I’ve been using stevia products since January 2012 and have done a lot of research about it. It’s important to understand that the stevia leaf contains at least 10 different steviol glycosides: stevioside, rebaudioside A, B, C, D, E, and F, dulcoside A, rubusoside, and steviolbioside. SweetLeaf's Sweetdrops are made with the FDA approved sweetener "High purity steviol glycoside extract" which is made from 2 components of the stevia leaf....approximately equal parts Stevioside and Reb A. The other stevia sweetener "Reb-A", is used in products like Truvia and Purevia, and is 95% minimum solely rebaudioside A. Unlike the sweeteners, "Whole Leaf Stevia Concentrate" is a whole form of stevia. It is made by boiling whole leaves until it’s a thick dark syrup. I immediately noticed a huge contrast between the whole leaf concentrate and other liquid stevia products. It was thick, black, and goopy! First I tried it in my homemade lemonade. Big mistake. It just wasn't able to sweeten it, turned my lemonade brown, and tasted very "leafy". A few days later, I gave it another try...this time in my tea. This combination worked better, but the "leafy" taste was still very prominent. Would I buy this product again? Probably not. As someone who's always striving to eat more whole, I honestly wish I liked it more. It is the less processed better choice. Think of it as whole grain bread as opposed to white, however I just don't like it. For now I'll stick with what works for me which is SweetLeaf's Liquid Stevia Sweet Drops Sweetener. I'm giving it three stars because it is a great whole, pure product and only has water as a filler. Because of the taste I can't give it 5 stars. I live in Canada and have received all of my iherb orders within 2 weeks. Feel free to check out my other detailed reviews on products like stevia, baking staples and low-toxicity beauty products and do let me know if you found this review helpful :)
