Rewarewa honey
The native honeysuckle's quiet, malty cult favourite.
- Flower season
- Oct – Dec
- Colour
- Reddish-amber, deep brown when thick
- Flavour
- Malty, caramel, slight burnt-sugar finish
- Texture
- Runny, slow-crystallising
Rewarewa (Knightia excelsa) is a tall native tree that flowers brilliantly red in late spring. Bees forage on the dense flower spikes through October to December, producing an unusually dark, deeply malty honey that has its own loyal following — particularly in the Bay of Plenty, where it's harvested most.
The flavour is unlike any of the other NZ monoflorals. There's caramel, a hint of brown sugar, a slight burnt-toffee finish, and an iron-mineral undertone. Spread on hot sourdough toast it's transcendent. In tea it's almost too rich.
Rewarewa is rarer than mānuka in supermarket terms because the rewarewa bush is patchier and harvests are more weather-dependent — a wet flowering week can wipe a region's harvest. Most production is from the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel, with smaller stands in Northland, the Hokianga and inland Whanganui.
Single-flora rewarewa is the sought-after one. Multifloral 'bush blends' that include rewarewa as a partial component are more common and still excellent. If a label just says 'NZ bush honey', odds are rewarewa is part of the blend.
Pairings
- Sourdough toast (the classic)
- Whipped on roast kūmara
- Aged cheddar
- Black coffee, dropped in
Where in NZ Rewarewa comes from
The regions where rewarewa is meaningfully harvested. Each region has its own quirks of climate, bush, and harvest window.
- Bay of Plenty
- Coromandel
- Northland
Apiaries that produce Rewarewa
2 listed apiaries harvest rewarewa as part of their range.