What is cinnamon tea?

Cinnamon tea is a disposable teabag made from cinnamon. Simply steep the teabag in hot water for 1-2 minutes to enjoy the unique taste and aroma of cinnamon. Drinking cinnamon tea leaves your mouth and throat feeling refreshed due to its spicy and cooling sensation, and the rich sweet taste and aroma provide a pleasant feeling. Cinnamon tea is an excellent healthy tea, enjoyable tea, and social tea due to its wonderful flavor and fragrance. If you leave your teacup on your desk after finishing, you can enjoy the sweet cinnamon scent all day long. Here is a brief introduction to cinnamon, the ingredient in cinnamon tea.

Cinnamon

As can be felt in sujeonggwa (cinnamon punch) and ssanghwatang, the taste and aroma of cinnamon provide a refreshing sensation to both the sense of taste and smell. Therefore, it has been widely used as a spice, seasoning, fragrance, and health ingredient in both the East and the West for a long time. Cinnamon is even considered one of the three major spices in the world, alongside cloves and black pepper. In ancient times, cinnamon was such a high-end spice in the Middle East, Egypt, and Europe that only the highest authorities could use it, and it remained an extremely expensive and rare commodity even until the European Middle Ages. According to the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD), the price of 327g of cinnamon in his time was equivalent to the wages of a rural laborer for 50 months.

The aroma of cinnamon is so long-lasting that it can be detected in artifacts from thousands of years ago. This is why cinnamon scent is sometimes used as a middle note when blending fragrances for perfume. Brewing cinnamon tea and inhaling its deep aroma leaves one feeling mentally clear.

Botanically, cinnamon is the bark of trees belonging to the genus Cinnamomum. There are about 300 species of Cinnamomum trees distributed worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions. Cinnamon, as a general, commercial, or health-related term, is a collective term referring to the bark of cinnamon trees (rougui) and their related species among those 300 types of Cinnamomum trees.

Etymology of the name "Cinnamon" (Gye-pi)

In Chinese characters, Gye-pi (桂皮) means the bark (皮) of Gye (桂). While Gye (桂) refers to the katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), Gye-pi is not the bark of the Korean katsura tree, but the bark of a tree called rougui (肉桂) in China. The character Gye (桂) was originally created because of the leaf vein characteristics of the rougui tree. The shape of the main vein and the left and right side veins of the leaf resembled the 'Gui' (圭) character used at the time the character was created. Gui (圭) is a fan-shaped tool used to write the order of weddings or sacrificial rites. It was formed as Tree (木) + Gui (圭) => Gye (桂). The photo below shows the leaves of the rougui tree.

The photo below shows the appearance of the rougui bark before harvesting.

Types of Cinnamon

There are 5 famous types of cinnamon that are commercially cultivated and distributed globally. First, Chinese Cinnamon, known by the nickname "Cassia," which has the highest global distribution volume and is primarily produced in China. Second, Ceylon Cinnamon, known as "True Cinnamon," produced in Sri Lanka. Third, Indonesian Cinnamon, known as "Padang Cassia," produced in Indonesia. Fourth, Saigon Cinnamon, produced in Vietnam, which has the strongest scent among all types of cinnamon. Fifth, Indian Cinnamon, produced in India, Bhutan, and Nepal, whose leaves are more famous than the cinnamon itself. These 5 types of cinnamon differ in taste and aroma.

Cinnamon produced in Indonesia, China, and Vietnam has thick and hard bark, making it difficult to grind in a coffee grinder. In contrast, cinnamon produced in Sri Lanka and India has thin and soft bark, making it easy to grind into a powder in a coffee grinder. As of 2020, cinnamon produced in Indonesia, China, and Vietnam accounts for 88% of the world's cinnamon production, while only about 10% is produced in Sri Lanka. Indonesia is the world's largest cinnamon producer, accounting for 40% of global production, and Indonesian cinnamon dominates the low-priced cinnamon market.

Indonesian, Chinese, and Saigon cinnamon have the advantage of a very strong spicy taste and stimulating aroma, but the disadvantage of being difficult to powder in a coffee grinder. On the other hand, Ceylon cinnamon has a weaker scent but offers a variety of subtle aromas, is easy to grind, has the advantage of rolling into a circle like a cookie, and is recognized as a high-quality cinnamon due to its stronger sweetness. A single piece of rolled cinnamon is called a Cinnamon Quill or Cinnamon Stick in English. The photo below shows Chinese cinnamon and Ceylon cinnamon.

Origin and History of Cinnamon

The origin of the cinnamon trees (rougui) that provide cinnamon is the tropical and subtropical region extending from southern China through the southern Himalayas to Sri Lanka in southern India. Cinnamon is such an ancient spice that the first time humanity used it dates back to before 2800 BC. The character Gye (桂) for the tree that provides cinnamon first appeared in records in 2800 BC. Cinnamon was used as a seasoning before the Qin Dynasty of China (9th century BC – 207 BC), cinnamon oil was used in Indian Ayurvedic traditional medicine, cinnamon oil was used for mummies in Egypt around 500 BC, Greeks and Romans used cinnamon in their cooking, and cinnamon is even mentioned in the Christian Bible.

When cinnamon was first introduced to the Mediterranean coast, it was an incredibly expensive and rare item, used only for tributes to kings or offerings to gods, and could not be used by ordinary people. In 612 BC, the poet Sappho, who was born in ancient Greece, mentioned cinnamon in her poetry. Although many scholars after Sappho mentioned the rare commodity of cinnamon, they did not know its origin, so only the legend of the cinnamon bird—which says "a bird brings cinnamon from an unknown world to build its nest"—remained in the records. In the days when the East and the West were isolated, cinnamon produced in the East was a legendary existence in the West.

Around 1270, the Persian geographer Zakariya al-Qazwini (1203–1283) recorded in his book that Sri Lanka was the source of cinnamon, revealing the production site of cinnamon for the first time. Later, Venetians in Italy monopolized the sale of cinnamon imported from the East to Europe, and as the Age of Discovery and the colonial era opened, many European companies introduced cinnamon from the East to Europe in large quantities. East India Companies during the colonial era played a major role in the popularization of cinnamon in Europe.

Korea also has trees that can produce cinnamon. The Cinnamomum japonicum (yabunikkei) tree, which can produce cinnamon, grows wild in Jeonnam and Jeju Island. While it is unknown when this tree was introduced to our land, it is currently protected as a Natural Monument by the state. Cinnamon obtained from Cinnamomum japonicum is also called "Japanese cinnamon." Currently, all cinnamon used in Korea is imported from Vietnam and China.

Composition of Cinnamon

Below is a general composition table of cinnamon from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dry weight basis means the content ratio is determined after removing moisture.

General composition analysis table of cinnamon powder (USDA, 2022, dry weight basis, 247kcal / 10.6% moisture, 100g of cinnamon powder)

It is characteristic that despite being tree bark, cinnamon has a relatively low dietary fiber content and a high carbohydrate content that includes polysaccharides. Since the total sugar content is not high, it can be seen that free sucrose, glucose, and fructose are not the direct cause of the sweetness found in cinnamon. I will introduce only a few of the important, special, and trace components contained in cinnamon.

Cinnamon is considered a food with a warm nature.

The product supplier is Onyudam (CEOs: Yoon Seong-hyun, Jo Su-in) and the manufacturer is Hapcheon Herbal Medicine Processing Farming Association (CEO: Baek Moon-gi). While running a health herb farm with his parents for over 20 years, CEO Baek established the Hapcheon Herbal Medicine Processing Farming Association in 1996, built a processing plant the following year, received the $500,000 Export Tower award for the first time in 2003, and served as the 17th-18th chairman of the Korea Herbal Medicine Association.

The Hapcheon Herbal Medicine Processing Farming Association cultivates over 60 types of health-promoting plants, including chrysanthemum, hydrangea, mulberry, persimmon, peony, achyranthes, safflower, motherwort, schisandra, goji berry, cornelian cherry, astragalus, green tea, actinidia, and bellflower, in Hapcheon-eup, Hapcheon-gun, where the association is located, and uses them as raw materials for health teas. The Hapcheon Herbal Medicine Processing Farming Association sells its produced products through domestic and international sales channels and also supplies products to other companies through OEM manufacturing.

The Hapcheon Herbal Medicine Processing Farming Association received the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Award in 2002, registered the trademark 'Sangrime' in 2007, received the international food safety standard certification ISO22000 in 2015, was registered as a venture company in the same year, patented a manufacturing method for bellflower tea in 2017, received the MFDS Food Safety Management System certification HACCP (No. 2018-2-9156) in 2018, and received organic certification (No. 17100199) for chrysanthemum crops in 2019, establishing itself as a small but strong company. A brief introduction to the Hapcheon Herbal Medicine Processing Farming Association is provided below.

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