To Level Up Sweet Tea, Add A Pinch Of A Cinnamon
Iced sweet tea with a hint of warm, cinnamon flavor is the perfect transitional drink from summer to fall. A pinch of cinnamon not only levels up your sweet tea experience but makes for a festive, seasonally appropriate drink option if you live somewhere where autumn is still considerably warmer. Cinnamon sweet tea is a refreshing, spiced, sweetened drink that pairs well with other fall dishes such as apple pie or autumnal soups. The cinnamon makes for a great addition to balance out the sweetness of the tea and make for a more balanced beverage. The best part is it's just as easy to make as your regular old sweet tea.
To make cinnamon sweet tea, you'll start with a traditional sweet tea recipe. You can make the sweet tea base however you please. Then, when it comes time to add in the cinnamon, you have a couple of options. If you want a lighter cinnamon flavor you may just want to add a pinch of powdered cinnamon to your mix and allow it to thoroughly emulsify. However, if you want to highlight the cinnamon flavor, you may want to add whole cinnamon sticks to your tea and let them steep with the tea bags. If you don't have access to cinnamon sticks, you can opt to steep cinnamon tea bags with your regular tea bags to get a balanced cinnamon flavor.
Additional upgrades for your cinnamon sweet tea
You can experiment with adding other spices to your tea blend that pair well with cinnamon. If you're looking for inspiration, think about the common spices that go into chai. This includes things such as ginger, clove, cardamom, and star anise. Each of these spices has its own unique flavor profile that can bring new and unique flavors to your average sweet tea. Clove is one of the most popular additions to cinnamon sweet tea and will bring a slightly bitter, almost spicy flavor to your sweet tea that's similar to a mulled wine. This cuts through the sweetness of sweet tea and is a great addition if you prefer your sweet tea to be less sweetened.
Another popular addition to cinnamon sweet tea is lemon. Lemon brings in a punch of acidity to heighten the flavors of the tea itself, and the cinnamon. This creates a stronger balance in your beverage. You can either add whole slices of lemon or lemon juice, depending on how strong you wish the lemon flavor to be. As a bonus, cinnamon and lemon have an array of health benefits. Lemon has been shown to improve digestion and help with a sore throat. Cinnamon is excellent for aiding your body in absorbing nutrients and is a natural anti-inflammatory ingredient.