I just bought stevia (aka sugar plants) plants 2 weeks ago. They are very easy to grow and look a lot like spearmint. At the same place I bought the green, dried leaves in a grinder and the powder. All have a great taste and zero after-taste. I don't have anything against regular aspartame, but the stevia tastes better to me. The cost of the powder isn't so bad when you consider that you use a fraction of the amount you might have used in regular sugar.
Excellent point. Refined stevia is far sweeter than refined cane sugar. I've find that maybe one-fourth the amount of stevia is required to equal sugar's sweetness.