yuck

[kindkit]

You know what needs to go away?

Stevia.

It can still be available for people who actually like it and want to use it. But it shouldn't be in things. In particular, it should not be lurking at the bottom of the ingredient list in otherwise tasty-sounding herbal teas, like the box I nearly bought today. Nor should it be in the Yogi Tea I bought a while ago without reading the ingredients carefully enough; I've decided that the sickly-sweet stevia aftertaste is the main problem with the tea, which would otherwise be okay.

Why don't tea manufacturers think I might want to decide for myself whether I want my tea to be sweet, and if so how sweet, and what kind of sweetener I want to use?

Comments

[kindkit]

I don't know what you mean by "ordinary tea"--the one I almost bought was a decaffeinated green tea with citrus, the Yogi Tea is a blend of various supposedly medicinal herbs. I don't think I've seen stevia in teas that are just plain tea yet.

I do like some teas sweetened, such as chai or most black teas except darjeeling. But I certainly wouldn't put stevia in them!

[lycomingst]

I'm a coffee drinker myself and I think of sweetened teas as something like those bottles of iced tea. I agree with you that the tea drinker should be sole judge of the how, when and how much sweetener should go into their brew.

[kindkit]

I'd expect most bottled iced teas to be sweetened with something (more's the pity) but these were tea bags! Stevia is a herb, so somehow it ends up in contexts where you'd never find sugar or artificial sweeteners.