of the house flagship, without its aniseed and eucalyptus. They matter most to Red Astaire fans who want a change of register without leaving the brand.

Clara-T, red fruit without the aniseed

The maker describes deep red berries and juicy grape, rounded off on the exhale by a light menthol. On paper, that is Red Astaire without the eucalyptus or the aniseed kick.

Its attack should be the closest to the flagship, with the same meeting of berries and grape. The difference ought to show in the middle and the finish, without the warm aniseed that stretches Red Astaire out.

Northern Lights, grape on its own

Here fresh grapes lead alone, backed by a subtle mint and menthol undertone. The brand calls the flavour full-bodied, which suggests a generous middle rather than a light recipe.

Northern Lights suits a palate that likes the grape in Red Astaire but finds its red berries too prominent. Described as subtle, the menthol should stay in the background until the finish.

Black ‘N’ Blue, liquorice in place of aniseed

Blueberry replaces the red berries, and liquorice stands in for aniseed. The maker describes a revitalising menthol exhale to close.

It is the darkest of the three relatives. For anyone fond of Red Astaire’s aniseed kick, liquorice offers a neighbouring note carried by a deeper fruit.

T Juice recipes without menthol

Part of the T Juice catalogue drops the chill altogether. These recipes taste differently, because the finish is no longer carried by menthol but by fruit, spice or a creamy note.

Forest Affair, spiced blueberry

Blueberry and grape come with a light sprinkle of spice. The maker describes a juicy fruit inhale and a warmer, well-blended exhale.

Among the menthol-free recipes, it is the only one whose exhale is described as warm. It will interest a palate that loves dark fruit but tires of menthol.

Strawberri, strawberry and cream

Strawberry with a hint of cream on the inhale, a subtle raspberry on the exhale. The brand talks about fresh and candied strawberry in equal measure.

On the grid, expect a fruity attack, a slightly creamy middle and a finish that switches fruit. A missing raspberry in the finish would be a deviation worth recording.

Green Kelly, pink lemonade

Pink lemonade and ripe raspberries on the attack, tart cranberry lingering on the exhale. It is the only fruit drink profile in this selection.

The balance between sweet and sharp is what makes it interesting. A finish kept lively by the cranberry matches the description.

Colonel Custard, custard and vanilla

Custard from the first inhale, vanilla rising to the exhale. It is the simplest dessert in the range, built on just two notes. Another dessert, Vamp Vape, blends caramel, vanilla custard, coconut and lemon. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with the Vampire Vape brand, whose Heisenberg and Pinkman we taste here.

Tobacco, gin and mint, the outliers

Three recipes leave fruit behind entirely. UK Smokes combines a mild Burley tobacco with a smoky Latakia note that builds on the exhale. The finish should therefore be stronger than the attack.

Gins Addiction brings together gin, citrus, absinthe and menthol. Its description reads like a drink, and the middle, which the brand does not describe, is the stage to fill in most carefully.

Minted goes for freshly picked spearmint, with a sweet exhale that stays on the tongue. High Voltage, for its part, puts menthol on the very first inhale, followed by a burst of juicy cherry.

Which format each recipe comes in

On the maker’s own UK shop, not every recipe is sold in the same form, and that changes how you taste it. Red Astaire, UK Smokes, Northern Lights, Gins Addiction and Black ‘N’ Blue come as 10 ml e-liquids, most of them at 50/50.

Nic salt versions exist for Red Astaire, UK Smokes and Black ‘N’ Blue. Red Astaire and Minted are sold as 50 ml shortfills, while Red Astaire and UK Smokes also exist as longfills, a bottle partly filled with flavour that you top up with unflavoured base or nicotine shots. Clara-T, Forest Affair, Strawberri, Green Kelly, Colonel Custard, Vamp Vape and High Voltage appear as flavour concentrates in 10 ml and 30 ml bottles.

Tasting a recipe sold only as a concentrate means mixing it yourself. The base you choose and the mixing rate then shape the result, so note them on the grid to keep two tastings comparable.

FAQ

Five practical questions keep coming up about the brand, beyond the flavour of each recipe.

How should Red Astaire concentrate be mixed?

The maker recommends a 20% mixing rate and a steep of one to three days. The same guidance appears on most of its other concentrates.

What nicotine strengths do T Juice 10 ml bottles come in?

On the maker’s site, the 10 ml e-liquids run from 0 to 18 mg/ml depending on the recipe, with Red Astaire and Black ‘N’ Blue starting at 3 mg/ml. That keeps them under the UK limit of 20 mg/ml for nicotine-containing liquids.

Does T Juice make nic salts?

Yes, for Red Astaire, UK Smokes and Black ‘N’ Blue, in 10 ml bottles at 5, 10 or 20 mg/ml, with a 50/50 base.

Where can T Juice be bought in the UK?

Directly from the brand’s own online shop, as well as from specialist vape retailers. As with any nicotine vaping product in the UK, buyers must be 18 or over.

What does Latakia bring to UK Smokes?

Latakia is a tobacco cured over smoke, known for its smoky character. Paired with a milder Burley, it gives UK Smokes an exhale that is stronger than its inhale.

T Juice, a house you read in the finish

Leaving Red Astaire does not mean leaving the house. The T Juice recipes split into menthol relatives, chill-free fruit, desserts and outliers, and almost all of them stand out first through what they leave on the exhale.

That is where the grid earns its keep, since the maker describes that stage precisely. For a brand like T Juice, which publishes its recipes in two stages, tasting means filling in the middle and checking the finish, an approach that works for any house willing to describe what goes into the bottle.

More tasting notes

Tasting notes written for adult readers only. Most vaping products contain nicotine, which is addictive, and in the UK nicotine vaping products cannot be sold to anyone under 18. These notes describe recipes and are not a buying recommendation.