Comparison
Pasteurised vs unpasteurised
Does pasteurising cider change the way it tastes?
In short
Pasteurisation applies a defined combination of temperature and time — flash pasteurisation before filling, or tunnel pasteurisation in the sealed package — sufficient to inactivate yeast and most spoilage bacteria. The cider afterwards is microbiologically stable and will not referment.
An unpasteurised cider retains viable organisms. That is what allows bottle conditioning and continued development on lees, and it is also what allows refermentation of residual sugar, film yeast growth on an opened container, and slow spoilage.
Heat is not sensorily free. A hard pasteurisation can produce cooked, jammy notes and flatten fresh fruit aroma; a well-controlled flash treatment is much less detectable. What is being traded is the capacity to change, in both directions.
The two things being compared
Each side described in its own terms first, so the table below has something to hang on.
Pasteurised cider
Heat-treated to inactivate yeast and spoilage organisms, so the cider is stable in the package and cannot referment.
Unpasteurised cider
Not heat-treated. Retains viable organisms, so it can continue to develop — and can also referment or spoil.
Where they differ
Dimension by dimension. Where a row needs a qualification, it carries one rather than being simplified until it fits.
| Dimension | Pasteurised cider | Unpasteurised cider |
|---|---|---|
| Microbial stability | High. Residual sugar can be left without risk of refermentation. | Depends on residual sugar, sulphite, filtration and storage temperature. |
| Development in the package | Chemical ageing continues; biological change does not. | Both continue. |
| Compatibility with bottle conditioning | None. Pasteurisation and conditioning are mutually exclusive in the same package. | Required for it. |
| Sensory effect of the treatment | Ranges from undetectable after a well-controlled flash treatment to cooked and jammy after a hard one. | No thermal character. |
| Shelf life | Long and predictable. | Shorter and more dependent on handling. |
| Cold chain | Not required. | Often required, particularly for sweet ciders. |
| Campaigning definitions | Excluded from the "real cider" criteria. | Consistent with them. |
| Behaviour after opening | Goes flat and oxidises, but does not readily grow a film. | Can grow film yeast and acetify in an opened container. |
When Pasteurised cider is the relevant one
The circumstances in which this is the thing being described, rather than a reason to prefer it.
- Residual sugar has to survive distribution and warm storage without refermenting.
- The package is a can, keg or bag-in-box travelling through an uncontrolled supply chain.
When Unpasteurised cider is the relevant one
The circumstances in which this is the thing being described, rather than a reason to prefer it.
- The cider is bottle-conditioned or intended to develop on its lees.
- The cider is dry, sulphited and cold-stored, so heat is not needed for stability.
- You are explaining why a cider’s character is still shifting months after packaging.
A misconception worth clearing up
This comparison exists partly because of the claim below, which is repeated often enough that most readers arrive holding it.
Pasteurisation kills the flavour, so any pasteurised cider is inferior.
What is actually the case: Heat damage depends entirely on how much heat, for how long. A brief flash treatment is frequently undetectable in blind assessment, while a prolonged tunnel treatment can be obvious. The treatment’s severity, not its presence, is what shows in the glass.
Related comparisons
Distinctions that turn on the same thing, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Filtered vs unfiltered
Filtration removes suspended solids and, at fine enough grades, the organisms too; leaving it out keeps whatever is in suspension, including material that carries aroma and texture.
Sulphited vs unsulphited
Sulphur dioxide suppresses spoilage organisms and binds oxidation intermediates; working without it means relying on hygiene, low pH, temperature and vessel management instead.
Bottle-conditioned vs force-carbonated
Bottle conditioning makes the carbon dioxide inside the sealed bottle by fermenting a small amount of sugar there; force carbonation dissolves gas into the finished cider under pressure before packaging.
"Real cider" vs "craft cider"
"Real cider" is a defined campaigning term with stated criteria; "craft cider" has no agreed definition and no body maintaining one, so the two are not comparable claims.
What people ask next
Questions readers ask about the things this page mentions. Each one goes to the section that answers it rather than to a page written to receive the question.
- Is unfiltered cider better than filtered — Neither is better as such. Filtration removes yeast, haze and some flavour compounds and makes a cider stable; leaving it unfiltered keeps more texture and aroma and leaves the cider alive in the bottle.
- What does real cider mean, and is it the same as craft cider — Neither is a legal term. Real cider is a campaigning definition about method — fresh juice, no concentrate, no injected gas — while craft cider is a market description with no agreed boundary at all.
- What is the difference between bottle-conditioned and force-carbonated cider — A bottle-conditioned cider gets its gas from a fermentation finishing inside the sealed bottle, and leaves a yeast deposit; a force-carbonated one has carbon dioxide dissolved into it under pressure before filling. The first keeps changing in the bottle and the second does not.
- Why is sulphite added to cider, and what happens if it is not — Sulphite suppresses spoilage organisms and binds oxidation products, and its effectiveness depends sharply on pH — at pH 3.8 it is a fraction as potent as at pH 3.2. Unsulphited cider is entirely possible and is the tradition in several regions, but it carries more risk and less shelf life.
Where to go next
- All comparisons — The rest of the pairs, grouped by what kind of difference is at stake.
- Glossary — Either term on its own, defined without a second thing to hold it against.
- Learn about cider — The background these pages assume, written from the beginning.
Sources
What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.
Cider and perry production technical training material
Peter Mitchell / Cider and Perry Academy · reference work · registered as competent for this subject
Searched again on 2026-08-25 and it remains the one printed source here that a bibliographic check cannot fix, because it is not a published work with an edition. It is course material issued to participants of a training programme, so there is no catalogue record to verify, no ISBN, and no lawful public copy. Its state stays `registered` for that reason rather than through inattention.
The Science of Cidermaking and associated technical writing
Andrew Lea · reference work · passage verified 2026-08-24
Written by a food chemist who worked at Long Ashton on apple phenolics. Unusual among specialist cider writing in that it is primary-research-adjacent: the author is describing work he did, and cites the literature. This is why it is registered at tier 1 for chemistry while a general cider book is not.
CAMRA cider and perry standards
Campaign for Real Ale · specialist organisation · retrieved 2026-08-24
Opened on 2026-08-24. Registered for the consumer-campaigning vocabulary — "real cider", "full juice" — which is advocacy language rather than legal definition, and is recorded as such wherever CiderHQ uses it.