Hot Cinnamon Spice

First, the smell of this is incredibly divine. It’s like Red Hot candies or fireballs. My friend and I took it to have others smell it and they all said the same thing. I don’t think you could – no matter what you put in it – make anything smell more cinnamony than this.

This is the first full cinnamon tea I’ve had and I must say I enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s like hot flavored water/cinnamon. I dig adding the cloves in there to enhance but I keep tasting them too, cloves are pretty potent things and I’m not sure if they ended up taking away from the experience a little or not. I do wish I could taste more “tea” though with it, I think it would have enhanced it. Also, I couldn’t detect orange undertones. Could smell them, but not taste.

It’s not something you could drink much of in one sitting I don’t think, one cup is enough, it’s pretty strong. I think I prefer Cinnamon heavy chai mixes over straight cinnamon, but this is a winner if cinnamon is your thing, and it is mine. I’m totally obsessed with cinnamon this year – tea foods, breads, cakes, lattes, and of course TEAS!

Years ago I was addicted to a tea from Celestial Seasonings called “Cinnamon Rose.” It had a great intense cinnamon flavor, and I drank it daily. When it was discontinued I was really upset, and I bought tons of cinnamon teas trying to replace it. Bigelow cinnamon was disappointing, and while I love chai I sometimes want cinnamon by itself. They were all unsatisfactory until today! The scent in the package is intense, so I was excited! I brewed 2 tsp in a big (16 oz) mug using my infuser for 5 minutes. I tasted cautiously, and was rewarded with tons of cinnamon flavor! The tea is naturally sweet, and that is coming from someone who sweetens everything. It’s as though the cinnamon is tricking your tastebuds into tasting sweetness – at first sip it is not sweet, but leave it in your mouth for a second and the sweetness comes out. I can’t taste orange/cloves/whatever else is supposed to be here, but who cares? Cinnamon is my favorite spice, and I will be ordering this tea!

After half a cup plain I decided to see what it would be like with a touch of milk (I use 1%.) The milk actually tones down both the spice and sweetness a bit. The tea is best plain, but I think that with the addition of milk and a touch of honey this could be a fabulous desert tea (at least if you love cinnamon like I do!) I also have the green version to try, and I will have to sample the herbal. I’m so glad I put this in my first Harney and Sons order!

Killer iced tea. So sweet. So good. Yum.

Update: this tea just got even better.

I prepared it more “properly” this time. I used only 1 cup of water, rather than stretching the capacities of teabag with nearly 2 cups as I usually do. I steeped it for only 5 minutes, as is recommended. And, reluctantly, I did something that I almost never do—namely, added two tablespoons of unsweetened hemp milk to the tea.

Wow—even better! The milk really did eliminate the “sequential flavor” phenomenon. I’m sure any sort of milk (dairy or non-) would work just as well. Everything was much more blended and balanced…! Delicious _.

I really wanted to like this tea. It smells wonderful and exactly according to it’s name: a very hot and spicey cinnamon.

The taste however is something else. De artificial flavour is very apparant,and I mean very! It is probably what gives this tea it’s “red fireball taste”. Never having been a big fan of fireballs, I most assuredly do not want to drink it. The cinnamon is the second most prominent taste and – as far as I’m concerned – too prominent. On top of that, the cinnamon gives the tea a very ‘dry’ finish that is not pleasant on the tongue. The tea itself isn’t noticable at all.

I’ve tried the tea: plain, with milk, with honey and milk, throwing away the first steep and drinking only the second steep, brewed at rolling boil and just under boil. De milk softens the taste of the artifical flavour, but not to a point that it becomes something I would actually want to drink.

I’m currently deciding whether to throw the tin away or using the tea as a pot pouri of sorts…

PS: Really don’t understand the high praise for this tea. It has me quite baffled… :-(

Yum! So much amazing cinnamon scent…I got myself a tin of this as a Christmas present last year, and it’s unbelievably cozy. I have an association with drinking it during every final for the same (2-year) class…it’s a bit light on the tea taste and seems like mostly cinnamon (or, as they say on the tin, “cinnamons”) and orangey clove. I like to mix in another tea with this (like a rooibos or a green) to give it a little more body. Would probably taste really really amazing with a splash of soymilk…I’ll have to get on that.

Maannn this stuff is good. I’m not into flavored teas but this stuff hits the spot on a cold fall/winter day.

Yes, it tastes like cinnamon hearts. If you want to taste black tea then drink unflavored black tea.

I love the spice and I love, love, love the sweet clove.

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp
Additives: none
Water: 2 zarafina cups
Tool: Zarafina Black-Loose-Medium
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: cinnamon imperials
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet cinnamon bark
Flavor: syrupy sweet cinnamon candy, hints of woody bark
Body: Full
Aftertaste: warm sweet cinnamon, less bark
Liquor: translucent but dark reddish-brown

Gift from SoccerMom (YEA) in order to help me see which is the most similar to cinnamon imperials as part of my quest to take over the world…or something similar

I have had the bagged H&S black cinnamon spice at one or two restaurants before, but this was before Steepster and my desire to try all the teas and find which I like best (IMO you can’t find the best because everyone has different tastes).

The tea is very thick syrup, as if you had made cinnamon imperials into a liquid. Delicious! Though I must say the Green Hot Cinnamon is a lighter, more tea like version, it’s not as thick and not as sweet. I think each has their place.

Strangely I couldn’t find the black tea!

Post-Steep Additives: none, though i bet this would stand up to milk well. Whatever you do, do NOT add sugar as you would become diabetic on the spot.

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/harney-and-sons-loose-leaf-black-tea_13.html

I am sure I’ve reviewed this tea before, but I tried something different this time. Long story short, our Keurig died after a long (5+years) life and my wife rushed out to replace it that evening (coffee addict that she is). I picked up one of the Keurig brand brewing baskets (that thing you use for your own coffee or loose tea) and a Keurig brand, 32oz carafe. I filled the basket with probably 2 tblspoons of HCS tea…about 2/3 full, and made a full pot of tea through the Keurig. OMG! way to much tea! I ended up with the most intense cinnamon tea you’ve ever seen, so cloudy with cinnamon. So sweet that you almost (almost!) couldn’t drink it. Liquid Red-Hots candies. I cut it 50% with plain water and drank the whole pot.
What?! I didn’t say it was bad, just liquid candy :)
Lessons learned: the Kuerig worked well, the carafe kept it hot all morning, HCS is still fantastic, start smaller with the experiments!

Mmmm spicy and sweet. Lots of cinnamon flavor and spice with a subtle sweetness to it. My favorite cinnamon tea :)