The best honey in New Zealand, by what you want it for
What is the best honey in New Zealand?
It depends what it is for. Clover is the best everyday and baking honey because it is mild and cheap. Rewarewa and beech honeydew are the best for strong tea and cheese. Rātā and blue borage are the best for anyone who finds honey too strong. Thyme is the best for people who find honey boring. Mānuka is the one to buy if you want a graded jar.
The best NZ honey at a glance
| What it is for | Best honey | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Everyday, toast, baking | Clover | Mild, sets pale and firm, the cheapest single-source honey |
| Strong tea, porridge | Rewarewa | Dark, malty, caramel-like; stays runny for a long time |
| Cheese boards | Beech honeydew | Less sweet than floral honey, with a treacly, savoury depth |
| A mild palate | Rātā or blue borage | The palest and most delicate NZ honeys |
| Something different | Thyme | Herbal and aromatic, from Central Otago |
| Spreading | Creamed clover, rātā or pōhutukawa | High-glucose honeys set the finest |
| A gift | Kāmahi, tāwari or thyme from a beekeeper | Hard to find in a supermarket |
| A graded jar | Mānuka with a UMF or MGO number | The only NZ honey with a government definition |
Why there is no single best honey
“Best” lists for honey usually rank brands, and brands mostly sell the same few floral types (see what Arataki, the biggest supermarket label, actually stocks). The thing that actually changes what is in the jar is the flower. New Zealand produces a wide spread of single-source honeys, from almost-white to near-black, and the right one depends on whether it is going on toast, into a cake or next to a blue cheese. So this page sorts them by job.
Best everyday honey: clover
Clover is New Zealand's most common honey and the one most people grew up with. It is mild, clean and sweet, sets firm and pale, and is the cheapest single-source honey on the shelf (what honey costs in NZ). If a recipe just says “honey”, clover is what it means.
Best for baking and sweetening drinks: clover or bush blend
For baking, use a mild honey that will not fight the other flavours: clover first, a light bush blend second. Heat flattens the subtle floral notes of the expensive single-source honeys anyway, so save those for eating as they are.
Best for strong tea, porridge and cheese: rewarewa or honeydew
Rewarewa is dark, malty and caramel-like, and stands up in strong black tea. Beech honeydew is less sweet than floral honey, with a treacly, savoury depth that works with sharp cheese and on porridge. Both stay liquid longer than clover, which makes them easy to drizzle.
Best if you find honey too strong: rātā, blue borage, pōhutukawa
- Rātā: pale, delicate, sets brilliant white.
- Blue borage: water-white high-country honey, very mild and clean.
- Pōhutukawa: smooth and pale, with a slightly mineral finish.
Best if you find honey boring: thyme
Central Otago thyme honey is aromatic, herbal and resinous, and divides people. It is the honey to try if clover tastes of nothing to you. It is also one of the smaller harvests, so expect to pay more.
Best spreadable honey: a creamed clover, rātā or pōhutukawa
The high-glucose honeys set fastest and finest, which makes them the best creamed honeys. Creamed vs runny honey explains what creaming is and why it is not an additive.
Best honey as a gift: something they cannot buy at the supermarket
A single-source native honey with a named region makes a better present than a generic jar: kāmahi, tāwari or thyme, bought direct from a beekeeper. If the person receiving it expects mānuka and the number on the label matters to them, buy a graded jar; our sister site covers how to read one.
How to tell a good jar from an ordinary one
- It names one floral source, not just “honey” or “blended”. How to read a label.
- The colour matches the type: a pale “rewarewa” or a dark “clover” is worth a question.
- It says where it is from, ideally a region rather than just “New Zealand”.
- The seller can say whether it was heated or fine-filtered. What “raw” means here.
The main supermarket honey brands, compared
Most New Zealanders buy honey at the supermarket, where a handful of brands fill the shelf. Brand matters less than the floral source on the jar, but price per kilo varies a lot. These are the regular shelf prices on woolworths.co.nz on 27 October 2026; the full price list has every jar we checked.
| Brand | Cheapest everyday jar | Per kg | Also on the Woolworths shelf |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woolworths (house brand) | Liquid or creamed honey, 500g, $7.39 | $14.78 | Blended light honey only |
| Arataki | Clover honey blend, 1kg, $19.99 | $19.99 | Clover, kāmahi, mānuka UMF 5+ and 10+ |
| Egmont | Pure honey, 1kg, $20.00 | $20.00 | Raw honey, mānuka multifloral MGO 50+ |
| Hantz | Creamed honey, 500g, $10.60 | $21.20 | Creamed honey |
| Airborne | Clover honey, liquid, 500g, $11.19 | $22.38 | Bush honey |
Source: woolworths.co.nz online shelf prices, checked 27 October 2026, before specials. Brand ranges change; check the shelf.
Which brand has the best honey in New Zealand?
No brand is best at everything. The big supermarket brands, Arataki, Airborne, Egmont and Hantz, mostly sell the same few floral types, and the cheapest per kilo is the supermarket house brand at about $15. Choose the floral source first (clover for everyday, rewarewa or honeydew for flavour), then the brand with the best price per kilo for that type.
What is the most famous honey from New Zealand?
Mānuka. It is the honey New Zealand is known for overseas and the only one with an official definition, set by a Ministry for Primary Industries test. At home, clover is the honey most people eat day to day, and natives such as rewarewa, kāmahi and pōhutukawa are well known locally but rarely exported.
How do you know which honey brand to trust?
Look at the label rather than the logo. A trustworthy jar names one floral source, says where in New Zealand it came from, and has a colour that matches the type. For mānuka, check for a UMF or MGO grade that can be traced to a test. How to read a NZ honey label goes through each line.
What is the best supermarket honey in NZ?
For value, the house-brand liquid or creamed honey at $14.78 a kilo (Woolworths, October 2026). For a named floral source, a 1kg clover jar from Arataki or Egmont at about $20 a kilo. For something with more character, Arataki kāmahi at about $30 a kilo is one of the few native single-source honeys stocked in supermarkets.
More guides
- Why honey goes hard, and how to bring it back
- Raw honey in New Zealand: what it means, where to buy it, what it costs
- How to read a New Zealand honey label
- How to store honey (and why it doesn't go off)
- Does honey expire? Best-before dates on NZ honey, explained
- Buying honey direct from a New Zealand beekeeper
- Clover, multifloral and liquid honey: what's the difference?
- Coromandel honey: what the bees work on the peninsula, and how to buy it
- How much honey costs in New Zealand
- Creamed honey vs runny honey: what the difference actually is
- New Zealand honey by region: what each part of the country produces