My First Experiments - Drinks (Coffee & Lemonade)

Experiment #1: Mocha Coffee

1. Brewed 12 oz of whatever coffee my mom left in my cabinet (Folger's or Dunkin' Donuts??)
2. Measured a scoop of Stevia but added just a sprinkle; tasted it and wasn't offended so I added the whole scoop 
3. Tasted coffee again and it was perfectly sweetened with no bitter aftertaste! Amazon reviewers were right!
4. Added 1 tsp of Hershey's cocoa powder (unsweetened). Not enough chocolaty taste so added another. Good flavor, but a little bitter
5. Added 1 T of heavy cream (yeah I should buy something less fattening, but it was what I had); happy with taste so far
6. Added a hefty dash of cinnamon, a squirt of lowfat Redi Whip and a sprinkle of cinnamon for looks. Lovely.

Thoughts: The label was right; one scoop was perfect for a 12 oz coffee. I am pleased and very happy with Kal Stevia so far. The drink itself was not quite perfect... maybe a tad... chalky? bitter? Whatever it was, it was pretty mild and tolerable. I think it is from the cocoa powder (or the cinnamon since I have noticed that it doesn't dissolve too well). In any case, the Stevia dissolved well and tasted fine, so improvements will focus on the mocha. I don't honestly believe anyone is ever going to read this blog, but if you do and have a tip for making mocha coffee with cocoa powder, I am all ears.

Improvements for next time: Figure out a way to make the cocoa powder blend better. Measure cinnamon so I can figure out if it is responsible for the chalky feel.

Ingedients & Calories:

• Coffee (12 oz) 8 cal
• Stevia (1 scoop) 0 cal
• Hershey Cocoa Powder (2 tsp) 7 cal 
• Heavy Cream (1 T) 50 cal 
• Cinnamon (dash) 0 cal 
• Redi Whip Fat Free (2 T) 5 cal

Total: 70 calories per serving

Experiment #2: Citrus-Aid

I have a good recipe for a lemonade/citrus drink, that uses lemons, limes, and oranges and I wanted to see if Stevia could be used instead of sugar. I started with a mini-batch so as not to give myself carpal tunnel squeezing a million fruits only to screw up batch after batch with wrong amounts of Stevia.

1. Squeezed 1 lemon, 1 lime, and 1 tangerine (I am out of oranges); resulted in about 1/2 cup juice
2. Added 3 cups of water (reduced proportions from this Citrus Lemonade recipe from Allrecipes.com)
3. Added Stevia
4. After 1 scoop: Drink still very sour, Stevia clumped when I dumped it in. Smashed bits with fingers and then it seemed okay.
5. After 2 scoops: Tasted better, poured Stevia slowly while stirring and no clumps
6. After 3 scoops: Much better, might be okay for some
7. After 4 scoops: Yum. Much better than expected. Probably wouldn't know the difference if I hadn't made it myself.

Calories per 8 oz serving: 10 for Citrus-Aid w/ tangerine, or 12 if made with orange. YAY!

Thoughts: Pleased again. I might have tasted a slight aftertaste, but I think it was in my head because I believe I should with an alternative sweetener and I have a cold. I'll see what my husband, Jeff, thinks. I would make this again with no changes. Maybe increase the proportions to make 2 quarts or a gallon.
 
PS Jeff liked it. He was impressed. He was NOT impressed with my 1st attempts with other brands of Stevia so that says something.