How to taste olive oil

Olive oil is not tasted by dipping bread — bread masks the oil. Professional panellists taste it neat, using a specific method you can follow at home.

Step by step

1. Pour a tablespoon of oil into a small glass, ideally a dark one.
2. Cover it with one palm and warm it with the other — around 28 °C opens up the aromas.
3. Uncover and inhale deeply. Green grass, tomato leaf, artichoke, almond, green apple…
4. Take a small sip and spread it over your tongue.
5. Draw air in through your teeth (the "strippaggio"). The aromas rise into your nose.
6. Swallow and pay attention to the back of your throat.

The three things you're looking for

• Fruitiness: the smell of fresh olives. It must be present — if it scores zero the oil cannot be extra virgin.
• Bitterness: a mild bitter note at the back of the tongue. A marker of polyphenols.
• Pungency: a peppery catch in the throat that can make you cough. Usually the sign of a fresh, early-harvest oil.

Beginners often mistake bitterness and pungency for faults. The opposite is true: both are direct evidence of antioxidant richness. Tasting competitions score exactly these two attributes.

Defects

• Musty: olives were stored damp.
• Winey / vinegary: fermentation occurred.
• Muddy sediment: the oil sat too long on its lees.
• Rancid: oxidised; smells of putty.

You can taste our range at the tasting room at our facility and compare the differences for yourself.