FreshieRiwaka
Intensely fragrant, supply-constrained NZ stunner.
What it tastes like
Riwaka is the most expressive of the NZ hop family — passionfruit, grapefruit, lime zest, almost saturated tropical fruit. Production is limited and it's one of the hardest hops to source globally. Beers featuring Riwaka in any meaningful quantity tend to sell out fast.
Best in these styles
Beers showcasing Riwaka
Specific beer examples coming soon.
Substitutes & relatives
If you can't source Riwaka, these hops bring overlapping character.
Lineage & family
How Riwaka connects to the rest of the hop family — its parents, and the varieties it spawned. Trace the full pedigree in the Hop Lineage explorer →
Blood relatives
Genetically closest in the pedigree (may taste different):
Pedigree data adapted from the Rohwer (2021) hop family tree (CC0 1.0). Compilation, analysis & visualisation © 2026 Veryation · Freshie™.
For brewers — technical profile
Oil composition
History
Released by the NZ Plant & Food Research Institute in 1997. Originally called New Zealand D-Saaz.
Explore more hops
Flavor twins across Freshie
Drinks and foods across Freshie that share Riwaka’s flavor fingerprint — matched on shared flavor axes via the Freshie Taste Graph.