Aspects of the invention relate to beverage compositions, including, for example, concentrated and ready-to-drink formulations sweetened with at least one non-nutritive sweetener and further including a bitterant compound in an amount sufficient to reduce the lingering sweet aftertaste of the non-nutritive sweetener(s). In certain illustrative embodiments, the non-nutritive sweetener(s) may be one or more of the following: a steviol glycoside, Lo Han Guo, thaumatin, monatin, monellin, brazzein, sucralose. Another aspect of the invention relates to a method that combines a non-nutritive sweetener having a lingering sweet aftertaste with a bitterant compound to create a mixture such that when the mixture is contained in a beverage, the bitterant compound is present in an amount sufficient to reduce the lingering sweet aftertaste of the non-nutritive sweetener.
