Hi guys! A member of our Honey and Cinnamon Drink group just asked a very good question:
First of all let me explain – it’s all the same drink no matter if you use powder or sticks to prepare it. The only difference is in the preparation technique used. While we use infusion for the cinnamon tea with powder cinnamon, here we use decoction.
Decoction extracts the chemicals from cinnamon sticks by boiling the mashed cinnamon sticks (or you can break them into small pieces).
For 1 (one) cup of cinnamon stick tea you need:
Ingredients
1 ¼ cup of water*
¾ Ceylon cinnamon stick (about 3 inches long) **
* For 1 cup of tea you need to add at least ¼ cup of water extra, cause water evaporates while boiling without a lid.
** Usually cinnamon sticks are between 2 to 4 inches in length. If you have 4 inches long sticks – you need to use ¾ from one stick; if you have 2 inches long sticks you need to use 1 ½ .
Step 1
Place the water in a pan or stove kettle and put the mashed cinnamon sticks inside.
Step 2
Bring the water and mashed cinnamon bark to boil slowly without a lid.
To do that you need to set the heat setting to medium. The water should boil slowly – that’s the only correct way to extract all the Cinnamon from the sticks. Usually it takes about 15 to 20 minutes at medium to low heating (don’t forget that ***).
*** If you boil it too quickly Cinnamon bark won’t brew properly and the color of the mixture would be pale yellowish. Read Step 3 to learn what the proper color of the cinnamon is…
Step 3
Once the water starts bubbling – remove it from heat and let it soak/steep/rest (whatever you call it) under lid for 15 minutes.
This way the full potential of cinnamon is completely released – aroma, taste, color – all perfectly balanced. Golden red is the true color your cinnamon tea should be.
Step 4
Strain the tea. Any strainer is good if you have only broken the sticks with your hands, and a fine strainer is needed if you have mashed the sticks (this way the pieces are much smaller and if you don’t use fine strainer – small slivers may end up in your cup of fantastic cinnamon tea).
Step 5
Let it cool for 15 to 30 minutes before add the honey to it.
You know how to take it, right? I also assume that you know how to store the drink after you’ve taken the first half of it…
But in case you don’t know or you are a newbie in honey and cinnamon drink for weight loss then I recommend you to check out my posts:
Honey and Cinnamon Drink FAQ or my original post
Honey and Cinnamon for Weight Loss
For details on how to drink and store the Honey and Cinnamon drink read the answer to this frequently asked question: How to take Honey and Cinnamon Drink?