I'm not running a starbucks out of my house, are you?
Per pot, we'll use around 4 leaves. DW planted about 3 plants in a 12" pot outside and they lasted us a couple months at least. We'll usually go through 3-4 pots of tea a day. 16 leaves sounds like a lot, but they are in pairs and every say, half inch, so that's really only 4 inches of plant per day. That's not that much. A couple dozen plants would probably be more than we'd use in a year. Harvesting isn't hard. Hack them off, tie up like kitchen herbs, pick dried leaves and stuff in a mason jar. None of this "is it ripe?" shenanigans or multiple picks per year as the peas or beans set a second crop.
Cool. But 2.2 lbs of powder extract is a LOT of leaves no? I can't imagine how many plants were needed to produce that bag of powder. The bag is 100% stevia extract. No we aren't running a Starbucks, a $45 2.2 lb bag will last us 2 years.
Did you buy the plants or start from seed? I had a hard time starting some from seed a few years back. How much did the seeds or plants cost you? What planting zone do you live in? It gets very hot and very cold where I am, zone 7a. I never got to experience how well they grow here because I couldn't get the seed started.
Again making it ourselves compared to buying the least expensive liquid stevia, saves us hundreds of dollars each year, at 1/10th the cost. We don't have to acquire the seed (nor buy plants which I have a gardening policy against), try and get it started somehow, hoping it survives here okay, watering it every day, doing any sort of pest control, harvesting, any processing etc.
I've seen people on youtube sharing their process for extracting the stevia from the leaves; seemed time consuming. We use the liquid stevia here for a lot more than just tea; we use it for instantly sweetening cold beverages, homemade ice cream, homemade chocolate, baked goods -- all of which the leaves wouldn't be appropriate. We don't eat sugar and carbs here and this liquid stevia is our go to sugar substitute for everything we eat which is sweet.
Anyways, respectfully, I only responded because you said "if you want to save on stevia -- grow your own". I disagree, I think it is many times more expensive than this bag of powder. Also consumes more time.
And I apologize for the exaggeration when I said "acres".. but I just can't imagine how many plants would be needed for a 2.2 lb bag of stevia powder extract; just the thought of it depresses me lol. I grow my own basil here and I remembered how long it took just to cut all the leaves off a 4' x 4' bed of basil, before processing it into pesto and freezing.
EDIT: How large does a single stevia plant grow to be? -- i.e. if given plenty of room to grow in a raised bed? (The basil plants can get quite large in a season.)