Whether you are chasing a delivery slot, checking a brewing ratio on a tin you already own, or trying to work out which rooibos lot is in stock this week, this page points you to the right place. Start with the question closest to yours, and if nothing quite fits, the packing room answers email between courier runs.
Most questions land in one of three places: what is in a blend, how to brew it, or where an order is. If you are reading a listing page and want the harvest month, the picking lot or the ratio we use in the packing room, that detail sits on the product page itself. For anything about a delivery window, a grind or refill preference, or a gift message, the cart note field is the fastest route because we read it before the courier cutoff.
Guesthouses and tearooms ordering trays in bulk usually need a different conversation than a single jar, so it helps to say which blends you are trialling and how many covers you serve in a week.
Tell us the blend, the tin size or the delivery slot you have in mind. We answer in the order notes come in, usually the same working day.
Prefer to talk it through? Call 054-400-3154 or write to info@smileytimeherbal.com.
A few things on this site read differently depending on how you order, so here is the plain version. If something still does not line up with what you need, the contact page is the fastest route.
Loose leaf is sold by net weight, not by volume. A 250 g refill pouch of long-cut rooibos fills a 500 ml jar with room to spare, but the same weight in a fine-cut blend looks like less. Sampler tins are 30 g each. If you are matching a jar you already own, check the millilitre size on the listing before you pick a pouch.
Every listing carries a suggested ratio, usually 3 g per 250 ml at 95°C for four minutes. That suits a standard strainer. A finer mesh or a larger pot will pull more out of the leaf, so expect to adjust the steep time rather than the scoop. Rooibos and honeybush both take a second steep without going bitter; chamomile and mint do not.
Single-origin means one farm and one harvest, so a new lot can taste slightly different from the last one. Colour, leaf length and sweetness shift with the picking month and the drying method, and the harvest notes on the listing tell you which lot you are buying. Blends stay consistent because we mix to the same ratio each run.
Stock turns weekly and seasonal lots sell out in small runs. When something is out, it stays listed as unavailable rather than quietly swapping in a different farm. If a blend in the five-tin set is short, we hold the order and tell you before packing instead of replacing the tin.
The note field travels with the order and is read by whoever packs it. Use it for grind preference on spice mixes, a delivery window, or a gift message you want written on the card. Notes added after the courier cutoff may not reach the packing room in time for same-day dispatch.
Bulk trays, refill pouches and repeat blends for a fixed menu are handled the same way as any other basket, but tell us in the note field that it is a trade order. That way we can flag a lot change before it reaches your tray, and you can decide whether to wait for the next run.
Most of what lands in the inbox is about packing, brewing and delivery slots rather than anything complicated. Here are the answers we send most often, written the way we would explain them over the packing table.
Roughly 3 g per 250 ml for the rooibos and honeybush blends, a little less for chamomile and mint. Water at about 95°C, four to five minutes. Every listing page carries its own ratio, so check there if you are brewing a larger pot for a guesthouse tray.
Rooibos, honeybush, chamomile and mint are all caffeine free. The only item in the pantry that is not a pure infusion is the house spice mix, which is blended for cooking and mulled drinks rather than steeping on its own.
Same day if the basket is confirmed before the courier cutoff. You pick a delivery slot at checkout, and the note field on the cart is where you tell us about a preferred window, a grind or blend preference, or a gift message to tuck into the box.
We buy in small seasonal lots and pack in short runs, so stock turns weekly. When a harvest lot runs out it comes back once the next batch is dried and labelled, usually within a few weeks. Refill pouches and glass jars are restocked on the same cycle.
The five-tin tasting set covers plain rooibos, honeybush, chamomile, dried mint and the spice mix in 30 g tins. It is the set guesthouses usually trial first, and the tins are refillable once you know which two or three you actually drink.
Yes. Regulars tend to keep the same three blends on a repeating order, and the cart note carries your preferences forward so we pack it the same way each time. If something needs changing, a note on the next order is enough.
Still stuck on something specific, like a courier question or a wholesale tray for a guesthouse? Reach us through the contact page and we will answer directly. How we handle order details is set out in our privacy notes.