Alba is the top of the Ceylon grading scale and only a small fraction of any harvest reaches it. The inner bark has to be lifted thin enough to roll under six millimetres across, about the width of a pencil, and only the most experienced peelers can do that consistently without tearing it.
What you get is a quill that is pale gold rather than red-brown, light enough to feel almost hollow, and brittle enough to snap clean between two fingers. That snap is the test. Cassia will not do it, and neither will a lower Ceylon grade.
The flavour is the reason to pay for it. There is almost no heat. Instead there is a clear sweetness, a citrus lift, and a soft clove note that arrives at the end. If your only reference point is the cinnamon in a supermarket jar, this will not taste like the same spice, because it is not the same spice.
Worth buying if cinnamon is something you want to taste rather than something you want to hide. If you are adding it to a curry that will cook for an hour, buy C4 or H1 instead and keep your money.
