How to Taste Olive Oil

In this week’s post, we aim to provide you with some basic guidelines for learning how to taste extra virgin olive oil, enabling you to identify all the positive and negative attributes of this liquid gold, determine its quality, and appreciate its finesse.

An oil’s quality is determined by its acidity level and the score obtained from its sensory analysis. During a tasting, it is essential to recognize all the qualities the oil expresses. Tasting, therefore, involves analyzing, describing, and classifying all the product’s sensory characteristics.

Tasting Phases

The oil sample is placed in opaque blue glasses, and the product is covered with the glass. It is then smelled and tasted. Between each olive oil tasting, a sip of water is taken to cleanse the palate from the previous sample.

Visual Phase:
This phase involves evaluating the oil’s appearance and color, what we perceive through our eyes.
Generally, a clean appearance and a yellow, golden, or greenish hue indicate a good oil. Conversely, cloudy, dirty, brownish, whitish, or reddish tones suggest defects.

Olfactory Phase:
Fill the tasting glass with approximately 25g of olive oil and warm it with your hand to release all its aromas (the ideal temperature is 28°C).

Without shaking, bring it close to your nose and inhale deeply for a first impression. Cover the glass with a watch glass and swirl it to coat the sides. Smell again, this time with regular, intense inhalations that should not exceed 30 seconds.

After the analysis, note down the detected impressions and aromas (positive and negative).

Gustatory Phase:
In this phase, the intensity, flavor, and quality are evaluated. Take a small sip of oil, approximately 3-5 ml.

Distribute the oil very slowly throughout the oral cavity, from the front of the mouth and tongue, along the sides and back, to the pillars of the palate and throat. This allows you to differentiate the four tastes (sweet, salty, sour, and bitter) in each area. You will perceive bitter attributes at the back of the tongue, pungency in the throat, saltiness perceptible throughout the tongue (though more acute at the front edges), and sweetness at the front of the tongue. You may also find sour notes in a general perception, but more pronounced this time at the edges and back.

Special attention should be paid to the appearance of bitter and pungent stimuli; otherwise, in some oils, both stimuli may go unnoticed, or bitterness may be masked by pungency. The perception of bitterness will precede that of pungency.

After this entire process, close your mouth so that your teeth touch at their tips and the front of your tongue touches the inside of your upper teeth, positioning the oil in your mouth in this frontal position.

Then, take short, successive aspirations of fresh air, drawing air through the mouth, so that the oil emulsified with saliva and air comes into contact with the taste buds, and at the same time, new olfactory sensory perceptions reappear through internal pathways.

New perceptions will emerge, primarily localized at the front of our tongue for sweet tastes, while more intense, bitter, pungent, and fruity tastes will appear at the back of the palate.

Empty the oil from your mouth and wait about 30 seconds, observing for any possible aftertaste.

The instruments required for a tasting are:

-Opaque glass with a slightly closed opening (never a spoon, which dilutes the aroma).

-Transparent glass

-Watch glass to cover the tasting glass

-Wine thermometer

-Apple

When conducting the tasting, we will consider the oil’s Perceptions.

– Pleasant Perceptions on the Palate

FRUITY: Aroma and flavor characteristic of oils from fresh, healthy olives. Can be perceived directly or retronasally.

BITTER: Characteristic of oil obtained from green or ripening olives.

PUNGENT: Characteristic of oils obtained at the beginning of the harvest season, mainly from still-green olives.

– Pleasant or Unpleasant Perceptions (depending on their intensity)

SWEET: Pleasant flavor of oil that, without being sugary, tastes sweet in the mouth due to its lack of bitterness, pungency, or astringency. Typical of oils from ripe olives.

GRASSY: Sensation of freshly cut grass. In small perceptions, it is an attribute; when its content is intense, it becomes a defect.

APPLE: A sensation conveyed by olive oil that evokes the taste of an apple. Typical of fresh oils that contain both fruity and sweet notes, reminiscent of this fruit’s aroma.

BITTER: A harsh sensation. It is the characteristic taste of oils obtained from green olives.

ASTRINGENT: Astringency fills the entire mouth and is perceived primarily on the tongue.

PUNGENT: A burning sensation in the throat. Typical of oils from the beginning of the harvest, especially those made from green olives.

ALMOND: A sensation produced when it comes into contact with the tongue and palate. It can be of two types: that of fresh green almond or that of dry, healthy almond (the latter can be confused with incipient rancidity). Associated with sweet olive oils with a muted aroma.

MUTED OR FLAT: Faint sensation due to the loss of aromatic components.

HAY: A sensation reminiscent of dry grass.

– Negative Attributes of Oil in Tasting

The following unpleasant sensations, even if almost imperceptible, must be considered organoleptic defects.

HEATED/MUDDY SEDIMENT: Characteristic flavor and odor of oil obtained from olives that have undergone some degree of fermentation as a result of being piled up before milling or being in poor condition.

WINE-VINEGAR: Refers to the wine or vinegar aftertaste present in some oils, caused by olives in poor condition or by the fermentation of suspended matter in these oils.

COARSE: The viscosity or harshness perceived in some common oils, leaving a pasty sensation in the mouth.

SLUDGE: Characteristic flavor of oil recovered from decanted sludge in tanks.

METALLIC: A sensation that evokes metals. It appears in oil that has remained in prolonged contact with metallic surfaces during the milling, malaxing, pressing, or storage processes.

MOLDY-HUMID: Characteristic flavor of oil obtained from olives where abundant fungi and yeasts have developed due to being stored in humid conditions for several days.

RANCID: A defect that oil suffers from an oxidative process when in contact with air.
OLD: Characteristic flavor of olive oil that has been stored for a long time.

ESPARTO: Characteristic flavor of olive oil obtained from olives pressed in new esparto mats.

WORM: Flavor of olive oil obtained from olives that have been attacked by the olive fly larva.

CUCUMBER: Flavor produced by olive oil when it has been hermetically sealed for a long time, especially in tinplate containers.

BURNT: Characteristic sensation of olive oil that has undergone excessive and prolonged heating of the paste.

BRINE: Flavor of olive oil extracted from olives that have been preserved in a saline solution.

POMACE: Flavor that evokes olive pomace.

LAMPANTE: The odor and flavor are very pungent, with usually high acidity. The name comes from lamp oil, as before the discovery of current refining systems, this oil was used as fuel in oil lamps. The oil is not edible.

And finally, here are 2 small tips…
Remember that, when it comes to olive oil, unlike wine, for example, it is always best to consume it right after its production. Also, never discard oils that appear cloudy or become dense with cold, as this is a reaction even the best oils can have.