Tasting Olive Oil

Olive oil and wine are comparable. They are both the juice of fruit. Just as there is no wine which is "the best", so there is no one extra virgin olive oil that is better than all others. The differing properties of individual oil depend on the ripeness of the olives when harvested, how they were kept and how the oil was extracted.

Olive oil is judged by its bouquet and taste alone. For example, oil is termed fruity when its flavor and aroma are similar to that of a mature olive. Some people have heard that good olive oil is always green. However, the color of the olive oil is never a tasting factor. Professional tasters even use blue glass snifters to disguise the color of the oil so that their judgment will not be affected by the color.

Good flavor is the result of picking healthy fresh fruit at the optimum stage of maturity. Immediately after pressing, all oils seem fruity, but in most cases, this characteristic disappears after a few months. When an olive oil is described as fruity, it means that this characteristic aroma remains through time – for at least two years if stored properly.

At La Tienda we have selected for you only oils of the highest quality. It is up to you to decide which one tastes best to your palate. The way to taste an olive oil is simple: pour a little pool of oil in a saucer and dip in a morsel of good crusty white bread.