In many Indonesian dishes and drinks, cinnamon is used to accentuate the flavor with its peppery-sweet taste, and is generally used to enhance the presentation of the food or drink.
Peeled cinnamon looks like a cigarette, thinly rolled to perfection. The source is the lush cassia groves, with their lofty trees topped with fiery pink leaves. Lines of cinnamon trees are part of panoramic views in highland Sumatra and Java, and some villages will even allow visitors to see the process of making the cinnamon peels.