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Comment by rpeden | Hacker News Reader

I vaguely remember reading something similar about stevia.

Anecdotally, I know some people who think it's a tasty sweetener, but for me it just tastes bitter and awful. When I add it to coffee, it ends up tasting like I added a mixture of Splenda and powdered graphite.

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Stevia in its pure form is quite bitter and awful. The stevia sweetened products you get are chock full of bitter blockers. Some people still tolerate it better than others.

I'm not sure if there's a genetic link or if it's just what you're used to.

I really tied to adopt stevia into my diet, gave it several months, however the rumbling in my stomach turned me away from it. I also experienced some discomfort in the upper intestinal area. When I looked up stevia before trying it, there were warnings some could experience these symptoms.

Seems like most Americans here (and many Westerners) don't know about Luo Han Guo (monk fruit). Most chemical sweeteners and Stevia have this plastic-ky taste to me.

Isn't Splenda also a sweetener? Or is Stevia supposedly so much better that you're saying to you it tastes like a worse sweetener plus graphite, or something?

I think they're saying it does the job of making it taste sweet (artificially anyway) but comes with an unpleasant flavour.

Right - that's what I was getting at.

I find stevia tastes like what I'd get if I took that wood + yellow paint + HB graphite taste I used to get when I absentmindedly chewed the end of my pencil in elementary school and then mixed in some Splenda.

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