Motueka

According to NZ Hops, Motueka™ was developed by the New Zealand research institute Plant & Food Research, which merged into the Bioeconomy Science Institute on 1 July 2025. According to NZ Hops, it came about by crossing a New Zealand breeding selection with Saaz (the breeder writes Saazer), in the breeding programme 'Hops with a Difference'. According to the variety sheet, the variety has European (Saaz) and North American ancestors. The breeding number is 87-14-20.

Motueka is triploid: it has three sets of chromosomes instead of two and therefore sets little seed. Researchers at Plant & Food Research confirmed that by measurement. The variety came on the market in 1996 under the name B-Saaz and has been called Motueka since 2007. Motueka is also a place; according to researchers at Plant & Food Research, it lies in the most important hop region of New Zealand.

NZ Hops describes Motueka as fresh and lime-like: freshly crushed citrus, 'as in a mojito', with lemon peel and tropical fruit. In the oil, myrcene dominates, 60–69% according to the variety sheet. In the 2026 harvest, the oil contained 0.69–1.17% linalool, a compound with a floral aroma.

Independent research on the aroma compounds of Motueka is scarce. Researchers at the University of Otago did use it in 2023 to see what yeast does to hop aroma. They brewed one wort, hopped late with Motueka (5 grams per litre), and fermented it with twelve different yeast strains. The beers clearly differed. With the lager yeast W-34/70 the panel found the beer 'hoppy', and it contained a lot of nerol, geraniol and citronellol. Other strains gave sulfury, spicy or ester-like beers instead. The same hop can therefore turn out differently with a different yeast. The researchers point out that yeast can convert hop compounds (biotransformation), such as geraniol into citronellol. In addition, yeast makes its own aroma compounds: the spicy beers had the most 4-vinylguaiacol, which yeast makes from a compound in the malt.

According to the BJCP, the aroma of New Zealand hops in a pilsner often recalls New Zealand sauvignon blanc: tropical fruit, grass, melon and lime.

According to the breeder, Motueka is versatile: from the first addition in the kettle to late in the process, and at its best in multiple additions with only this hop. It is said to suit everything from saison to pilsner and from light lagers to heavy ales, and to balance the sweetness of specialty malt. The BJCP names Motueka, alongside Riwaka and Nelson Sauvin, as an example of New Zealand hops for the New Zealand pilsner.

Forms: - whole cones and pellets, ordinary or organic; - Cryo Hops®: pellets of concentrated lupulin, via Yakima Chief Hops.

Related hops: Riwaka comes from the same breeding programme and also has Saaz in its family tree. Saaz itself smells very different; see the myth below.

According to the variety sheet, Motueka was crossed in 1987, selected as a seedling in 1989, trialled between 1991 and 1995 and released in 1996 as B-Saaz. In 2007 it got its current name. NZ Hops has supported a breeding programme since the 1950s, and according to NZ Hops, New Zealand was the first country to grow triploid hops commercially in 1972, because brewers wanted seedless hops. In 2026, Motueka was the third-largest harvested variety at NZ Hops, after Nectaron and Nelson Sauvin.

A good starting point: a pilsner or saison with Motueka. Smell for lime and lemon peel, and see whether you also find something of tropical fruit. Then compare it with a Czech pilsner: there, according to the BJCP, the traditional Czech hop gives a subtle character: lightly floral, spicy or like garden herbs. That way you notice how far Motueka is from its Saaz parent.