Sensory descriptor
Forest floor
Damp leaf, soil and fungal character in aged cider, from the combination of oxidised phenolics with low-level fungal volatiles.
Also called Undergrowth, Leaf mould.
- Aroma family
- Earthy
- Does it indicate a fault?
- It depends on the style it is met in
What causes it
Forest floor is a composite of long-oxidised phenolic material, which supplies the damp-leaf and earth component, and traces of fungal volatiles such as 1-octen-3-ol from cellar or barrel flora. It is met in ciders with several years of oxidative maturation, particularly in old wood, and it is the earthy family’s equivalent of the walnut and sherry stage of the oxidative family — the same amount of time and air, read through a different set of accompanying compounds.
The compounds responsible
Where the molecule is established. Some descriptors in this lexicon name a compound the compound register does not yet hold a record for; those are named in the cause above instead.
Total phenolics
The single number used to summarise everything phenolic in a juice, useful for comparing fruit and misleading whenever it is used to predict how a cider will taste.
Dissolved oxygen
Essential to a healthy yeast population at the start of fermentation and the principal enemy of a cider from the moment fermentation ends.
Acetaldehyde
The compound sitting one step short of ethanol, which smells of bruised apple and sherry, binds most of the sulphite added to a cider, and is the chemical signature of oxidation.
The organisms that make it
Where a specific organism is implicated rather than the fruit. Naming one answers a different question from naming a molecule: what is in the cellar, rather than what is in the glass.
What raises it
Processes that increase this character, or preserve it where it would otherwise be lost.
Barrel ageing
Holding cider in wood — which may mean an old neutral vat used simply as a vessel, or fresh or spirit-seasoned oak used as a source of flavour, and the two are not the same operation.
Oxidative maturation
Ageing a cider with a deliberate, measured oxygen supply so that tannins polymerise and soften and an aldehydic character develops on purpose, which is not the same thing as the oxidation fault.
Cellar storage
Holding packaged cider in conditions that let it change slowly and predictably, where stability of temperature matters more than the temperature itself.
Lees ageing
Deliberately holding a cider or perry on its fine yeast deposit so that autolysing cells release material that changes texture and foam behaviour.
Where it is usually met
Fruit and styles this character is recorded in. A record here is where the descriptor is commonly found, not a claim that every example shows it.
About Forest floor
This descriptor belongs to old cider and should not be reached for in a young one, where the phenolic oxidation it depends on has not had time to happen.
It is close enough to damp cellar and to musty that the distinction is worth stating: forest floor implies age in the liquid, damp cellar implies the environment, and musty implies mould.
Others in the earthy family
Farmyard, wet stone, damp cellar, mushroom.
Farmyard
The composite animal-and-straw note of volatile phenols with short-chain fatty acids, central to traditional farmhouse character.
Corked
The damp-cardboard mustiness of TCA from a contaminated cork, affecting single bottles rather than batches.
Musty
A stale, mouldy, damp-loft note from fungal metabolites on the fruit or in storage, recorded as a taint.
Damp cellar
A cool, musty, faintly fungal note from moulds and film organisms in the maturation environment.
Mushroom
A distinctly fungal note from 1-octen-3-ol, produced by moulds on the fruit or by film yeast on the surface.
Wet stone
A cool, damp, faintly mineral impression, in cider a product of low-level sulphur compounds and high acidity rather than of minerals.
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.
- How should i store cider — Cool, dark and at a steady temperature. Light causes light-strike in clear glass, warmth accelerates oxidation, and temperature swings push cider past the closure of a bottle that is not tightly sealed.
- What is brettanomyces — *Brettanomyces*, correctly *Dekkera* in its spore-forming form, is a slow yeast that ferments sugars other strains leave behind and produces volatile phenols smelling of farmyard, leather or sticking plaster. In cider it is common and not always unwanted.
- Should i ferment cider in an oak barrel — A sound, full barrel is a fine maturation vessel; a leaky, half-empty or previously spoiled one is the fastest route to vinegar. Wood cannot be sterilised, so a barrel carries whatever lived in it before.
- Does cider contain antioxidants — Cider carries apple polyphenols, and tannic bittersweet ciders carry considerably more than pale ones made from dessert fruit. What that means for health is a clinical question this site does not adjudicate.
- What does vintage mean on a cider — On a cider label, vintage means the fruit came from a single named harvest year rather than from blended seasons. In most markets the word is not legally controlled for cider.
- What is a traditional west country cider blend — Predominantly bittersweet fruit for body and tannin, with a proportion of sharp fruit for acidity and sometimes a smaller share of bittersharps for both. The exact composition varied by farm and by what was in the orchard.
Where to go next
- The sensory model — The thirteen structural dimensions and the twenty aroma families, in full.
- Compounds — The chemistry behind the words.
- Troubleshooting — When a perception turns out to be a problem, this is where it is diagnosed.
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.
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.
Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE)
INRAE · research institute · retrieved 2026-08-24
French national agricultural research. Its Angers programme produced much of the published work on apple procyanidin chain length and on the relationship between polymer size, bitterness and astringency.
A Somerset Pomona: The Cider Apples of Somerset
Liz Copas, The Dovecote Press, 2001. ISBN 9781874336877 · reference work · bibliographic record verified, not opened 2026-08-25
Bibliographic record verified on 2026-08-25 against Open Library: Liz Copas, The Dovecote Press, 2001, ISBN 9781874336877. The author was Long Ashton’s cider pomologist, which is why this work is registered for Somerset cultivar identity at all — it is the nearest thing to a successor to the station’s own descriptions. No copy was opened. Not digitised in any open collection.