Our story
Mellra began with a single hive on a chalk ridge above Forcalquier. Founded in 2021 by Aboulay Ceesay — third-generation beekeeper — the house curates single-origin honeys from fourteen partner apiaries across Europe, slow-fermented mead, and starter hive kits for first-year beekeepers.
A single hive above Forcalquier.
Mellra began with a single hive on a chalk ridge above Forcalquier, in the lavender heart of Haute-Provence. Aboulay Ceesay — third-generation beekeeper, daughter and granddaughter of Provençal apiarists — apprenticed for three years at INRAE Avignon, where she studied colony health, single-blossom harvest cycles and the chemistry of cold extraction.
In 2021 she opened a tasting room above the Place du Bourguet in the village of Sault, lining the walls with jars from her family's apiaries and a handful of curated honeys from the apiarists she trusted most. The online catalogue followed a year later — a deliberately small selection of single-origin honeys, rare blossoms from further afield, and the slow-fermented meads she had begun making with a partner meadery in Slovenia.
Today Mellra keeps thirty-six colonies of its own around Forcalquier and curates honeys from fourteen partner apiaries across Europe — Cévennes chestnut, Vosges Calluna heather, Black Forest fir honeydew, linden from the village squares of Burgundy. Every jar is extracted cold, below thirty degrees, the same week the hive is opened. We believe a honey should taste of the week it was harvested.
Our commitments
Four principles that guide every jar of Mellra honey
Single-hive traceability
Every jar carries the hive number, the apiary village and the harvest week. We never blend across colonies; the honey you taste is the work of one queen and one summer.
Cold extraction ≤ 30°C
Frames are uncapped and spun in a room held below thirty degrees, the same week the supers are pulled. No heat, no pressure filtration — the enzymes, pollens and aromatics stay intact.
Certified provenance
Where a regional protection exists, we honour it. PDO Schwarzwälder Tannenhonig, UMF for Northland Manuka, single-grove certification for Doan Valley Sidr.
Pesticide-free apiaries
Our partner apiaries forage on land vetted for neonicotinoid use and treat colonies with organic-certified protocols only. Lab residue tests are run every harvest.
The Mellra team
Beekeeper, mead-maker, sourcing manager and apprentice — between Forcalquier and the Vipava Valley
Aboulay Ceesay
Founder & head beekeeper
Third-generation beekeeper from Forcalquier, formed at INRAE Avignon. Élise tends the Mellra apiary and curates the partner harvests, hive by hive.
Marin Aubertin
Mead-maker, partner in Slovenia
Trained at the Mead School of Maribor. Marin ferments the Mellra dry, mulsum and pet-nat meads in a small cellar in the Vipava Valley.
Inès Casadellà
Sourcing manager
Travels to each partner apiary every season. Inès assesses hives, runs the lab residue tests and writes the tasting notes that come with every jar.
Côme Vasseur
Apiary apprentice
Apprenticing through the French Compagnons du Devoir programme. Côme assists with extraction days, hive inspections and the Provence honey calendar.
Mellra in numbers
Browse the catalogue
Start with the single-origin honeys, or jump straight to the rare-blossom jars from Northland and the Doan Valley.