Lyle’s Golden Syrup has always had a taste that people struggle to put into words. It’s familiar and comforting, but hard to describe. So instead of asking people to explain it, we let their brains do the talking.

We invited 23 participants to taste Lyle’s Golden Syrup on toast while wearing an EEG, measuring the brain’s electrical activity in real time. Alongside this, we used implicit response testing to understand the emotions being triggered in the moment, without relying on conscious explanation. Each participant also tasted Lemon & Lime marmalade and plain buttered toast, allowing us to see how the emotional signatures differed across flavours.

As the data came together, a distinct emotional pattern emerged for Golden Syrup. It was associated with relaxation and reduced stress, moments of joy, and a strong sense of nostalgia, the kind of response tied to comfort, familiarity, and memories of days gone by. There was also a subtle increase in feelings of Britishness, reflecting just how embedded it is in everyday rituals.

We then turned these EEG signals into a sound for Lyle’s. The brainwave data was matched to emotional states, and those emotions were then mapped onto digital instruments, tempos, rhythms, and melodies that reflected their audio equivalents. The result was a musical track that quite literally captures how Lyle’s Golden Syrup feels.