Cinnamon Syrup
Cinnamon syrup is white sugar and water, 1:1 by weight, steeped with cracked cassia bark; the house batch keeps one week in the fridge. Cassia, the thick cinnamon most supermarkets sell, gives the warm, sweet heat tiki recipes expect. Our Jet Pilot and Ginger Snap each use 15ml, and one part of it to two of grapefruit juice makes Donn’s Mix.
Quick Facts
Strain into a clean bottle and refrigerate. Keep the bark out of the finished syrup or it will keep extracting and turn harsh.
None of the 14 listed allergens.
About Cinnamon Syrup
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Clean sugar sweetness carrying a proper cassia glow: warm, slightly woody, with a gentle heat that lingers rather than burns.
Cassia steeped in a 1:1 syrup
The house recipe warms 250g of white sugar in 250g of water until clear, then three or four cassia sticks, cracked, held at a gentle simmer for a couple of minutes. An hour off the heat does the rest before every piece of bark is strained out. It yields about 400ml and keeps one week refrigerated. Published versions vary: Punch prints the Zombie’s syrup with a single 5cm piece of bark left overnight, so a borrowed recipe may run weaker or stronger than ours.
Cassia is the bark tiki was written around
Two barks sell as cinnamon. Cassia is thick and hard and rolls into one heavy curl; Ceylon is thin and papery and layers like a cigar. Cassia’s heat is louder and sweeter, which is what a drink holding grapefruit and three rums needs, and Ceylon’s gentler scent fades once citrus arrives.
Cinnamon syrup against the syrups it is swapped with
Cinnamon syrup
- Ratio by weight
- 1:1 sugar to water, with cassia
- Flavour
- Warm cinnamon heat
- Keeps, refrigerated
- One week
- In our drinks
- Jet Pilot, Ginger Snap
Simple syrup
- Ratio by weight
- 1:1
- Flavour
- Sweet only
- Keeps, refrigerated
- Two weeks
- In our drinks
- Dozens of sours
Demerara syrup
- Ratio by weight
- 2:1
- Flavour
- Caramel
- Keeps, refrigerated
- One month
- In our drinks
- Old Fashioned styles
Donn’s Mix
- Ratio by weight
- Two parts grapefruit to one cinnamon syrup, by volume
- Flavour
- Bitter citrus and spice
- Keeps, refrigerated
- The same day
- In our drinks
- Zombie
| Syrup | Ratio by weight | Flavour | Keeps, refrigerated | In our drinks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cinnamon syrup | 1:1 sugar to water, with cassia | Warm cinnamon heat | One week | Jet Pilot, Ginger Snap |
| Simple syrup | 1:1 | Sweet only | Two weeks | Dozens of sours |
| Demerara syrup | 2:1 | Caramel | One month | Old Fashioned styles |
| Donn’s Mix | Two parts grapefruit to one cinnamon syrup, by volume | Bitter citrus and spice | The same day | Zombie |
Two of our drinks pour it at 15ml
The Jet Pilot sets it against grapefruit juice, which makes the cinnamon read as spice rather than sweetness, alongside three rums, lime and falernum. The Ginger Snap puts it with bourbon, lemon and ginger beer. Mixed with grapefruit ahead of service, it becomes Donn’s Mix.
Bark left in the bottle turns it harsh
Cassia keeps giving up tannin as long as it sits in liquid, so a stick left in the bottle as decoration makes the syrup bitter and drying within days. Strain it all out, through a fine sieve, before the syrup goes into a clean bottle with the date on the label.
Using Cinnamon Syrup
Usage
Shaken at 15ml where a drink wants warmth as well as sugar: the Jet Pilot, against lime, grapefruit and three rums, and the Ginger Snap, with bourbon, lemon and ginger beer. Mixed one to two with grapefruit juice it becomes Donn’s Mix.
House Recipe
Ingredients
- 250g caster or granulated sugar
- 250g water (250ml)
- 3 or 4 cassia sticks, cracked
Method
- Warm the water and sugar together, stirring until dissolved.
- Add the cracked cassia and hold it at a gentle simmer for a couple of minutes; a hard boil pulls bitter tannin from the bark.
- Take it off the heat and leave it to steep for an hour.
- Strain out all the bark, cool, bottle and label with the date.
Food safety
Refrigerate it from the day it is made. Bark left in the bottle keeps extracting and turns it harsh. Pour it away if it clouds, fizzes or grows mould.
Pro Tip
Taste the syrup after half an hour of steeping as well as at the hour. Cassia varies from jar to jar, and a strong bark can be strained early.
Top Tips
- Crack the sticks before they go in; more broken surface gives a faster, fuller steep.
- Hold it at a gentle simmer, not a boil, which pulls bitter tannin from the bark.
- Strain out every piece of bark before bottling.
- Label it. In the fridge it looks like plain syrup and does not swap for it.
Possible Substitutions
- Falernum: softer and rounder, trading cinnamon heat for lime, clove and almond
- Demerara Syrup: with a little ground cinnamon shaken in: an emergency stand-in
Production Method
White sugar dissolved in an equal weight of water, held briefly at a gentle simmer with cracked cassia sticks, steeped for an hour and strained.
More to explore
Common Questions
How do you make cinnamon syrup?
How long does homemade cinnamon syrup last?
Should I use cassia or Ceylon cinnamon?
Can I use ground cinnamon to make cinnamon syrup?
What cocktails use cinnamon syrup?
What can I use instead of cinnamon syrup?
Made with Cinnamon Syrup
Featured In These Cocktails
Often Used With
Updated 17 October 2026