Cinnamon is a classic cold-weather spice, and just the smell of it sends us on a trip down memory lane to blustery days by the fireside waiting for whatever heavenly-smelling pie or cookies were about to be pulled from the oven. You might not immediately think coffee and cinnamon go together, but cappuccinos and lattes are often served with a pinch of cinnamon sprinkled over the top. Putting cinnamon in regular coffee is an easy way to (literally) spice up your usual cup of joe.
The great thing about cinnamon coffee is that it couldn’t be any easier to make. Whatever your normal method for brewing is, you can add cinnamon to it without changing anything else. In this article, we’ll show you how we like to make cinnamon coffee and give you some ideas about how you could make it your own. Let’s dive right in!
How to Make Cinnamon Coffee:
- Freshly ground coffee beans
- Cinnamon
- Cinnamon sticks (optional)
- Whipped cream or steamed milk (optional)
- French press, pour-over, drip machine, or AeroPress
- Filter (depending on brewing method)
- Coffee cup or mug
1. Mix cinnamon and ground coffee.
Measure out your ground coffee and add a small amount of ground cinnamon. We recommend starting with just a pinch of cinnamon. You can always add more later if it’s not strong enough!
2. Brew as usual.
Place the cinnamon and coffee mixture in your brewer and brew as usual.
3. Garnish with whipped cream or cinnamon sticks.
Pour your coffee into a mug. If you’d like, you can top it with whipped cream, steamed milk, or cinnamon sticks. Now it’s time to enjoy your cozy drink!
Cinnamon Coffee Brewing Tips
We said before that you could use almost any method to brew cinnamon coffee, and, while that is accurate, we should mention a few caveats. Keep reading to find all the tips you’ll need to make the best cinnamon coffee!
How much cinnamon should you use?
Enough, but not too much. We’re kidding, but in the end, it does come down to taste. With some trial and error, we settled on using 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon for every 10 tablespoons of ground coffee. This isn’t set in stone, so feel free to adjust to your own taste. If you’ve never made cinnamon coffee before, this is a good starting point.
What kind of coffee should you use?
We know this might be a bit boring, but medium roast coffee is our favorite. Cinnamon is a strong flavor, and when we’re in the mood for cinnamon coffee, we typically want to taste the cinnamon front and center. A dark roast with a bold flavor can easily overpower the cinnamon.
We have tried brewing dark roast cinnamon coffee, and we didn’t love it. We even tried adding more cinnamon to compensate for the dark roast’s richness, but it didn’t balance out. Instead, we felt like we were in a cinnamon-coffee arms race and decided that we’d just stick to medium roast cinnamon coffee instead. This is our preference, but we don’t want to discourage you from trying. If you love dark roasts, then give it a shot! It might be just right for you.
Similar to dark roasts, light roasts also make a strange combination with cinnamon. The fruit-forward flavors and high acidity that usually accompany a light roast don’t mesh well with cinnamon to our palates.
Which brewing method should you choose?
The basic method for brewing cinnamon coffee is to take whatever method you usually use and simply add cinnamon to the coffee grounds. That’s it. For many brewing methods, there isn’t anything else that needs to be done. French press, pour-over with a paper filter, automatic drip, and Aeropress are all unaffected by the addition of cinnamon.
The only method we don’t recommend using to make cinnamon coffee is pour-over with a permanent, fine metal filter. We had a terrible time trying to clean the superfine ground cinnamon out of our metal filter. Ground cinnamon is extremely fine compared to even the finest ground coffee, and it gets easily stuck in permanent filters.
Our French press filter didn’t have this problem, and we think the reason is the fineness of the mesh. If you don’t mind your next several batches of coffee having cinnamon overtones, then it might be ok, but if you want to clean it entirely, you might have a hard time with a fine metal pour-over cone.
You might be wondering why we add the coffee to the grounds instead of into the cup after the brew is complete. That is a good question with a straightforward answer: we tried to make cinnamon coffee by adding cinnamon to the cup, and it was WAY too strong. The only thing we could taste was cinnamon, and it was not an enjoyable experience at all.
Finishing touches
So far, we’ve only explained how adding cinnamon to your coffee grounds can make a cinnamon-infused coffee, but there are a few extra things you can do to enhance the cinnamon’s impact further.
One of our favorite ways to get a bit more cinnamon flavor is by adding a cinnamon stick to the mug as a garnish. Smell and taste are inextricably linked, and the waft of cinnamon aroma you get from the cinnamon stick as you take a sip is delightful. And it looks cool too.
We also like to add milk and sprinkle the tiniest pinch of ground cinnamon over our mug for a faux-cappuccino effect.
Cozy Cinnamon Coffee
Equipment
- French press, pour-over, drip machine, or AeroPress
- Filter (depending on brewing method)
- Coffee cup or mug
Ingredients
- Freshly ground coffee beans
- Cinnamon
- Cinnamon sticks optional
- Whipped cream or steamed milk optional
Instructions
- Measure out your ground coffee and add a small amount of ground cinnamon. We recommend starting with just a pinch of cinnamon. You can always add more later if it's not strong enough!
- Place the cinnamon and coffee mixture in your brewer and brew as usual.
- Pour your coffee into a mug. If you'd like, you can top it with whipped cream, steamed milk, or cinnamon sticks. Now it's time to enjoy your cozy drink!
Nutrition
Conclusion
Cinnamon coffee can be great year-round but is especially nice during the cold winter months. Making cinnamon coffee doesn’t require any special equipment or gear, and, in most cases, it’s no more difficult than making a regular cup of coffee. If cinnamon comforts you as it does us, then do yourself a favor and brew up a steaming mug and give it a try. Bonus points if you’re sitting by a fire with your favorite blanket.
Try another recipe:
- How To Make Chai Tea Latte at Home
- How to Make Café de Olla at Home (With Pictures)
- How to Make a Turmeric Latte: Recipe & Pictures
- 6 Health Benefits of Cinnamon in Your Coffee!
Featured Image Credit: santarina81, Pixabay
