Tool

How cold should I serve this?

Serving ranges by style, derived from each style’s own sensory profile, with the reason temperature changes what you taste.

Serving temperature

Why temperature changes what you taste

Cold suppresses aroma and accentuates the perception of acidity and carbonation. The same cider served at 4 °C and at 12 °C tastes drier, sharper and less fruity at the colder end — not because anything in it changed, but because volatile compounds are less volatile and the sweet receptors respond less.

That gives a working rule with a reason behind it: the more a cider depends on aroma and texture, the warmer it wants to be, and the more it depends on freshness and fizz, the colder. A tannic, still, barrel-aged cider served at fridge temperature is mostly astringency; the same bottle at cellar temperature is a different drink.

By style

Ranges marked *derived* are worked out by CiderHQ from the style’s carbonation and sweetness rather than taken from a source. Treat them as a starting point.
Style	Serve at	Basis
Alcohol-free cider	3–7 °C	Recorded on the style
Fruit cider	3–7 °C	Recorded on the style
Modern mainstream cider	3–7 °C	Recorded on the style
Australian cider	4–8 °C	Recorded on the style
Irish cider	4–8 °C	Recorded on the style
Low-alcohol cider	4–8 °C	Recorded on the style
South African cider	4–8 °C	Recorded on the style
Hopped cider	5–9 °C	Recorded on the style
Modern American cider	5–9 °C	Recorded on the style
New Zealand cider	5–9 °C	Recorded on the style
Polish cider	5–9 °C	Recorded on the style
Graff	6–10 °C	Recorded on the style
Ice cider	6–9 °C	Recorded on the style
Ice perry	6–9 °C	Recorded on the style
Quebec ice cider	6–9 °C	Recorded on the style
Sparkling cider	6–10 °C	Recorded on the style
Sparkling perry	6–10 °C	Recorded on the style
Sweet cider	6–10 °C	Recorded on the style
Botanical cider	7–11 °C	Recorded on the style
Cidre doux	7–11 °C	Recorded on the style
Eastern counties cider	7–11 °C	Recorded on the style
Medium cider	7–11 °C	Recorded on the style
Poiré	7–10 °C	Recorded on the style
Poiré Domfront	7–10 °C	Recorded on the style
Scottish cider	7–11 °C	Recorded on the style
Sidra espumosa	7–10 °C	Recorded on the style
Tasmanian cider	7–11 °C	Recorded on the style
Apfelwein	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Bottle-conditioned cider	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Bottle-conditioned perry	8–11 °C	Recorded on the style
Cidre de Bretagne	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Cidre de Normandie	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Cidre demi-sec	8–11 °C	Recorded on the style
Cidre Pays d’Auge	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Dry cider	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Keeved cider	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Most	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Mostviertel Birnenmost	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Perry	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Pétillant cider	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Pommeau	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Sidra de nueva expresión	8–11 °C	Recorded on the style
Spiced cider	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Suure Most	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Viez	8–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Blended cider	9–13 °C	Recorded on the style
Cidre brut	9–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Cidre fermier	9–12 °C	Recorded on the style
Herefordshire cider	9–13 °C	Recorded on the style
Still perry	9–13 °C	Recorded on the style
Three Counties cider	9–13 °C	Recorded on the style
Unfiltered cider	9–13 °C	Recorded on the style
American heritage cider	10–13 °C	Recorded on the style
Apple wine	10–14 °C	Recorded on the style
Galician cider	10–13 °C	Recorded on the style
Scrumpy	10–14 °C	Recorded on the style
Single-varietal cider	10–13 °C	Recorded on the style
Somerset cider	10–14 °C	Recorded on the style
Still cider	10–14 °C	Recorded on the style
Traditional draught cider	10–14 °C	Recorded on the style
Welsh cider	10–13 °C	Recorded on the style
West Country farmhouse cider	10–14 °C	Recorded on the style
Wild-fermented cider	10–14 °C	Recorded on the style
Barrel-aged cider	11–15 °C	Recorded on the style
Euskal Sagardoa	11–14 °C	Recorded on the style
New England cider	11–14 °C	Recorded on the style
Sidra natural	11–14 °C	Recorded on the style
Vintage cider	11–14 °C	Recorded on the style
Cider vinegar	12–16 °C	Derived

Without a thermometer

Practical reference points.
Roughly	Temperature	How to get there
Fridge cold	4–6 °C	A domestic fridge runs at about 4 °C. Most cider is served colder than it wants to be.
Cellar cool	10–13 °C	Twenty minutes out of the fridge in a normal room, or an unheated outside cupboard.
Room, as the phrase was meant	15–18 °C	Not a centrally heated room. The phrase predates central heating and means about 16 °C.

Related tools

What does "dry" mean on this label?
Sweetness decoder

Where this reading comes from

Guides that reach this calculator, and what the number decides once you have it.