Customer Reviews

SweetLeaf All Natural Zero Calories SteviaPlus, 100 Packets, 3.5 Ounce Boxes (Pack of 2)

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Postives:

1.The price is right. Stores in my area charge $14.95 per package. Right now Amazon's price is half that.

2.It is sweet.

Negative:

1. The first package contained small brittle pieces which dissolved easily. The other dozen I've opened have one piece which has the consistency of taffy and does not dissolve with ease. Makes no sense why this would be the case but it is.

Personal opinion:

To me, the taste is so-so. Take a lot to sweeten a 32 oz smoothie. The licorice taste is detectable even if you use small amounts. I like licorice (a lot) but not in the background of everything I sweeten.

I'm not using what I bought but others might find the product to be wonderful. Especially if you absolutely must restrict your intake of sugars. It is very popular in Japan and growing in popularity in the USA. It could be exactly what you are looking for and it certainly is better than any near zero calorie alternatives I've found. I would suggest trying one packet someplace before buying 200 of them.

10-11-06 Update: Wisdom Natural Brands saw this review, emailed me and said they will replace any box which contains hard packages. Because of the weather, they had some product which absorbed water making the Stevia, as I mentioned above, taffy-like. A limited problem apparently. Doesn't affect quality or taste, just makes the product slower to dissolve. Didn't take the company up on the offer as the product is usable, the price was good and the relatives I gave it to like it a lot (one has to restrict sugar..a couple others of us should...).

I bought these as a supplement for the larger containers of plain Stevia, which I use most of the time, and is much more concentrated than these packets. Despite the difficulty dissolving the powder, I am satisfied, because this stuff tastes better than the pink or blue packets of sweetener. (and gives me no weird side effects) In fact, it beats them by miles, adding a light, sweet taste which enhances and doesn't mask the taste of my tea.

It is different than most other sweeteners, if if you don't know the following, you will probably hate this stuff:

1. The fiber seems to be more of a pain than a benefit. As my bulk Stevia has no problem dissolving (at all), I presume that the fiber is the culprit which makes this product a little difficult to use. There are different methods of dissolving this, but it will take a LOT more stirring than "Sweet and Splendid" or whatever you have used before.

2. These packets have the sweetening power of a sugar packet, more or less. If you are used to some other no-calorie sweetener, you will need to use a couple of packets to get the level of sweetening you are used to. However, because the Stevia doesn't mask the taste of your beverage, you might find that using a smaller amount is more than satisfactory. (I don't know if the person tasting licorice got a bad batch, because I've been using this for a long time and never tasted anything but sweetness)

As people all over the world use this dietary supplement without problems, I feel comfortable using it in my beverages. If I were pregnant, I would not use this or any other sweetener except sugar. That's a moot point anyway, because when I was pregnant, my docs forbade the use of tea or coffee, which would be the reason for using these packets in the first place. I defnitely would not give this to children because it is not totally recognized as safe. Besides, children generally have no need to use artificial sweeteners of any kind. (If my child was diabetic, that would be another story. I would consult with the child's doctor, who would hopefully "bless" this stuff, which seems to have far fewer problems than the sweeteners in the other packets.

The upshot is -- these are convenient for travel, and the foil packets seem to have solved the "hard as a rock" problem. Stevia is slightly different than other sweeteners, and needs more stirring to dissolve. Give plain bulk Stevia a try for home use. It is much more concentrated, and because it doesn't have fiber, it dissolves instantly.

Sorry for all the "I" and "me" statements in this review. Normally, there is other information one can refer to, even when writing an opinion. However, there doesn't seem to be much information out there, except for that published by people selling Stevia, who aren't the most objective people. The rest of the info I have found is anecdotal, like my review, and cannot substitute for good, double-blind studies. I believe that Stevia is safe, especially in reasonable quantities (a teaspoon or two a day). Until some definitive studies prove the safety of Stevia, I wouldn't use it in the huge quantities of sweeteners that Americans use each day.

Stevia is a great product. We use it in tea instead of sugar. We have researched many natural substitutes and found only Stevia to be without any side effects. New Season's store sells 100 pack box for $12 which is double of Amazon's price.

I think this is an excellent product. Something is seriously wrong when the FDA blocks widespread information about this product considering the increasing American "girth" factor (me included). Can we say Sugar Industry and Pharmaceutical political influence peddling???

I couldn't use the standard products available for some reason. Nutrasweet would make all my joints hurt and if I ate more than two servings of it I literally could not move it hurt so bad.

I thought Splenda would be a good alternate and was thankful that more products started using it. As I ate more of it though I started getting rashes that cleared up when I stopped eating Splenda. So I guess I am sensitive to these products. Don't know why but there it is.

I've been using this product in all my food where its 'nutritional supplement' (wink wink) properties are really appreciated. Yes it will taste a little different at first. So did Saccharin, Nutrasweet, and Splenda. What I did was start using half of whatever you are using now and half of the Stevia for two weeks. Then switch over entirely. There is a very faint licorice after taste but I only notice it if I think about it, if at all. I myself use two packets of the Stevia in my coffee and it tastes very sweet. For a comparison I'd use 5 Splenda packets for about the same taste. The Stevia adds a little bit of "body" as well, I suppose from the high fiber content, something the artificial sweeteners were always missing.

And yes it takes a little bit more effort to get it dissolved. I found the best results are obtained when you put the Stevia in the cup first and pour whatever liquid on top of it. If you put the Stevia on top of the liquid it will float and you'll have to stomp it with a spoon on the sides of the cup to get it to dissolve quickly. Haven't tried it for baking yet and will be interested to see how that turns out.

I saw the other comments about the packaging and how the Stevia clumped up in the packet. The stuff I got was sealed in foil packets and I had no issues. Perhaps if they were using paper packets originally I can imagine that happening. Whatever the problem might have been they seem to have solved it.

Natural product, high fiber, no allergies, zero calories, and very sweet -- I can deal with the truly insignificant problems and still be exceedingly pleased with the product.

I love and use Stevia, so I was excited to send some to my Mom and some to another friend in Ohio. Got a call about two weeks ago. It seems that the Stevia in packets is caking. Now, for this brand to work, you have to stir and pour, but you can't pour if its caked.

Don't know if it was a bad batch, but I'm looking around for a different brand.

I've been using the Stevia packets for over a year now and recommend it to everyone I know. Some of the packets do contain hardened powder, but this has no effect on the sweetness. As mentioned before, just put the Stevia in first, then add hot beverage. There is no need for the powder to dissolve, the sweetness is dispersed in the beverage and the remains (I suppose) are the inulin dietary fiber. They have been using it in Japan for 30 years with no apparent ill effects. From what I've read, the artifical sweetener industry put pressure on the FDA to have it banned in the 90's and that is why it has to be marketed in the USA as a dietary fiber and not a sweetener.

Being health conscious and attempting to lose weight I've tried several "artificial" sweetners. Splenda was the one I liked best because it tasted most like the real deal. However, I started experiencing some side effects (bladder problems) from using this product and stopped using it. Plus, I never really liked the idea of using something "artificial" which was chemically processed. So I started researching to find other alternatives and that's when I discovered Stevia. It's all NATURAL (no chemicals), has the added benefits of inulin fiber and has ZERO calories. Not to mention it tastes GREAT! To me it brings out the natural flavors and sweetness of things. I use it in coffee, tea, fruit and cereal. I LOVE it and HIGHLY recommend it to everybody! This is an AMAZING deal! I usually purchase mine at a local Health food store and it is $11.99 for 100 packets. Here, I'm getting 400 packets + FREE SHIPPING for $29.40! YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT! :-)

At first switching from an artificial sweetener to Stevia was difficult but I enjoy it now. However, my recent purchase of this product wasn't what I expected.

There are large pieces in the packets. They do not dissolve as easily as the granular pieces. Unless my drink is hot then it is not easy for the pieces to dissolve.

I've been using SweetLeaf SteviaPlus for about 3 weeks now, and I'm so glad I decided to try it. I was worried about the research coming out about aspartame; and Splenda... well, it just does terrible things to my stomach. I simply can't use it. So I started doing some web-searching and learned about stevia. I liked the fact that it was natural and used extensively in other countries, such as Japan. But I still kept my expectations low... it sounded too good to be true and I figured it would taste awful. I ordered SweetLeaf SteviaPlus and to my surprise and delight, I love the taste. It's sweet, and no bitterness. Now I'm a person who is used to using artificial sweeteners, so someone who uses only sugar might have a different opinion, but I did share it with a coworker to use in his tea, and he really liked it as well. So, don't be afraid to try it if you haven't already. I notice that I'm feeling a lot better lately. Maybe it's the switch from artificial sweeteners to stevia. At any rate, I'm happy with it, and I recently placed another order for both packets and tablets.

Ive been using this product for about 6 months and love it. Im a Type 1 Diabetic so I need to use a sugar free subsitute and this does the job very well. I put it in/on everything: tea, coffee, cereal, yogurt, smoothies, peanut butter, etc. Good stuff...definitely worth a try.