Description
Pua-ā-Tāne: An Award Winning Honey
This honey was a Finalist for the 10th Black Jar International Honey Contest held in Asheville, USA in 2021, reaching the Top 30 out of hundreds of entries from countries across the globe.
This wonderful honey also won a Bronze Medal in the Outstanding Food Producers Awards 2021 in New Zealand. Pua-ā-Tāne – an award-winning honey!
Pua-ā-Tāne: What’s Special About This Honey?
Pua-ā-Tāne Wild Forest Honey is our forest reflection in a jar. Pua is the Maori word for flower, blossom or seed and so denotes the essence of life, flourishing and fertility. Tāne is our God of the Forest. He descends from Rangi, our Sky Father, and Papa, our Earth Mother. In our stories of origin, Tāne begat all life in our forests, including all trees, birds and insects, so we see our forests and all in it as his offspring or reflection.
Each season brings into this unique honey varying combinations of forest nectars such as Rewarewa, Tāwari, Tawhero, Hinau, Kānuka and Mānuka. So it is that this honey has been named by our elders and forest experts as Pua-ā-Tāne – as a reflection of the essence of the life and bounty of our forest.
Pua-ā-Tāne Wild Forest Honey is the natural fusion of the tastes and properties from our forest trees, as collected by our bees in a special place known as Ohāua-te-Rangi in the heart of Te Urewera, just north of our base in Ruatāhuna. Our beekeepers service the hives in the Ohāua region by horseback during the season, then the harvest is collected by helicopter.
Pua-ā-Tāne is ideal for all uses of honey – as a daily elixir for good health in drink or straight from the jar, as a spread on toast or bread, for flavouring and enhancing sweet and savoury dishes in your cooking. We use Pua-ā-Tāne every day for our cool and hot drinks – with lime or lemon, tea or coffee, keeping us in great health throughout the year.
Pua-ā-Tāne: Customer Favourite
Pua-ā-Tāne is a real favourite for a many of our customers. Here is what John McLean from Gisborne had to say:
“I must say that my wife Shona and I really enjoy the Pua-a-Tane honey we recently purchased. It is a treat of a honey which I prefer over all others…The Pua-a-Tane is really great. I wish you every success with marketing it”.
Our Pua-ā-Tāne Wild Forest Honey is presented here as raw honey in 3kg pails. We also produce it raw in 6kg pails and creamed in 500g jars.
Sue Maher (verified owner) –
‘Raw Pua-ā-Tāne Wild Forest Honey’ – 3kg
I am so pleased that I came across the ‘Manawa Honey NZ’ website. I loved reading about the people and the company philosophy, so I decided to send for the 3kg pail of Pua-a-Tane Wild Forest honey. It arrived promptly… and happy day… beautiful honey. It has a subtle, sweet fragrance when you open the pail, a rich caramel colour and a heavenly taste. Thank you.
Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ –
Fabulous Sue – wonderful to get this feedback from you. We appreciate that you looked into who we are and what we are about – because this is what really drives us to do what we do. Love your description of the honey – that wording is beautiful – hope you are agreeable for us to use those kinda words when we describe Pua-ā-Tāne Wild Fores Honey! Nga mihi naku na Brenda
Valeria Loyer –
The honey is absolutely amazing – rich, flavorful, and pure, just as you’d expect from wild forest honey. Not only is the quality top-notch, but the price is also incredibly affordable for such a premium product.
I will definitely be buying again and highly recommend Manawa Honey!”
Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ –
Kia ora Valerie – thanks for your wonderful feedback on our Pua-ā-Tāne Wild Forest Honey! We love it too – this honey brings together a unique fusion of honeys from Te Urewera. We love it that you are coming back to us for more! Looking forward to that Valerie – nga mihi naku na Brenda
Tess (verified owner) –
Nice tasty honey, but not easily spreadable. Think I needed raw option for kids sandwiches
We prefer the rewarewa honey
Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ –
Kia ora Tess – thanks for taking the time to review our Raw Pua-a-Tane Wild Forest Honey. We know that raw honey can often set quite firmly when it crystallizes so when this happens it won’t be easy for spreading straight from the pail. To soften honey you can either put it into a cup or bowl and then warmed gently in hot water to get a spreading consistency. However in our view, the best way to get honey spreadable is to just scrape it with a knife in the pail and as it softens, move it about a bit. Honey has this amazing property of softening, as if it is melting, just from being moved around, without heat being applied. Hope this helps Tess. Nga mihi naku noa na Brenda
Naomi (verified owner) –
Delicious honey
Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ –
Kia ora Naomi – thanks for your comment here – yes our customers definitely have this comment about our Pua-ā-Tāne honey! Nga mihi naku na Brenda
Tess obrien (verified owner) –
This honey is absolutely delicious… I use it in many ways… Extremely happy with it… I love it so much I will be buying a bigger amount next time… Really us the best I’ve had
Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ –
Kia ora Tess – thanks for your feedback here – this is awesome. And yes we agree this honey is absolutely delicious! Glad to hear you will buying more next time – welcome to Manawa! Nga mihi naku na Brenda Tahi, CEO
H R Faneva (verified owner) –
If you’ve never tasted Manawa honey, you’re truly missing out. I consider myself something of a honey connoisseur, having sampled many varieties from across New Zealand, yet this stands out as one of the finest I’ve enjoyed in a long while. Its flavour is exceptional and rich, its golden hue is beautiful, and its texture is wonderfully light. Highly recommended
Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ –
Oh Hine – kia ora! It’s fantastic to get this comprehensive and complimentary feedback especially from a honey connoisseur! Thank you. It reflects for us the wonderful nature of this honey – Tāne’s bounty from our forests. Then our care in beekeeping and producing our honey. Feeling connected to you now through this – awesome e Hine. Welcome to Manawa eh. Ng amihi naku na Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ
Mikayla (verified owner) –
Absolutely beautiful honey at a great price point. Gorgeous caramel colour and rich flavour plus a rich texture (which can be a bit hit and miss with raw honey). This is my second 3kg tub and I will be back for more. Perfect for everything from a sneaky teaspoon alone to in baking and in my iced coffees
Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ –
Kia ora Mikayla thank you for your feedback on our Pua-a-Tane Wild Forest Honey. So good to hear that you appreciate the texture of our honey not just the flavour! Love the uses there – sneaky teaspoon yes! And iced coffees yum…Welcome to Manawa Mikayla – awesome to have you join us! Nga mihi naku na Brenda Tahi, CEO
Mark (verified owner) –
Great tasting honey. I use it in tea and coffee and this doesn’t overpower the flavour. Quick delivery and a decent price. This was my first purchase and I’ll be coming back for more!
Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ –
Cool Mark – love this review – kia ora! Welcome to Manawa. You have the best all-round honey in Pua-ā-Tāne. Enjoy! Nga mihi naku na Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ.
Tineke Stokes (verified owner) –
Everyday starts with the honey on Toast and then a mid morning lemon and honey drink and we are so pleased with our purchase..
.This is our first purchase and we will be reordering once we get near the bottom of this pail and in the meantime we enjoy the taste and the variety of uses in drinks, toast,, baking and the occasional teaspoon for no other reason than we love it !!
Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ –
Kia ora Tineke – apologies for missing this review and taking so long to come back to you! Very best for 2026 to you anyway! Fabulous to hear that you’re really enjoying our honey on toast and in drinks. This is us too – honey in and on everything lol. Welcome to Manawa! Nga mihi naku no na Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ.
kimba108 kimba108 (verified owner) –
Beautiful honey, feels like I’m in the bush, heaven. However, it’s not actually RAW stated,, its solid, and creamy, although after enquiring, its not ultra heated, but it definitely not liquid either, so I need this clarified b4 I order another, I really want RAW as stated. Delicious, heavenly, thankyou, Nga Mihi
Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ –
Kia ora Kimba – oh yes – you get it! This is what we set out to achieve – an experience of our bush through our honey. Love your review – thank you so much for this! I understand some of the confusion over our raw honey. It will set over time so please note that raw does not mean liquid. Raw honey is only liquid for a month or so after it is packed then it will set. Our Pua-a-Tane often sets to a relatively smooth texture because some of the varietals are quite fine-grained. Please note that to keep honey liquid requires a lot of processing – ultra-heating and ultra-filtering, so it definitely is not raw! I hope this information helps you choose your honey in future. Anyway welcome to Manawa! nga mihi naku na Brenda Tahi, CEO, Manawa Honey NZ.
Masina (verified owner) –
Absolutely beautiful honey – delicious flavour, smooth and yum!
Brenda Tahi, CEO Manawa Honey NZ –
Kia ora Masina – I saw your order going through so it is just great to get this feedback from you. We know this Pua-a-Tane Honey is just a wonderful honey – so many customers love it. Welcome to Manawa Masina – enjoy. Nga mihi naku na Brenda Tahi, CEO