Honey
August 31, 2026
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What a certified TA score actually tells you about how the bees and the honey were looked after
I got into an argument this week about whether Manuka honey or Jarrah honey is better for you, my opponent swearing black and blue that Manuka is the better honey. The trouble was, he’d never actually heard of TA rating, and couldn’t tell me why it wouldn’t be authoritative once I explained it, he just kept swearing black and blue that Manuka was the better strain anyway. I didn’t argue back with an opinion. I argued back with a TA rating, because on this one, the testing says otherwise.
It would be easy to look at a TA rating printed on a honey jar and treat it the way you might treat a star rating on a bag of coffee, a nice touch, but not something you’d build an argument around. We’d say that’s selling it short. A genuine TA rating, the kind backed by an independent lab result rather than a number someone picked because it sounded impressive, tells you something real about how that honey was produced, from the flowers the bees chose right through to how carefully it was handled after it left the hive.
Quickly, in case you haven’t come across it before: Total Activity, or TA, is the measure of how strong a honey’s antibacterial activity is. It’s tested independently against two bacterial strains and converted into a single number, the higher the better, and we have every batch of our honey tested by Y-Trace, a WA lab, rather than printing a number we came up with ourselves.
That’s the short version. If you want the long one, testing method and full certified results table included, it’s all laid out on what TA rating honey actually is. But a number on its own doesn’t win an argument. What wins it is why that number can be trusted in the first place, and that’s exactly where my opponent had nothing to say.
A High TA Rating Starts With What the Bees Forage
Antibacterial activity in honey isn’t something a beekeeper adds, it comes from compounds the bees themselves bring back in the nectar, which means it’s tied directly to what’s flowering nearby. Our Jarrah and Blackbutt honeys test at TA 42, exceptional by any measure, and that’s not a fluke of processing. It’s a reflection of ancient Western Australian flora that simply doesn’t grow anywhere else, and hives placed carefully to forage on it rather than on whatever’s convenient.
It Reflects How the Honey Is Handled Afterwards
The antibacterial compounds that give honey its TA rating are also fragile. Heat honey too aggressively during extraction, or filter it too hard to make it look glassy and uniform on the shelf, and you can strip away a meaningful chunk of that activity along with the pollen and enzymes. Our own honey extraction process settles rather than strains, and we never heat the honey to push it through a filter.
Testing Every Batch Is the Part Most Producers Skip
Here’s the bit that separates a genuine TA rating from a marketing one. We test every batch through Y-Trace, an independent WA lab. Our certified results from February and March 2026 show Jarrah and Blackbutt both at TA 42, Banksia at TA 34, and even our everyday Bush Honey at TA 19. You can check the full certified results table for all four on our TA rating honey page.
How Our Honey Ranks
Here’s how our range stacks up against itself, ranked by certified TA rating from our February, March and May 2026 results:
| Rank | Honey | Ta Rating | Strength | Certificate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (tied) | Jarrah TA35+ | TA 42 | Exceptional | View certificate |
| 1 (tied) | Blackbutt | TA 42 | Exceptional | View certificate |
| 1 (tied) | Red Gum | TA 42 | Exceptional | View certificate |
| 4 | Banksia | TA 34 | High | View certificate |
| 5 | Bush Honey | TA 19 | Moderate | View certificate |
If you’re after honey for something specific, cold and flu season is when people ask us about this most, and it’s worth knowing that a higher TA rating means stronger antibacterial activity, so Jarrah, Blackbutt and Red Gum are the three to reach for. We’ve actually written about this already, our simple home remedy for cough piece makes the same Jarrah-over-Manuka case.
What This Means When You're Actually Choosing a Jar
If you’re buying honey purely for flavour, TA rating barely matters, pick whatever tastes best to you. But if you’re buying with an eye on the antibacterial properties, the rating is the only part of the label you can actually trust without taking someone’s word for it.
TA Rating vs UMF: Is One Better?
Which brings me back to my argument. UMF is the rating system used for Manuka honey, and on the surface it looks similar to TA. Dig into what each number is actually measuring, though, and the comparison stops being close.
| UMF (Manuka Honey) | TA (Jarrah & WA Honey) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Non-peroxide activity only, based on methylglyoxal (MGO) content | Both peroxide and non-peroxide antibacterial activity |
| How the activity is created | MGO occurs naturally in the nectar, no hydrogen peroxide involved | Glucose oxidase reacts with glucose to produce hydrogen peroxide, on top of non-peroxide activity |
| Typical commercial grade | Most shelf Manuka tops out around UMF 20 to 24+ (roughly MGO 829 to 1150) | Our Jarrah TA35+ tests at TA 42 (MGO 1700+ equivalent) |
| Floral source | Leptospermum (tea tree), grows in NZ and eastern Australia | Jarrah eucalypt, grows exclusively in Western Australia |
| Independently tested | Yes, UMF-licensed labs | Yes, Y-Trace, an independent WA lab |
Most Manuka you’ll actually find on a shelf sits around UMF 20 to 24+, roughly MGO 829 to 1150. Our Jarrah TA35+ comes in at TA 42, an MGO equivalent north of 1700. A handful of ultra-rare, limited-release Manuka honeys do reach or beat that figure too, but they’re one-off releases. Ours isn’t a novelty, we test every batch and our Jarrah sits at that exceptional level consistently, harvest after harvest. We’ve gone into the full detail on our Jarrah honey vs Manuka honey page.
How to Tell a Real TA Rating From a Marketing One
A real TA rating comes with a paper trail: a lab name, a sample ID, a test date, and a technical lead willing to put their name to the result. Ours comes from Y-Trace, signed off by Dr Khairul Islam.
So, What Should You Actually Take From a TA Rating?
Treat it as a shortcut through everything else you can’t easily check yourself. A high, certified TA rating is the honey equivalent of a producer saying come and check our work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is TA rating the same as UMF?
They measure similar ground but they’re not interchangeable. UMF is specific to Manuka honey, while TA is the equivalent measure used for Western Australian varieties.
How do I know a TA rating is legitimate?
Look for a named lab, a sample ID and a test date, not just a number on the label.
Does a higher TA rating mean the honey is better to eat?
Not necessarily. TA measures antibacterial strength, not flavour.
Can TA rating change from batch to batch?
Yes, which is exactly why testing every batch matters rather than testing once and reusing the number.
Piesseful Bees Honey
Piesseful Bees Honey, Australia's favourite honey shop. 100% raw honey from Western Australia, including Jarrah honey and bush honey.
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