The best honeys for a tasting
Pick for contrast rather than for quality. A flight of five excellent similar honeys teaches less than a flight of five ordinary different ones.
184 of 263 honeys · starting from a situation
The rule behind this list
Monofloral honeys with at least three recorded pairings — the ones with enough recorded character to be worth comparing, across every intensity band.
What these have in common
A tasting works by difference. The useful axes are intensity, colour, texture and flavour family, and a good flight moves along at least two of them: a water-white delicate honey, a mid-amber caramel one, a dark malty one, an aromatic floral one and something genuinely strange. Serve at room temperature, on teaspoons, palest first, with water and plain bread between — and, if you can, without telling anyone what they are until afterwards.
Where to start
Acacia, orange blossom, a mid-amber multifloral, buckwheat and chestnut is a five-honey flight covering nearly the whole range for very little money. Substitute a honeydew for the chestnut if you want savoury rather than bitter as the finish.
What this group is not for
Deciding which honey is best. A tasting establishes what the axes are and where your own preferences sit on them, which is more durable than a ranking and is the only thing a flight can actually tell you.
The honeys, by intensity
Grouped by how much a honey asserts itself, which decides more choices than origin, colour or price. Within a band the order is catalogue order — there is no ranking here and none is implied.
Delicate — 16 honeys, showing 9
- Acacia honeyWater whiteClean, light and sweet with almost nothing in the way. The honey to reach for when you want sweetness without a flavour opinion.
- Rosemary honeyWater whiteDelicate and softly aromatic — floral first, with a thin thread of resin behind it that tells you where it came from.
- Fireweed honeyWater whiteVery delicate, buttery and faintly tea-like, with a clean finish and almost no aftertaste. A honey that rewards attention and disappears if you are not paying any.
- Borage honeyWater whiteVery light and very clean, with a faint cucumber-fresh note that fades with age. Sweetness without commentary.
- Sulla honeyWater whiteVery delicate and clean, with a soft almond-and-fresh-grass note and almost no aftertaste.
- Apple blossom honeyExtra whiteDelicate and lightly fruity with a soft marzipan note and a clean finish — recognisably spring, and gone if you are not paying attention.
- Asphodel honeyWater whiteDelicate and softly perfumed with a fresh, almost vegetal lift and a silky weight that gives it more presence than the flavour alone would.
- Huajillo honeyWater whiteVery delicate and clean with a light floral sweetness and almost no aftertaste — a honey that stays out of the way.
- Rātā honeyWater whiteVery delicate and creamy with a light butterscotch note and a faint mineral saltiness underneath.
Mild — 54 honeys, showing 9
- Clover honeyExtra whiteWarm, mild and rounded — sweet with a faint cinnamon-and-hay note underneath. The taste most English-speaking readers picture when they read the word honey.
- Tupelo honeyExtra whiteButtery and clean with a pear-and-green-apple lift, and a long soft finish that never turns cloying.
- Sage honeyWater whiteMild, clean and slightly herbal, with a heavy silky body that is more of the experience than the flavour is.
- Raspberry honeyExtra whiteDelicate and lightly fruity with a clean bright acidity — one of the few honeys where a taster unprompted names the right fruit.
- Sainfoin honeyExtra whiteDelicate and softly floral with a distinct rose-and-hay note, and a thickness that gives it more presence than its flavour alone would.
- Gallberry honeyExtra light amberMild and clean with a soft floral warmth and a faint bitterness on the finish that the name hints at without quite delivering.
- Pōhutukawa honeyWater whiteMild and creamy with a faint salt-and-mineral edge from the coast, and a butterscotch note that emerges as it warms on the tongue.
- Phacelia honeyWater whiteMild, clean and gently floral with a faint herbal freshness — an easy honey with no rough edges at all.
- Sweet clover honeyExtra whiteWarm, sweet and hay-like with a soft vanilla note that is genuinely there rather than imagined — the clearest coumarin character of any common honey.
Moderate — 46 honeys, showing 9
- Orange blossom honeyExtra whiteUnmistakably floral and citrus-scented — orange blossom in the glass, with the fruit itself somewhere behind it.
- Meadowfoam honeyExtra whiteToasted marshmallow and vanilla, unmistakably. The one honey most people identify blind on the first spoonful, because it tastes like something they already know.
- Cherry blossom honeyExtra whiteMarzipan first, then a light stone-fruit sweetness — the almond note is the defining character and it is unmistakable.
- Lemon blossom honeyWater whiteBright, sharply citrus and clean — lemon zest and blossom rather than the softer neroli of orange blossom, with a genuine acidity behind it.
- Ironbark honeyExtra light amberRich, buttery and dense with a warm caramel depth and a clean eucalypt lift at the end.
- Black mangrove honeyExtra light amberLight and clean with a distinct saline-mineral edge and a faint smoky note — the salinity is genuine and reflects the tidal ground the trees grow in.
- Brazilian pepper honeyLight amberWarm and peppery with a distinct resinous spice and a faint tartness — genuinely reminiscent of the pink peppercorns the plant produces.
- Blackbutt honeyLight amberWarm and caramelised with a light resinous edge — one of the milder eucalypt honeys and a good introduction to the group.
- Grey box honeyExtra light amberClean and lightly caramelised with a faint buttery quality — mild for a eucalypt honey and highly regarded for its density and smoothness.
Pronounced — 57 honeys, showing 9
- Lavender honeyExtra light amberOvertly perfumed — lavender flower, warm hay and a soft fruity sweetness underneath. Aromatic in a way most honeys are not.
- Ulmo honeyExtra whiteStrongly perfumed — jasmine and orange blossom over butterscotch, with a creamy weight that carries it. Aromatic in a way very few honeys are.
- Almond blossom honeyLight amberDistinctly bitter with a marzipan aroma over it — one of the few honeys where bitterness arrives before sweetness, and an acquired taste even among people who like bitter honeys.
- Basswood honeyWater whiteIntensely aromatic with a mentholated, faintly medicinal lift over a clean sweetness — one of the most distinctive American honeys and among the most divisive.
- Purple loosestrife honeyAmberStrong and tangy with a distinct green herbal note over dark caramel — an unusual profile that some tasters find sharp and others find refreshing.
- Huisache honeyLight amberStrongly floral with a distinct violet and orange-blossom perfume over warm caramel — one of the most obviously perfumed American honeys.
- Persimmon honeyAmberRich and fruity with a dried-date depth and a warm caramel base — one of the more distinctive minor American varietals and genuinely reminiscent of the ripe fruit.
- Messmate honeyAmberStrong and resinous with a malty depth and a faintly medicinal eucalypt lift — assertive and unmistakably Australian.
- Bloodwood honeyAmberStrong and malty with a resinous depth and a distinct woody astringency — one of the more assertive Australian honeys.
Intense — 11 honeys, showing 9
- Tree heath honeyAmberStrong, malty and slightly bitter, with a burnt-caramel depth and a woody finish — assertive in a way that divides opinion sharply.
- Buckwheat honeyDark amberMalt, molasses and wet straw, with a savoury, almost animal depth. The most polarising honey in general production.
- Chestnut honeyAmberAromatic, woody and unmistakably bitter — sweetness first, tannin second, and a long dry finish.
- Heather honeyAmberStrong, smoky and slightly bitter, with a lingering woodfire-and-toffee character. One of the most complex honeys produced anywhere.
- Strawberry tree honeyAmberAggressively bitter — coffee grounds, artichoke and burnt sugar, with the sweetness arriving late and briefly. Nothing in food prepares most people for it.
- Sidr honeyAmberRich, dark and layered — caramel and dried fruit first, then a faintly medicinal bitterness and a long savoury finish. Complex in a way few honeys are.
- Avocado honeyDark amberDark, buttery and molasses-rich with a savoury, almost salty edge. Nothing about it suggests the fruit.
- Carob honeyAmberDark, malty and distinctly savoury with a fermented, almost cheesy note that people either find fascinating or cannot get past.
- Chinese jujube honeyAmberRich and dark with dried dates and burnt caramel, and a genuine bitterness on the finish that sets it apart from its Middle Eastern relatives.
Deciding between two of them
- Acacia vs clover honey — The two default mild honeys. They taste more alike than they behave, and the practical difference is texture rather than flavour.
- Lavender vs orange blossom honey — The two great perfumed honeys of the Mediterranean. Both carry their flower's aromatics almost intact, which is rare — and they are wanted for opposite reasons.
- Tupelo vs acacia honey — The two honeys that genuinely do not crystallise, from opposite sides of the Atlantic. Same chemistry, very different flavour, and a very different price.
- Chestnut vs strawberry tree honey — The two great bitter honeys of Europe. One is widely available and a good introduction; the other is the most bitter honey in production and divides people completely.
- Sidr vs ber honey — Two honeys from closely related jujube trees, with a price gap of many times and no laboratory test that separates them. This is the most consequential substitution in the premium honey trade.
This is a filter over the 263 honeys in this catalogue, which is a fraction of the hundreds of named honeys produced worldwide — a honey not appearing is not a judgement on it. Sensory fields are editorial assignments rather than measurements, and two people tasting the same jar will not always place it in the same band.
Narrow it further
- Honey finder
Which honey should I buy for what I actually want to do with it?
- Pairing finder
I am eating this — which honey goes with it?
- Flavour selector
I like this taste — which honeys have it?
- Honey comparison
How do these honeys actually differ, beyond colour?