Some honeys reward a crowd. They are easy, smooth, and uncomplicated — the sort of jar you hand a guest without much ceremony. Hive 7 citrus honey is not that jar. It asks for a moment. It rewards attention. And in the 400g size, it is the clearest, most honest introduction we sell to what a raw unfiltered Egyptian citrus honey actually is.
This is a close read on a single jar: Hive 7, Sharkiya, 400g. Not a product page. A walk around what is inside, what it tastes like, and who it is for.
The hive
Hive 7 is not a marketing number. It is a real colony, kept by a beekeeper we have been working with for years, in a citrus belt of Sharkiya — a region with different soil, different climate, and a slightly different floral rhythm than our Fayoum citrus orchards. We write about the orchards themselves in our piece on Fayoum's citrus belt; Sharkiya's citrus is its neighbour in style, but distinct in character.
When we print "Hive 7" on the label, we mean the honey came from that single colony, during one harvest window, from bees foraging within a few kilometres of their box. One hive. One beekeeper. One season. No blending with other hives, no topping up with leftover drum. If you want the longer explanation of why the hive number is on every jar, Why We Label Every Jar with a Hive Number covers it.
Raw. Unfiltered. What that actually means.
The label reads "Raw Unfiltered Citrus Honey." Each of those words is doing work.
- Raw — the honey has not been heated past roughly 40°C after leaving the comb. The natural enzymes, the pollen traces, and the light volatile aromatics of citrus are intact.
- Unfiltered — we pass the honey through a basic strainer to remove wax fragments, and that is it. No fine filtration, no pressure processing, no "polishing" for a cleaner visual.
The result is a honey that does not look or behave like supermarket honey. It can be slightly cloudy. It can carry a thin top layer of lighter sediment. It may crystallise faster than a filtered jar. None of these are flaws — they are the signature of a honey that has been left alone. If crystallisation worries you, we wrote about it in Why Does Honey Crystallize? — the short answer is that raw honey crystallising is a sign of authenticity, not spoilage.
What 400g of Hive 7 actually tastes like
Citrus honey, at its best, is a balancing act. Too little character and it reads as generic sweet. Too much and it becomes sharp or medicinal. Hive 7 sits in the middle, and it leans in a direction you notice within the first spoonful.
Colour. A warm amber, slightly darker than our Hive 3 from Fayoum. Hold the jar up to morning light and it reads gold, not yellow.
Aroma. Opened fresh, it carries orange-blossom and a touch of green — the faint, slightly herbal note that raw citrus honeys from Sharkiya tend to have. Not candy-floral. More like the air in a citrus grove in late spring.
Mouthfeel. Fuller than a filtered honey. There is a slow, coating quality on the spoon. It doesn't run off the back of a knife the way commercial honey does. That slowness is partly texture and partly water content — the lower the water, the slower the pour.
Taste. A soft citrus sweetness up front, then a longer finish with a hint of warmth. It is not the "bright and forward" note you get from a lemon honey. It is rounder, more grown-up, a honey that pairs with food rather than announcing itself over it.
Why the 400g size is the one we recommend first
We sell Hive 7 in 400g and 800g. For anyone new to the hive, the 400g is the right size. Here is why.
A 400g jar of a raw unfiltered honey is enough to live with — five, six weeks of daily spoons, a few warm drinks, one or two breakfast plates for guests. It is long enough to see how the honey settles in your home (where you store it matters, which we covered in caring for your raw honey). And it is small enough that you are not committing to a kilo of a flavour you have not tasted yet.
When someone asks us, "which jar should I start with?" for citrus, the honest answer is often Hive 7 400g. Then — if the taste suits — step up to the 800g next time.
Who Hive 7 400g is for
- People who want a raw honey that tastes of a place. Sharkiya's citrus does not taste exactly like Fayoum's. You can taste the difference side by side, which is part of why we keep both hives on the shelf at the same time.
- People building a morning ritual. A spoon with warm water, a drizzle on labneh, a stir into mint tea. At 400g, a jar lasts through a honest daily habit without becoming a commitment.
- Gift buyers who want something specific, not generic. Handing someone "Hive 7, Sharkiya, raw unfiltered" is a different gesture than handing them "honey." The specificity is the gift.
Why the price is what it is
At 250 EGP, the Hive 7 400g is not the cheapest honey on the shelf, and it is not meant to be. The pricing reflects four things we do not shortcut: we buy from a small beekeeper at a fair rate, we limit each jar to one hive and one batch, we do not filter the honey for cosmetic reasons, and we label every jar with a traceable hive and harvest reference. The label tells you what is inside — we walked through every line of it in What's on a Haydara Label.
If you are weighing price, the 400g is the most honest way to judge the value. Taste the honey, read the label, and decide whether the integrity holds up on your own table.
A practical note on handling
Keep the jar out of direct sunlight. A cupboard shelf is fine. Do not store in the fridge — cold accelerates crystallisation and dulls the aroma. Use a dry spoon each time (water in the jar shortens shelf life). If the jar crystallises over the months, sit it in a bowl of warm water for twenty minutes. It will return to liquid without losing the raw character.
If you have been curious about the difference between our two citrus hives, a jar of Hive 7 400g is the most direct way to find out. Order via the website or send us a message on WhatsApp — we will tell you which batch is currently in bottling and when it was harvested.