Spices

Zelda247

I normally buy whatever is cheap, spices from Aldi/Lidl and Super Valu own brand, however I recently bought a Goodall's Cinnamon and wow the difference the flavour was amazing, I might be buying Goodall's from now on.

Loveinapril

You should get yourself to your nearest Asian/ African food shop. The spices are incredible and so much cheaper than supermarket brands.

L1011

Age of the product is more critical than anything else - there'd be huge turnover on cinnamon in shops this time of year so it was likely very fresh, versus a year old tin you had knocking around.

Don't buy 400g bags in an Asian supermarket unless you cook in that kind of volume

Whistlejacket

Some of the cheaper cinnamons are made from cassia which is a variety of the plant that has a more bitter flavour. The more expensive stuff is ceylon cinnamon which has a nicer/sweeter flavour. Cassia sticks have a single thick layer of bark - they're the ones you see decorating Christmas wreaths etc. while ceylon sticks are softer and have more layers in them, a bit like a cigar.

But any cinnamon will lose its flavour a bit as it gets older, especially if it's powdered. Buying some sticks and blending them yourself in a spice or coffee grinder before you use them makes a big difference flavour wise.

Zelda247

The Goodall one def had the sweeter flavour.

ardsgave

Have you tried buying fresh cinnamon sticks online? http://exactresults.com/wp/restaurant/2017/03/08/cinnamonhill/ what a difference in how the freshly grated  cinnamon appeals to my senses.
<!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->