Cinnamon Spiced Coffee
A pot of filter coffee with warm cinnamon and a hint of cardamom and nutmeg brewed straight in. The spice goes into the grounds, not the mug, so the paper catches the grit and you get the flavour without the sludge.
At a glance
- Coffee : water
- 1:16
- Active time
- 3 min
- Total time
- 8 min
- Makes
- 4 mugs
- Serve
- Hot
- Kit
- Drip machine
Ingredients
Note: Or buy a ready-made coffee spice blend and use a teaspoon and a half per litre.
Method
-
Mix the spice into the grounds
Put the ground coffee in the filter and sprinkle the spices over it. Stir them through with a teaspoon so they are evenly mixed.
Spice in one clump on top tastes strong in the first cup and absent in the last.
-
Brew as normal
Run the machine, or pour over by hand, exactly as you normally would. The paper filter holds back the spice particles.
5 minutes -
Pour and serve
Pour into mugs and drink black, or with a splash of milk and a little honey, which suit the spices.
Why this works
Ground cinnamon does not dissolve in coffee. Stirred into a mug, it floats, clumps and settles as a gritty layer at the bottom, and it gives up surprisingly little flavour in the process. Mixed into the grounds before brewing, it is extracted along with the coffee by hot water passing through, and the paper filter holds the powder back. The coffee comes out clear and evenly spiced.
Cinnamon's main flavour compound, cinnamaldehyde, is an aromatic oil that dissolves better in hot water than cold, and better still when it is spread through the bed of coffee grounds rather than sitting in a clump. The coffee's own oils help carry it. Cardamom brings 1,8-cineole, a cool, eucalyptus note that lifts the cinnamon's warmth, and nutmeg adds depth.
Ceylon cinnamon is the better choice for daily use. It is softer and more floral than cassia, the common supermarket kind, and contains much less coumarin, which health authorities suggest limiting in regular large amounts.
The dose is a teaspoon of cinnamon per litre. More turns the coffee dusty and slightly astringent, because cinnamon also contains tannins. This is the simplest of the cinnamon methods. For a sweet cinnamon latte, see hot cinnamon coffee. For an iced version, iced cinnamon coffee steeps sticks in cold brew.
Variations
- Chai-spiced: add a pinch of ground ginger and a pinch of black pepper.
- With cloves: two cloves crushed into the grounds, strong and warming.
- French press: stir the spices into the grounds in the press. A paper filter afterwards removes the fine grit.
- With orange: a strip of zest in the filter, close to orange cinnamon coffee.
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Questions
Can you put cinnamon in coffee grounds?
Yes, and it is the best way. Mix ground cinnamon into the grounds before brewing and the paper filter catches the powder.
How much cinnamon in coffee grounds?
About one teaspoon per litre of water. More tastes dusty.
Why does cinnamon clump in coffee?
Ground cinnamon does not dissolve in water. It floats and clumps when stirred into a cup. Brewing it with the grounds avoids that.
Will cinnamon clog my coffee machine?
Not if it is mixed through the grounds in a paper filter. Avoid it in machines with fine metal filters or espresso baskets.