Cane sugar and beet sugar taste, smell and behave exactly the same. The processing of sugar cane and sugar beet plants is what gives us different types of sugars (with the exception of honey and high fructose corn syrup) When it comes to sugar, the term refining means ‘to make pure’. Different Types of Sugar. Raw Sugar: The intermediate product during the processing or refining. It is a tan, coarse granulated product obtained from the evaporation of clarified sugar cane juice. It is difficult to buy 100 percent raw sugar because of its impurities.