The best rooibos and loose-leaf tea from South African sellers

It carries a 5.0 from eight shoppers, which is the largest rating count in this category. Small numbers, but nothing else here has more, and nobody has come back unhappy.

The listing keeps it simple: organic rooibos, caffeine-free, nothing blended in. That is the right starting point. A plain red rooibos tells you what the leaf is like, and you can decide from there whether you want ginger, chamomile or green rooibos alongside it.

It is also the joint-lowest price in the whole category, which makes it a cheap way to find out whether you like this maker's leaf before spending on the loose stuff.

The catch. The listing is thin on detail. It does not say whether these are bags or leaf, or how much you get, so check the pack size on the page.

Carmien is the other name that runs through this shelf, and this is its straightforward organic offering: caffeine-free, tagless bags, certified USDA organic according to the listing. Tagless bags are a small thing that matters if you brew by the pot.

It sits in the lower-middle of the price range, well under the loose-leaf options, and it gives you a second maker to compare against the top pick.

The catch. No shopper ratings at all, and the price is above the Skimmelberg plain rooibos with nothing in the listing to explain the gap.

This is hand-collected wild-harvest rooibos leaf, organic, sold loose. Wild harvest means leaf gathered from plants growing where they grow rather than from cultivated rows, and it is the most interesting proposition on this shelf for a serious tea drinker.

Shoppers give it 5.0 from six ratings, which for a specialist product at this price is a decent signal. It costs several times the top pick, so treat it as the good-pot tea rather than the office mug.

If you want the same idea in bags at a fraction of the outlay, the same maker's Organic Wild Harvest Rooibos Tea is worth a look.

The catch. Among the most expensive teas here, and the listing does not state the weight, so you cannot work out what a cup costs.

Green rooibos is the same plant handled differently, and it brews lighter and grassier than the red. Adding ginger gives it some edge, which suits it if you find plain rooibos a bit soft.

It rates 4.8 from six shoppers, one of the better-supported entries here, and it sits mid-range on price. Certified organic, caffeine-free, going by the listing.

The catch. Blended tea is a matter of taste, and ginger is assertive. Start with the plain green rooibos if you are unsure.

Decide bags or loose leaf first, because it changes everything else. Bags are for weekday mornings and flasks. Loose leaf gives you control over strength and generally means a better grade of leaf, but you need a pot with a basket or a decent infuser. Loose rooibos is fine and dusty, so a fine mesh beats a big open ball.

Check the pack weight, not the price on the tile. Teas in this category are sold in wildly different quantities and several listings here do not state the size at all. A tea that looks expensive may be three times the pack of a cheap one. If the size is not on the page, ask before you buy.

Know the difference between red and green rooibos. Red is the oxidised leaf most South Africans grew up on: sweet, full, amber. Green rooibos is unoxidised, lighter and more herbal, and it suits people who find the red too rounded. Honeybush sits nearby and brews sweeter still. Neither has caffeine.

Flavoured blends are where marketing does the most work. A blend named after a dessert is a flavouring on a rooibos base, and that is fine, but judge it on whether you want that flavour rather than on the adjectives in the description. If you are buying for children, the kiddies blends here are simply mild rooibos with fruit flavour and no added sugar, which you can approximate with plain rooibos and a slice of apple.