Cinnamon is one of the oldest known spices and has a pleasant, sweet flavor. It’s also one of the main ingredients in making delicious cinnamon tea. In addition to adding a kick to your tea, cinnamon also provides a plethora of health benefits.
Making cinnamon tea is very easy. All you have to do is take 8 ounces of water, add a cinnamon stick, and let it boil. Allow it to simmer for around 15 minutes before serving it with a sweetener. If you want something creamier, add a dash of cream or milk.
If you’ve never made cinnamon tea before or aren’t satisfied with how yours turns out, don’t worry. Let’s look at the ingredients you need, the additions you can make to it to make it more flavorful, and other flavors that complement cinnamon. We’ll also look at all the benefits you can expect.
What Ingredients Do You Need to Make Cinnamon Tea?

Making cinnamon tea is easy and essentially involves three ingredients: water, cinnamon sticks, and sweetener.
You can choose from two kinds of cinnamon: cassia and Ceylon. The former is the most common variety, usually available in supermarkets and originated in China.
It’s pretty cheap and has a brown-red color that gives the drink its signature color. Meanwhile, Ceylon comes from some parts of India and Sri Lanka. It’s softer than cassia, but it’s also more expensive.
It’s important to note that the cassia variety can be toxic if taken in large amounts. It contains coumarin, which can be toxic in large doses. Even up to 2 teaspoons of cassia cinnamon daily can lead to an overdose, harm the liver, or increase cancer risk. So if you’re going to drink cinnamon tea very frequently, you should use Ceylon cinnamon.
Also, note that the sweetener isn’t a necessity, but you can add it if you like. You can use honey, maple syrup, granulated white sugar, or any other sweetener. You can also use any of these sweeteners to whip up some simple syrup.
How to Make Cinnamon Tea
To make cinnamon tea, fill up a pot with 8 ounces of water, add a cinnamon stick, and put it on the stove. Cover the pot, let it boil, and then let it simmer for around 15 minutes. Next, pour the tea into a glass with cinnamon sticks and serve it with honey or sugar.
Alternatively, you can use a tea kettle to make tea. The process is pretty much the same—heat the water in a kettle, add cinnamon sticks, let them steep for around 10 minutes, and serve with a sweetener.
Tips to Keep in Mind
To make your tea as flavorful as possible, here are some tips you should keep in mind:
- Your tea will become stronger the more cinnamon sticks you use. There’s also no correct ratio—you can add as much or as little as you like.
- Avoid using ground cinnamon to make cinnamon tea. Instead, for more flavor, you should break the cinnamon stick into pieces before steeping it.
- Add warm milk, cream, or some dairy-free alternative to make the tea creamier. Alternatively, you can squeeze lime or lemon to add a more citrusy flavor.
- You can also try iced cinnamon tea as a great pick-me-up in the morning. Just add ice to the tea you brewed or make it ahead of time and store it in the fridge so that you can enjoy it later.
Note: If you take medicines for diabetes or other medicines that affect insulin or blood glucose levels, ask your healthcare provider first before taking cinnamon. This is because cinnamon can act as an additive and lower blood glucose levels when combined with some medicines. Some people also experience allergic reactions to herbal tea with cinnamon, like dermatitis, so be careful.
What are the Health Benefits of Cinnamon?

Cinnamon is rich in beneficial compounds that promise numerous health benefits. For instance, they reduce blood sugar levels and inflammation, make menstrual cramps less painful, improve heart health, and help with weight loss. Let’s look at the benefits of cinnamon in more detail.
Rich in Antioxidants
Antioxidants help prevent oxidation due to free radicals. However, these molecules damage the cells and lead to diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
In particular, cinnamon is rich in polyphenols. According to a study that compared the antioxidant activity of 26 spices, the only spices that outrank cinnamon are oregano and cloves.
Research also shows that drinking cinnamon tea increases the total antioxidant capacity or TAC, which is essentially a measure of how many free radicals the body can fight off.
Reduces Inflammation
As per test-tube studies, compounds present in cinnamon might reduce inflammation markers. This can be helpful since inflammation is the cause of a lot of chronic diseases, such as heart disease.
In addition, some studies also suggest that cinnamon can reduce bad or LDL cholesterol and triglyceride in individuals and even reduce blood pressure in some.
At the same time, it can increase good or HDL cholesterol, which helps improve heart health by eliminating excess cholesterol in your blood vessels. According to a review, even just 120 mg of cinnamon can help you get these benefits.
In particular, cassia cinnamon is rich in coumarins, a compound that helps prevent the blood vessels from narrowing and protects against blood clots. However, as mentioned earlier, excess coumarins can reduce liver function, so make sure you don’t consume too much.
Can Help Lower Blood Sugar
Cinnamon can also function as a powerful anti-diabetic and lower blood sugar levels. It acts almost like insulin, which is responsible for transporting sugar from your bloodstream to your tissues. Compounds in cinnamon also lower insulin resistance, lowering blood sugar levels and increasing insulin’s effectiveness.
The spice also slows down carb breakdown in your gut and prevents blood sugar levels from spiking when you eat.
Might Promote Weight Loss
Cinnamon tea is believed to help with weight loss. Studies also suggest cinnamon can reduce waist circumference and promote weight loss. However, only some of these studies accounted for calorie intake and didn’t distinguish between muscle and fat loss. So it’s challenging to attribute weight loss to just cinnamon.
One study that controlled these factors reported a 0.7% loss in fat mass and a 1.1% gain in muscle mass after taking five teaspoons of cinnamon every day for three months.
However, such high amounts of cinnamon can be dangerous, and further research is needed to determine if weight loss also happens in lower dosages, such as those in cinnamon tea.
Helps Fight Fungi and Bacteria
Cinnamon is also known for its potent antibacterial and antifungal properties. In addition, according to test-tube research, cinnamaldehyde, the active compound in cinnamon, helps prevent the growth of molds, fungi, and bacteria, including E.coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus, which is known for causing illnesses in humans.
The spice’s antibacterial effects can also help prevent tooth decay and reduce bad breath.
Helps Manage PMS Symptoms and Cramps
Another benefit of cinnamon tea is it makes menstrual symptoms such as dysmenorrhea and PMS more bearable. In a well-controlled study, women were either given a placebo or 3 grams of cinnamon for the first three days of their cycle.
Those in the cinnamon group experienced less pain than those who got the placebo.
Some evidence also suggests that cinnamon might reduce nausea severity, frequency of vomiting, and menstrual bleeding during their periods.
Other Benefits
In addition to the benefits mentioned above, other benefits you can expect from cinnamon include the following:
- It can help slow down skin aging. According to studies, cinnamon can promote the formation of collagen and increase hydration and skin elasticity. These can reduce signs of aging.
- It might also have anti-cancer properties. As per test-tube research, cinnamon extracts help kill certain kinds of cancer cells, like cancer cells.
- The spice can help preserve brain function, too. For example, animal and test-tube research suggest that cinnamon can protect the brain cells from Alzheimer’s and improve motor function in individuals with Parkinson’s.
- It might also help fight HIV. According to test-tube studies, cinnamon extract can help fight common strains of HIV in humans.
- It may also reduce acne since research suggests spice can fight acne-causing bacteria.
Can You Add Cinnamon to Your Tea?

Cinnamon is often used in masala chai to enhance its flavor, but you can add it to nearly all other teas if you like its taste. For instance, add it to milk tea to have a warm, cozy drink, especially when it’s cold outside. Similarly, you can add it to decaffeinated black tea, green tea, or even ginger tea.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different teas and see if you like the addition of cinnamon to it.
What Other Flavors Go Best with Cinnamon?
Black tea goes great with cinnamon. You can soak the cinnamon stick with the tea bags and add more dimension to your drink. Or, if you want herbal tea, you can try honeybush or rooibos tea instead.
Other flavors that go well with cinnamon include fresh ginger, which gives a spicy kick and counters the slight sweetness of cinnamon; lemon, which adds a zing; and nutmeg, whose nutty, sweet flavor complements cinnamon well. You can also get a flavor boost with black pepper and a little bit of turmeric.