Boysenberry vs Loganberry vs Tayberry: What's the Difference?
Short answer: All three are hybrid brambleberries in the genus Rubus, blends of blackberry and raspberry lineages. Loganberry is the original cross - dark red, long, and tart. Boysenberry descends from that line - large, soft, deep maroon-purple, and sweet-tart with a wine-like richness. Tayberry is a later blackberry-raspberry cross - bright red-purple, aromatic, and the sweetest and most fragrant of the three.
| 🫐 Boysenberry | 🫐 Loganberry | 🫐 Tayberry | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taste | Large and soft with a deep, sweet-tart, winey flavor — richer and more aromatic than a blackberry, with the raspberry's perfume and a maroon, juicy flesh. | Boldly tart and aromatic — blackberry depth with raspberry perfume and a deep-red, winey acidity; softens toward sweet only when very ripe, and shines with sugar and heat. | Aromatic and richly sweet-tart, more perfumed than a loganberry, with a long conical shape and a soft, deep red-purple flesh; considered one of the best-flavored bramble hybrids. |
| Type | Berry | Berry | Berry |
| Peak season | Summer | Summer | Summer |
| Origin | California (bred by Rudolph Boysen in the 1920s) | Santa Cruz, California (an accidental garden hybrid, 1881) | Scotland (bred at the Scottish Horticultural Research Institute, 1979) |
| Calories (per 100 g) | 50 | 55 | 52 |
| Sugar (per 100 g) | 7 g | 8 g | 7 g |
| Vitamin C (per 100 g) | 21 mg | 20 mg | 22 mg |
| Typical price | Mid | Mid | Mid |
These three are what happens when breeders keep crossing blackberries with raspberries - a family of soft, richly flavoured “bramble” hybrids in the genus Rubus that share a look but differ in the details.
Loganberry is the ancestor of the group, a chance blackberry-raspberry cross found in California in the 1880s. Its berries are long, conical, and dark wine-red, and the flavour is sharp and tart - excellent juiced, cooked, or made into wine, less so eaten straight.
Boysenberry descends from that loganberry line and grew famous through Knott’s Berry Farm. It’s the biggest of the three: large, soft, and deep maroon-purple, with a sweet-tart, almost jammy, wine-like richness. It’s the classic pie-and-syrup berry.
Tayberry, bred in Scotland in the 1970s, is a newer blackberry-raspberry cross named for the River Tay. Its berries are bright red-purple, and it’s the sweetest and most perfumed of the trio, aromatic enough to shine eaten fresh.
They’re all delicate and rarely shipped far, so expect to find them at farms and in preserves rather than supermarkets. In short: loganberry is tart and old-school; boysenberry is big, dark, and wine-rich; tayberry is bright, sweet, and fragrant.
Frequently asked questions
Are these natural berries or hybrids?
All three are cultivated hybrids, not wild species. The loganberry arose in 1880s California from a blackberry-raspberry cross; the boysenberry was developed from loganberry-type parentage a few decades later; and the tayberry was bred in Scotland in the 1970s from a blackberry and a raspberry. They're all in the genus Rubus.
Which is the sweetest?
The tayberry is generally the sweetest and most aromatic, which is why it's a favourite for fresh eating. Loganberry is the tartest, best cooked or juiced, and boysenberry sits in between with a rich, almost wine-like sweetness.
Why are they hard to find in shops?
All three are soft, fragile, and don't ship or store well, so they rarely reach supermarket shelves. You're most likely to meet them at farms, farmers' markets, pick-your-own, or as jams, pies, and syrups.