Sensory descriptor
Hay
A dry, sweet-grassy note from coumarin and degraded green-leaf volatiles, characteristic of traditional farmhouse cider.
Also called Dried grass, Meadow hay.
- Aroma family
- Herbal and vegetal
- Does it indicate a fault?
- It depends on the style it is met in
What causes it
Hay smells as it does because drying grass releases coumarin from bound precursors while its fresh green aldehydes degrade. The cider equivalent arises through a parallel route: six-carbon aldehydes and alcohols from the fruit oxidise and decline during maturation, leaving a drier residue, while low levels of lactones and phenolic aldehydes accumulate. It is characteristic of unfiltered, wild-fermented cider matured in wood, where slow oxygen ingress drives the transformation, and it is one of the notes most consistently associated with traditional West Country and Norman production.
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.
trans-2-Hexenal
The sharper, more penetrating green aldehyde of the same pathway as hexanal, made from linolenic rather than linoleic acid, and a marker of underripe fruit.
Lactones
Cyclic esters that give peach and apricot character, formed from fatty acids and often carried in bound form, which is why stone-fruit notes can appear in a cider months after fermentation.
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.
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.
Wild fermentation
Letting the microflora already present on the fruit and in the press house carry the ferment, in a succession rather than as a single organism.
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 Hay
Hay is a defining descriptor for farmhouse cider and one of the clearest markers of the difference between traditionally and industrially made products. It is a maturation note, not a fruit one, and a young cider does not show it.
It is distinguished from cut grass, which is the fresh version of the same volatile family, and from straw, which carries a more cereal, less sweet character. The three describe successive stages of the same drying and oxidation process.
Others in the herbal and vegetal family
Hay, grass, hedgerow, green leaf.
Black tea
A dry, tannic, faintly leafy note from polymerised procyanidins with mild oxidative development.
Cut grass
A sharp green note from cis-3-hexenol and cis-3-hexenal, the same green-leaf volatiles released by mown grass.
Hedgerow
A mixed green-and-floral note combining leaf volatiles with faint blossom and a damp edge, common in wild-fermented cider.
Straw
A dry, dusty, cereal-like note from advanced degradation of green volatiles in aged cider.
Nettle
A sharp green-vegetal note with a faint sulphurous edge, met in early-picked and reductively handled cider.
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 does cider ferment — Yeast consumes the sugar in apple juice and produces roughly equal masses of ethanol and carbon dioxide, along with the esters and higher alcohols that give cider much of its aroma. In a wild ferment several yeast species take turns before *Saccharomyces* finishes the job.
- 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.
- 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.
- What is welsh cider
- What is wild fermented cider
- How long can cider sit on its lees
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.
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.
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.
Three Counties Cider and Perry Association
TCCPA · specialist organisation · retrieved 2026-08-24