A sweet new buzz: Why Rolleston’s newest café is all about the honey

Wednesday, 17 June 2026

A fifth-generation Canterbury beekeeping family is taking its honey directly to consumers through a new Rolleston café that served more than a week's worth of coffee in its first three days of trading.

Organika Honey and Coffee recently opened its doors, run by Victoria and Yuriy Soshnikov.

Their family business, TranzAlpine Honey, traces its beekeeping roots back to 1910 and has produced certified organic honey since 1993. The operation relocated its main base from Ashburton to Rolleston three years ago, and the café concept grew out of a more personal frustration.

“I was struggling to find a good coffee in Rolleston,” Soshnikov said.

Owners Victoria and Yuriy Soshnikov at their newly opened café in iZone, Rolleston.

In its first three days, the café served 10kg of coffee. Soshnikov said a café of its size would typically expect to use about 6kg in an entire week.

Alongside flat whites, lattes and cappuccinos, the café serves a range of honey-infused drinks, including turmeric, ginger and lavender variations, as well as a “quirky” hot honey option made with mānuka honey and cayenne pepper.

The honey is sourced from about 2000 beehives across Canterbury and the West Coast, with varieties including mānuka, kānuka and kāmahi.

The café also gives the family an opportunity to interact directly with customers — something their wholesale and export business rarely allows.

Free tasting stations are placed throughout the café, giving customers the chance to try different honey varieties.

Soshnikov said early customer response has been curious but positive.

“I just have a client here sitting in front of me … who came in and said I would actually like to try honey inside the coffee,” he said, adding the customer was “smiling and enjoying the cup”.

Alongside flat whites, lattes and cappuccinos, the café serves a range of honey-infused drinks.

That same approach continues in the cabinet food, where refined sugar has been replaced with honey across much of the range.

Offerings include pistachio and raspberry cakes with rātā honey, tiramisu cinnamon buns, walnut apple buns with wild floral honey, and lavender honey cupcakes.

TranzAlpine Honey is sourced from about 2000 beehives across Canterbury and the West Coast.

Despite its organic focus, prices remain in line with other cafés, with most coffees priced between $6 and $9.

“We don’t build real estate margin into our products,” he says. “You’re paying for quality, not someone else’s rent.”