From here on out, your life will be split into two periods: the time before you read this article and the time after. Before, you were young and naive, an amateur in the world of cinnamon. After, well, after you read this, you’re going to be a cinnamon professional, a walking, talking cinnamon encyclopedia. You’ll know that all cinnamon isn’t the same. That there are different types of cinnamon that originate from and grow in different places. And they all taste a bit different from one another.
Cinnamon is separated into two main categories: cassia cinnamon and Ceylon cinnamon. While both are harvested in sheets found beneath the bark of trees belonging to the same scientific family, they produce distinctly different products. The two types of cinnamon are differentiated by the way they are harvested, their taste, their smell, and the chemical compounds found within them. Let’s start with the most commonly available version: cassia cinnamon.
Cassia cinnamon is what you probably know as cinnamon, the ground red-brown powder that’s found in spice cabinets and suburban grocery stores across the country and the world. Before it's ground, when it's in bark-like form, cassia cinnamon is rougher in texture, darker in color, and rolled in thicker sheets than Ceylon cinnamon. Cassia cinnamon’s potency is what made it the go-to for home cooks and industrial producers—it has a more intense flavor, so a little bit of that special powder goes a long way.
There are three specific types of cassia cinnamon—Indonesian, Chinese, and Saigon—all with different levels of flavor and situations that they are best suited for. Indonesian cassia is the sweetest and most mild of the cassia cinnamons, and is the most common in America. Chinese cassia, on the other hand has a strong, bitter flavor. Chinese cassia isn’t as common in the States, and is mainly used medicinally in China. And then there’s Saigon cassia, which is intensely fragrant and flavorful, almost spicy, and generally our preferred cassia variety.
