Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is what ceylon cinnamon is supposed to taste like & look like. We’ve been enjoying it! It compared fairly indistinguishable from the Whole Foods brand Organic Fair Trade Ceylon cinnamon I had previously. But please read, because many people don’t know what to expect with ceylon cinnamon, and are dissatisfied because it’s not what they expect! One review I saw even claimed to know what good ceylon cinnamon is supposed to be like because of stuff they purchased from a different company, but then gave tell-tale signs that the stuff from the other company was cassia cinnamon being passed off fraudulently as ceylon (which is all too common.) They described it as darker reddish brown, which is a tell-tale sign that it is cassia, not ceylon. TLDR: Ya’all are confused about ceylon cinnamon. Ceylon cinnamon should not have a strong flavor, should not give “spicy heat” like cassia cinnamon, and should be a lighter tan brown color, not a dark reddish brown color. It also should have much lower coumarin content (thus being safer to eat in large quantities), and some people describe the flavor as having a complex, delicate, slightly floral aroma. These are signs that the company is being *honest* with you, and giving real ceylon cinnamon (species Cinnamomum verum), and not mixing it with the cheaper, but stronger tasting, cassia cinnamon. These are NOT signs of it being old or poor quality, or “leaching of oils from steam sanitizing the sticks,” which was that reviewer’s theory on why it didn’t have the strong flavor they were expecting. Understandable, but you’ve been duped by people passing cassia off as ceylon. Some companies claim they are selling ceylon but mix it with or just give straight cassia cinnamon (because consumers may have a vague idea that ceylon is desirable, but not be clear on what to expect from it, and people tend to give the stronger flavor and color of cassia better reviews.) If you want the strong flavor & color of cassia cinnamon, and don’t mind the coumarin content, just buy cassia cinnamon. Don’t expect ceylon cinnamon to taste or look like cassia cinnamon! If you want to really know what ground ceylon cinnamon should taste & look like, buy ceylon sticks & then grind one yourself. Then you will better know how to judge if powder is real ceylon. Ceylon sticks are easy to tell apart from cassia sticks. Ceylon sticks are lots of thin layers of bark rolled up together (which you can see looking at the end of the stick, it will have lots of thin layers packed in there), and they are soft & crumbly, and easy to break with your hands, and really easy to grind up in a a coffee grinder. Cassia cinnamon sticks are a thicker layer of bark rolled up, so that makes them more hollow looking when you look at the end, they don’t crumble easily, and are harder to grind. Cassia sticks will also tend to have a stronger smell & flavor, and darker more reddish brown color. When you grind up a ceylon stick, you will get a light, more tan brown colored powder, compared to the darker reddish brown of cassia. Ceylon will have a light aroma & taste, not a strong one. That is the nature of real ceylon cinnamon. If I had been expecting this to be like cassia cinnamon, I would have been very disappointed. But if you know the differences, and want something with lower coumarin content, you may find that you really come to appreciate the unique, light, but delicious flavor of ceylon cinnamon. And some people like to consume it in large quantities, looking for health benefits, and if that is you, you’ll want to make sure you are getting real ceylon cinnamon, not cassia cinnamon! Pictures: The first shows the color difference between this product & Kirkland’s “Saigon” cinnamon, which is cassia cinnamon. You can tell this U.S. Wellness Naturals brand has the lighter tan color of true ceylon cinnamon (species Cinnamomum verum). The second picture shows what is left of my Whole Foods brand ceylon cinnamon inside the glass bottle, next to this product on the paper towel, in order to show the similar color of the two ceylon cinnamons, contrasted against the darker reddish brown of the cassia cinnamon on the paper towel. The third picture shows real ceylon cinnamon sticks in a blue cup, and the fourth picture shows cassia cinnamon sticks in the yellow cup, so if you decide to find ceylon sticks to grind up and do a comparison, you know what to look for. Enjoy! (I am not a fake reviewer, I’m just tired of all the confusion. It’s annoying to see actually honest sellers get bad reviews because people don’t understand the differences between the two species of cinnamon, and dishonest sellers get rewarded for giving people cheaper cassia cinnamon while claiming it is ceylon! That can be dangerous for people that eat it in large quantities hoping for health benefits, thinking they are eating the stuff with lower coumarin content!)