Joo Chiat Honey Shop: Taste Jarrah Before You Buy

The Rare Honey Company keeps its shop at 19 Joo Chiat Place, Singapore 427748, and it opens every day: Monday to Thursday from 11am to 7pm, Friday to Sunday from 10am to 7pm. The room doubles as a honey bar, so you can taste jarrah, redgum, karri and blackbutt honeys from Western Australia before you commit to a jar. Prices on the shop's own site start at S$20 for a 260g jar of Coastal Wildflower, which makes it an easy place to learn what real single-origin honey tastes like without paying manuka money.

The business started in mid-2020 as an online brand run by Harry Grover, a Western Australian who also founded Common Man Coffee Roasters and the now-closed Forty Hands cafe in Singapore. He grew up near Margaret River, where his family's farm has old jarrah and redgum trees, and he runs the company with two beekeepers, Stephen Tomsic and Ryan Brand, who look after the hives in Australia. Vulcan Post reports that a first tasting bar opened a few months later at the Tan Boon Liat Building, because customers wanted to try the honeys before buying.

The shop moved to Joo Chiat Place in August 2024, according to The Singapore Women's Weekly, which describes a vintage apothecary look: dark wood furniture, bee motifs and pastel bird wallpaper, with jars lining the shelves. The company says it is a small, family owned operation, and that its honey goes from the hive to the jar cold filtered and unprocessed. That hive-to-jar claim is the whole pitch, and the tasting bar is where you can judge it with a spoon rather than a label.

Start with the pale end. Coastal Wildflower TA 10+ is the entry jar at S$20 for 260g, and Redgum TA 10+ is S$31. The company grades its bioactive honeys on a Total Activity scale, certified by independent lab tests, and the numbers in the names are those ratings. A TA 10+ honey is the everyday spoon for toast and tea. Tasting the two side by side shows how much a different flowering tree changes the colour, the body and the finish.

Creamed Karri TA 10+ at S$31 is the odd one out, because it is set smooth like a spread rather than runny, which suits warm toast and cold mornings in a way a pourable honey does not. Black Truffle Honey is S$24 for 140g and works on cheese or fried chicken. If you only want a taste to take home, the 65g miniatures are S$9 for Coastal Wildflower, S$11 for Redgum and S$12 for Creamed Karri, and they fit a gift bag without a gift box.

For something to eat straight from the jar, ask about the Uncut Honeycomb at S$33 for 160g, or the Wildflower honey with hand-cut honeycomb at S$26 for 260g. Chewing wax and honey together is a different texture from spooning it, and it is the best way to show a child what a hive makes. A pair of wooden honey twirlers costs S$8, and Bee Pollen is S$28, both listed on the shop's own site.

The shop sells gift sets too, which is why the counter gets busy before festive weekends. The Honey Favours Giftbox is S$26, the High Potency Blackbutt Giftbox is S$55 and the High Potency Jarrah Giftbox is S$72. If you spend S$65 or more on honey in the shop, the store offers a free honey-infused beverage, so a single Super Jarrah plus a miniature or two nearly gets you there.

The honey bar is also a small cafe, and the website describes it as a coffee bar with honey drinks and bakes. The Singapore Women's Weekly picked out the Peanut Butter Honey Latte, the Honey Oat Ice Latte and the Honeycomb Matcha Latte, which comes with a cube of honeycomb on top. Ask what is on the menu on the day, because the bakes sell out, and the same reviewer found them gone by mid-visit.

Seats are limited and suit solo visitors or pairs, so a group of four will do better to buy jars and carry the drinks out. The quiet stretch is weekday afternoons. Weekend mornings are busier because the shop opens an hour earlier from Friday to Sunday.

Joo Chiat Place sits just off the busier Joo Chiat Road stretch, so it is quieter than the main strip. After you collect your jar, walk toward Koon Seng Road, where the row of pastel Peranakan shophouses is among the most photographed streets in the east. The facades date from the early twentieth century, and the tiles, shutters and five-foot-ways are worth ten unhurried minutes.

For a savoury follow-up, East Coast Road is a short walk away and has two Katong names that people queue for, 328 Katong Laksa and Kim Choo Kueh Chang for rice dumplings and kueh. A jar of honey travels well in a tote, but keep creamed honey out of a hot car, since the company itself air freights creamed varieties because heat does not suit them.

Address: The Rare Honey Company, 19 Joo Chiat Place, Singapore 427748. Hours: Monday to Thursday 11am to 7pm, Friday to Sunday 10am to 7pm, open daily. Free shipping in Singapore applies to orders over S$80 on the company's website, or you can buy in the shop.

Plan around a short visit of 20 to 30 minutes if you only want to taste and buy, longer if you order a drink and sit. If the few seats are taken, a jar and a miniature to try at home is a fair plan B. For a bigger spend, pick one dark jar such as the Super Jarrah and one pale jar such as the Coastal Wildflower, so you can compare them over a week at breakfast.