Reference
How long to steep cinnamon tea
Steep pure cinnamon bark for 15 to 25 minutes at a full boil. Steep anything with tea leaf in it for 3 to 5 minutes, or 2 for green. Use the table below, set a timer, and pull the bag out when it goes off. That one habit fixes most bad cups.
| Blend | Water | Steep | Caffeine | Re-steep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pure Ceylon Cinnamon Tea | 212°F / 100°C, full boil | 15 to 25 minutes | None | Up to 4 times |
| Ceylon Cinnamon & Black Tea | 212°F / 100°C, full boil | 3 to 5 minutes | Yes, standard black tea | Once, lighter |
| Ceylon Cinnamon Loose Leaf Tea | 212°F / 100°C, full boil | 5 minutes | Yes, standard black tea | Not really |
| Ceylon Cinnamon & Green Tea | Just off the boil | 2 minutes | Yes, lower than black tea | Not really |
| Cinnamon & Ginger Tea | 212°F / 100°C, full boil | 3 to 5 minutes | None on its own | Once, milder |
| Cinnamon & Turmeric Tea | 212°F / 100°C, or hot milk | 3 to 5 minutes | None | Not really |
Why pure cinnamon needs twenty minutes
Tea leaf is designed by nature to give up its contents fast. The cell walls are thin, the leaf is already broken and oxidised, and three minutes in hot water gets most of what is in there into your cup.
Bark is the opposite. It is dense, woody, and the aromatic oils are locked in tight. A three minute steep gets you colour and a hint of sweetness, which is exactly why so many people conclude that cinnamon tea is weak and watery. Give it twenty minutes and you get a completely different drink out of the same bag.
Because there is no tannin in bark, there is also nothing to go bitter. You cannot really over-steep a pure cinnamon infusion. You can only under-steep it.
Why green tea needs two
Green leaf is unoxidised, and it releases astringency early and fast. At four minutes a Ceylon green is already past its best, and no amount of cinnamon rescues it.
In the cinnamon and green blend there is no steep time that gets the most out of both ingredients at once, so the short one wins. If you want it stronger, use two bags for two minutes rather than one bag for four.
The three mistakes
1. Water that is not hot enough
Everything here except the green blend wants a genuine rolling boil at 212°F. Water that has sat for five minutes in the kettle is nowhere near, and bark in particular will not release properly below boiling.
2. Leaving the bag in
For anything containing tea leaf, the bag coming out is part of the recipe. A cup that has sat with the bag in for ten minutes is a different and worse drink than the one you meant to make.
3. Sweetening before tasting
Ceylon cinnamon is naturally sweet, more so than cassia, and most of these blends need no sugar at all. Taste the cup first. If it still needs something after a proper steep, honey sits better with cinnamon than white sugar does.
Making it iced
Brew strong, dilute cold. Use roughly four times the normal quantity of tea in a quarter of the water, steep as usual, then pour the concentrate over cold water and ice to reach full volume.
The alternative, brewing a normal-strength pot and letting it cool, gives you a flat drink that goes cloudy. Cloudiness comes from tannins precipitating as the tea cools slowly, and crashing it over ice avoids that entirely.