After seeing their pitch on Dragons’ Den, I was very curious to try Krisda’s natural sweeteners made with premium stevia extract. Back when I went through my health odyssey in BC years ago, I tried my best to bond with this zero calorie all-natural sweetener but couldn’t. It was never sweet enough to go in anything but herbal tea, which I do not drink very often. As well, according to their pitch, it was less bitter than regular stevia. Fascinating.
I was so excited to receive a package from them filled with all their new products!
I loved the idea of their Krisda Cafe Vanilla product, although I could not really tell what it was exactly by the packaging. You can see me struggling with it when I did a live reveal of the package in this video. Basically it is a flavoured sweetener for coffee.
I added it to my favourite coffee and watched it fizz up. I stirred it in, added some cream and took a sip.
Definitely an improvement! It is not very sweet but did sweeten my coffee enough to make it drinkable which was impressive. My friend Mike tried it and mentioned that it tasted like black licorice. That flavour is from the fact that chicory root is the number one ingredient in the little package. Some people despise that flavour but it did not bother me very much.
Then came the regular Krisda Sweetener. I rarely bought stevia powders, they tasted more bitter to me so I would usually go with the drops. I was really curious to see how this powdered version would do in my decaf black tea.
Love my new Halloween placemat! Just had to share.
I brewed up two identical cups of tea. I put one package of Krisda Sweetener in one mug and 2 tsp of sugar in the other, since the packaging says that is the equivalent to how sweet the package of stevia is.
Wrong! Wrong big time! There was no comparison. Not even close to being the same level of sweetness. I tried adding more but just like when I used to get the powder in BC, the more you add the more the bitterness increases and the sweetness maxes out. Damn! I just poured that tea with the stevia down the drain.
In my herbal tea? It is great and I will use it regularly for that but for tea time with cookies? No thanks!
Foodie Conclusion
I liked the Krisda Cafe Vanilla version of stevia. It is still on the verge of not being sweet enough for me but it is flavourful without being too bitter. I give this product, especially for those with sugar issues, four out of five wooden spoons.
The Krisda Sweetener is another story. Yes, many people will use it and like it because there are so few alternatives out there for natural low calorie sweeteners but to say one package is equivalent to 2 tsp of sugar is just not true! And if you want it sweeter, adding more packages makes things much worse. I give Krisda Sweetener two and a half out of five wooden spoons, mostly because I feel the packaging is lying to me.
It will be interesting to see how their baking formula and water enhancer do in my test kitchen next!
Just found your review today. I was considering to try this as a sugar alternative. So not going to bother! Thanks for your honest opinion.
What are you using instead though? We are currently using unrefined sugar cane, but it’s still got caleries. You know the deal!
Would love to hear what you’ve tried as a sugar alternative, that you liked and stuck with!
I grew up in BC, in Kamloops. I sure miss the weather! I’m in Toronto now, the last 12 years. Let me tell ya, I’ll never get used to this humidity, never! lol
Hi Shannon! Honesty is what I am about, glad it helped. I did like their baking product which you can find in my second post about the product:
http://suziethefoodie.blogspot.ca/2012/12/krisda-premium-stevia-extract-part-2.html
Haven’t tried it in coffee though but in baked goods, it worked surprisingly well. I do mostly use real sugar though but it is good there are some alternatives. If I had to, I would probably use Splenda in my coffee and tea.
I miss the weather out west too, it’s tough! Oh I know, Ontario humidity is BRUTAL!