I started growing stevia in the spring. Stevia is an herb that has a sweetness to it and can be used as a natural sugar alternative. I haven’t experimented with using it much, but I knew my mom uses it in her coffee and I was hoping to be able to grow enough for her to try so I could see how it compared to store-bought varieties. I initially started by drying the stevia and powdering it. The taste was pretty close to store-bought powder, but it did not dissolve well in coffee (it seemed to be better suited to baking). So I then set out to make an extract.
The first thing I did was harvest fresh stevia leaves and packed them into two 4oz mason jars. I then covered the leaves with vodka and let them sit for about 40 hours. (The article I read had suggested 36 hours, but it took me a little longer to get to it).
I then strained the liquid through a coffee filter and simmered it on the stove for 30 minutes, stirring constantly. It took about 20 minutes to notice a difference in color and viscosity and it wasn’t until the last few minutes that the liquid really took on a dark color and syrupy consistency.
In the end, I was only rewarded with about a teaspoon of thick, dark syrup, so I would suggest starting with quite a bit more liquid if you were considering trying this for yourself.
The syrup is really quite sweet and I would assume you would only need a few drops per cup of coffee. I will let you know what my taste tester (aka my mom) says!