Today I’m going to introduce one of my favourite stores in Japan: Sugi Bee Honey Garden. If you are visiting Japan, I highly recommend visiting this store! Whenever a friend visits me in Japan, I always introduce them to Sugi. I’ve even introduced a few Japanese friends! If you are a fan of honey, you will definitely love this store!
If you’re a fan of roasted green tea, and stylish cafes, why not check out my review of Kyoto’s HoHo Hojicha cafe? You can read it here!
What is it?
Sugi Bee Garden is a chain store that specializes in products containing Japanese honey. They do their beekeeping mostly in Kumamoto, Akita, and Hokkaido. In order to preserve the environment, the locations and flowers used are often changed. This gives nature a chance to heal a bit from the stress beekeeping may cause.
While it is more of a store than a cade, all locations also have a counter menu that you can order select ready-made items from. In some larger stores, there are also sit-down areas where you can enjoy your snack!
What’s on the menu?
Menu prices range from around 350 – 1200 yen (this may vary based on location and inflation). You can order iced honey drinks, hot honey tea, and honey-vanilla ice cream! There is a rather large arrange of drink flavours, and some are better than others. Currently, my favourite is the iced yuzu drink, while my least favourite is the iced blueberry.
Available ice cream and drink flavours rotate with the seasons, but there are select items that are always available.
The price of Sugi’s ice cream cones is really standard for Japan in my opinion. The specialty parfaits can get a bit costly, so I recommend first trying the cone to see if you enjoy the flavour.
I find the honey infusion makes the vanilla just a little bit sweeter without being overpowering. If you’re in the mood for matcha, or something more exciting I recommend going to a specialty ice cream store, as Sugi only offers one (delicious) flavour.
Sugi also offers ice cream with the fruit-infused honey poured over it, but the base ice-cream is always vanilla.
I enjoyed the ice cream in the above picture with my friend at the Kiyomizu location! This store offers a cozy sit-down area, as you can see.
Souvenir ideas from Japan
If you’re looking to buy something to take home, there are a variety of other products sold at Sugi Bee Honey! To list them briefly:
- Specialty honey
- Fruit juice infused honey
- Honey Sake (cooking)
- Pickled honey
For a full list of all souvenirs you can buy at Sugi Bee, please click here!
Specialty honey
Sugi Bee Honey offers three different types of specialty honey. Each is made from a specific flower, which alters the taste of the honey.
- Acacia flower honey: doesn’t have much of a smell, and has a delicate taste.
- Satsuma honey: has an invigorating scent and taste.
- Lotus flower: has an elegant scent, and a mellow taste.
Fruit juice infused honey
This product is sold in three sizes: 1000g, 500g, and 300g.
This is also the product with the most flavour variety! It comes in the following flavours: yuzu, blueberry, mango, grape, maple, raspberry, lemon, cherry, apple.
It can be used in many different ways, including : mixing with boiled or iced water, and topping ice cream! I also like to add it to my tea to add a bit of flavour.
Honey Sake
The honey infuse sake comes in four flavours: royal jelly vinegar sake, pure honey sake, apple sake, and honey apple sake. Rather than drinking straight, this sake is better used in cooking and baking sweet dishes.
Pickled honey
This last item is the one I am most unfamiliar with. All of these products have been pickled in specialized honey. The flavours offered are: plum, ginger, 6 year aged ginseng, Vermont soybean, and Burmese rosewood.
Where can I find a store?
There are 79 Sugi Bee Honey stores found globally, all of which are located in Asia. This includes 5 in Kyoto, and 9 in Tokyo. In Kyoto, there are Sugi stores found at the following locations:
- Sanjo
- Ginkaku-ji
- Sannenzaka
- Nishiki market
- Arashiyama
Out of these stores, my favourite locations are: Sannenzaka (beside kiyomizu), and Nishiki.
Have you ever tried Sugi Bee honey?
Maddies Manga 
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