Most people meet cinnamon coffee the hard way: a shake of cinnamon over a finished cup, a spoonful of grit at the bottom. The spice was never the problem. The timing was. Below: how it tastes, why it clumps, the 5% ratio we settled on, the Turkish-style method step by step, and the café de olla it is famous for.
What Does Cinnamon Coffee Taste Like?
Warm, with the spice more in the aroma than on the tongue. Cinnamon adds no sugar; it rounds out the dark chocolate of the blend.
How Lezzet Cinnamon tastes
We built our two-origin, two-roast blend specifically for the spice. The rich origin, roasted dark, gives a low-acid base of dark chocolate and nut, and cinnamon settles into it naturally. The bright origin, roasted lighter, keeps the cup lively, so the warmth never turns heavy. Then the organic cinnamon is ground in with the coffee at 5%: we tried more and less, and 5% is where it adds to the specialty-grade coffee instead of covering it.
The aroma comes first, rising from the cup before the first sip. Then a soft sweetness over the dark chocolate and nut, and a warm, gentle finish.
It pairs best with deeper roasts. The chocolate and nut notes of a dark roast and the warmth of cinnamon belong together, the same way they do in a cinnamon roll or a cup of hot chocolate with a pinch of spice.
Why Cinnamon Clumps, and How to Stop It
Ground cinnamon does not dissolve in water. Stirred into a finished cup it floats on top, clumps on the spoon and settles as grit at the bottom. Three ways around it:
- Brew it with the grounds. Mix ground cinnamon into the coffee before you add water. The filter or the settling grounds hold the powder back, and the aroma goes into the cup.
- Steep a stick. Drop a cinnamon stick into a French press or a pot of coffee for a few minutes, then lift it out.
- Start with it ground in. A coffee with cinnamon ground in alongside it spreads the spice evenly through every cup, with nothing to measure.
How Much Cinnamon to Use
Our rule of thumb is 5% of the coffee's weight. That is the ratio we settled on for Lezzet Cinnamon: enough to taste in every sip, not so much that it turns woody and dry. At home it works out to:
- One small Turkish-style cup (7 g of coffee): about ⅛ teaspoon of ground cinnamon, added to the pot.
- A drip pot (about 40 g of coffee, four mugs): about ¾ teaspoon of ground cinnamon, mixed into the grounds.
- French press: the same ¾ teaspoon, or one stick steeped with the coffee.
If you are new to it, start at half that and work up. Cinnamon gets stronger the longer it steeps.
How to Make Cinnamon Turkish Coffee
Powder-fine coffee brewed slowly in a small pot is one of the best ways to drink cinnamon coffee: the spice steeps right alongside the coffee, and the grounds settle in the cup and take the powder with them. The steps are the same as our Turkish coffee method, with the spice added.
Measure. For each cup, put about 7 g of powder-fine coffee (a heaping teaspoon) into the cezve, then 60 to 70 ml of cold water.
Add the cinnamon. About ⅛ teaspoon of ground cinnamon per cup, unless your coffee already has it ground in. Add sugar now too, if you take it.
Stir once. Stir until the powder is wet through, then leave it.
Low heat. Set the pot on the lowest heat. In a few minutes a fine foam gathers and starts to climb.
Lift it off. When the foam rises toward the rim, lift the pot off the heat.
Pour and wait. Spoon the foam into each cup first, then pour the rest. Give it a minute so the grounds settle.
The History of Cinnamon Coffee
Cinnamon is one of the oldest traded spices in the world, used in ancient Egypt and carried by merchants across the Indian Ocean long before anyone had brewed a cup of coffee. When coffee spread out of Yemen and across the Arab world in the 1500s, it moved through the same ports and markets, and cinnamon became one of the spices added to the pot, alongside cardamom and clove.
Its most famous coffee came later and much farther west. Spanish traders brought cinnamon (canela) to Mexico, and coffee followed in the late 1700s. In the countryside it was brewed in clay pots with a cinnamon stick and piloncillo, a dark unrefined cane sugar. That is café de olla, and it is closely tied to the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to 1920, when it was made by the potful over open fires for the soldiers.
Today cinnamon coffee takes three common forms:
- Café de olla: sweet, warm and made by the potful in a clay pot.
- Spiced Turkish-style coffee: made like any Turkish cup, with cinnamon added to the cezve. It is a warmer cousin of the cardamom coffee of the Middle East: the same powder-fine method, a different spice.
- The coffee-shop version: usually a latte with cinnamon syrup or a dusting on the foam. The cinnamon sits on top rather than being brewed in.
The Best Coffee for Cinnamon Coffee
Cinnamon needs depth underneath it. On a very light roast the spice tastes thin and dusty; on a darker one it settles in and the cup tastes round and warm.
That is why Lezzet Cinnamon starts with two specialty-grade arabicas, and a licensed Q Grader scored the coffee 84. The rich one grows at a lower elevation and is roasted dark for depth; the bright one grows higher and is roasted lighter to keep its lift. Each is roasted on its own, blended, and then the organic cinnamon is ground in at 5%.
It comes ground powder-fine for the cezve, so the spice is already spread through every cup. If you would rather add your own, Lezzet Traditional is the same two-roast blend without it. And if you do not own a pot yet, the Turkish Coffee Kit pairs a 12 oz stainless steel cezve with the coffee.
Cinnamon Coffee FAQ
How do you make cinnamon coffee?
Put the cinnamon in with the coffee before any water touches it. For one small cup, mix about ⅛ teaspoon of ground cinnamon into 7 g of powder-fine coffee in a small pot with 60–70 ml of cold water, stir once, warm it on low heat and lift it off when the foam rises. In a drip machine or French press, mix about ¾ teaspoon into 40 g of grounds.
What is cinnamon coffee?
Cinnamon coffee is coffee brewed with cinnamon, either a stick steeped in the pot or ground cinnamon mixed into the grounds before brewing. The spice adds a warm aroma and a soft sweetness.
How do you add cinnamon to coffee without it clumping?
Brew it with the coffee instead of stirring it into the cup. Mix ground cinnamon into the grounds before you add water, or steep a stick in the pot. Ground cinnamon does not dissolve, so stirred into a finished cup it floats, clumps and settles as grit.
Can you put ground cinnamon in coffee?
Yes, as long as it goes in with the grounds and not into the finished cup. Ground cinnamon never dissolves, so the filter or the settled grounds have to hold it back. Brewed that way you get the aroma and none of the grit.
Cinnamon stick or ground cinnamon: which is better in coffee?
Ground cinnamon gives more aroma for less spice and mixes evenly through the grounds. A stick is gentler and cleaner: drop it into a French press or a pot of coffee for a few minutes, then lift it out. In a small Turkish-style pot, ground works better, because a stick barely has time to steep.
How much cinnamon do you put in coffee?
About 5% of the coffee by weight: enough to taste, not enough to turn woody. That is about ⅛ teaspoon of ground cinnamon for one small Turkish cup (7 g of coffee), or about ¾ teaspoon for a four-mug drip pot (40 g), mixed into the grounds. Lezzet Cinnamon is blended at 5%, so add nothing.
When did people start putting cinnamon in coffee?
Cinnamon is thousands of years older than coffee, and it was one of the spices merchants already carried when coffee spread out of Yemen in the 1500s. It became one of the spices added to Arabic coffee alongside cardamom and clove, and after coffee reached Mexico in the late 1700s it became the heart of café de olla.
What is café de olla?
Café de olla is a traditional Mexican coffee brewed in a clay pot with a cinnamon stick and piloncillo, an unrefined cane sugar. It is one of the best-known cinnamon coffees in the world.
Can you make Turkish coffee with cinnamon?
Yes. Add a small pinch of ground cinnamon to the cezve with the coffee and cold water, stir once, and brew as usual. Or use a Turkish coffee with cinnamon already ground in, so the spice is spread evenly through every cup.
Is cinnamon coffee the same as a cinnamon latte?
No. A cinnamon latte is espresso and steamed milk with a cinnamon syrup or topping. Cinnamon coffee is the coffee itself brewed with the spice, black or with milk as you like it.