Envy and Sugar Bee Apples - Two overhyped apples?

General Fruit Growing
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This is not the time to be judging apples in the US unless they are from New Zealand.

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Sugarbee is my favorite store apple. Costco used to carry it which was great, but I haven’t seen it there in a long time.

Fred Meyer usually carries it.

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Why New Zealand?

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Here are my top 6 Club’s apples: Kiku, Envy, Pacific rose, Opal, Cosmic crisp, and Sugar bee

Tony

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Because those apples haven’t been in storage for 8+ months

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Apples in Chile are ripening around now. Any Honeycrisps you find in the store now are probably from there.

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Not in WA state :frowning:

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Apples in stores here seem to be on the much smaller size this year. Got some Golden Delicious that are practically small. Zero flavor at all. No sweetness. And starting to soften.

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wish envy werent so big, but just had one today that was a bit of a revelation. perfumey, intensely aromatic. hard to finish a whole one though

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There is an orchard in Minnesota (Ocheda orchard) that grows the only honeycrisps that I find tasty. They also patented the SugarBee, and the ones the grow there (B51) are superior (not just according to my tastes, but also to a blind taste test that the owners referenced). Local climate seems to make quite the difference for taste (as does picking apples when decently ripe).

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One of the store in my town have the best Envy apple. 1.50 a lb. I could eat 1 or 2 a day. It was that good. However, it didn’t beat Cosmic Crisp in a bag. Those were over size and couldn’t be sold in the regular store. I finish the whole bag.

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I tried 4 Envy apples this fall - all from different stores at different times. Every single one had kind of a fishy taste to me. It was really odd. I kept trying them from different places because I thought I must have just gotten one that wasn’t good - but they all had that taste. Wondering if anyone else had that experience.

I liked Sugarbee. it’s not a favorite of mine, but I wouldn’t turn one down either!

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not my experience. sugar bee was very underwhelming for me. SweeTango is my go grocery store apple, though.

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Well hopeful news! Sweetango will come off-patent this year on Nov 22, 2026 under it’s non-trademarked name ‘Minneiska’. Maybe we’ll find it out in the world then….

I would quite like to find it myself as it is an early apple, ripening around August-early September. I already have Evercrisp as a late apple, and my Sugarbee is mid-season, so with Menneiska I hope to be eating home-grown Honeycrisp-esc apples all season long. My one fear is Sweetango’s crazy crispness is like Honeycrisp because both have huge cells in their fruit, so I’m worrying that it might follow suit and not be heat-tolerant enough for me here in PNW California.

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I found a few Envys in the store this fall - they were awful, like they were a year old. Now disappeared. Such a disappointment, they were my favorite. Sugarbee not so much, all crisp and sweetness but not much flavor.

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I am surprised that this thread is still getting replies! I’ve since had more occasions to try each apple, and they’re still not by favorite apples but I’ve definitely had better since.

Lucy Glo is my favorite new apple, and now that my trees have been producing fruit - I’ve had the opportunity to try some of them. Cherub was really good last year. I did some taste tests of my apples along with wild trees this past fall and posted them on YouTube:
(1) Fruit Taste Tests - YouTube

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