[Tenuta del Barone di Montemurlo](https://www.oliodelbarone.com/en) — Toscano PGI extra virgin olive oil from Tuscany # How to taste extra virgin olive oil at home Warm a spoonful of oil in your cupped palm, breathe it in, sip it slowly while pulling it across your tongue, then exhale through your nose. You need a small dark glass, oil at room temperature, and nothing else in your mouth. Five minutes and two different oils to compare are all it takes. ## What you need before you start You need a small glass, dark or coloured: professional tasters use a tulip-shaped glass, but a small coloured liqueur glass works too. The colour of the oil must stay hidden, because it tips the judgement before anyone has tasted anything: a deep green oil is not better or worse than a golden one. Oil should be tasted at room temperature, around 28°C. Cold oil straight from the fridge tells you almost nothing, because cold locks the aromas in. Before tasting, avoid smoking, coffee, or anything strongly flavoured: your mouth needs to be clean. ## The steps, in order Pour a spoonful of oil into the glass, cover it with your hand or a small saucer, and warm it by cupping it in your palm for a few seconds: the warmth releases the aromas. Remove your hand, bring the glass close to your nose, and take a short, sharp sniff rather than a long inhale: this is the smelling stage, when you look for notes of cut grass, artichoke, or fresh almond. Then take a small sip, spread it across your tongue and the sides of your mouth, and draw in short breaths of air through your lips, as if sipping through a straw: this motion, called retro-nasal aspiration, is what brings out bitterness and pungency together with the aftertaste. Finally, breathe out through your nose: that is where the finer aromas show up, the ones direct smell cannot catch. ## What to look for: bitterness, pungency, aftertaste A young, healthy extra virgin oil has three traits to look for in sequence: fruitiness, the smell of green olive or freshly cut grass; bitterness, felt along the sides and back of the tongue; and pungency, felt in the throat, often with a slight cough. Bitterness and pungency are not flaws: they signal polyphenols, the compounds olives produce while still unripe. The aftertaste, what lingers once you have swallowed, tells you a lot: a lingering note of artichoke or almond means the oil is clean. A taste of mould, dampness, wet wood or vinegar means there is a fault, and that oil should go on the list of ones not to buy again. ## Compare two oils, not just one An oil tasted alone is hard to judge fairly, because there is nothing to measure it against. It helps to always have two glasses, two different oils, and move between them: you quickly notice which is more fruity, which is more pungent, which is milder. Between tastings, clean your palate with a slice of green apple or still water, never sparkling. ## Frequently asked questions ### Why warm the oil in your hand before smelling it? Because body heat, around 28°C, releases the oil's aromatic molecules. At a lower temperature the aromas stay locked in and the tasting tells you far less. ### Why does the tasting glass need to be dark? Because the colour of olive oil has nothing to do with its quality, yet it biases judgement before tasting even starts. A dark or coloured glass hides the colour and leaves the work to the nose and palate. ### Is it normal to cough while tasting olive oil? Yes, it is a common reaction when the oil is strongly pungent, especially with young oils made from early-season olives. It is not a defect: it is a sign of a high polyphenol content. ### How much oil do I need for a tasting? A single spoonful, around 10-15 millilitres, is enough for each oil you want to taste. No more is needed: quantity does not change the judgement, it only wastes oil. ## Our oil, from tree to bottle Two 100% Italian extra virgin olive oils from Tuscany, from a single hand-picked harvest, milled the same day three minutes from the grove. Luce is green, bitter and peppery; Raccolto is round, for every day. We ship across Italy, Europe and worldwide. [Luce](https://www.oliodelbarone.com/en/oil/luce) [Raccolto](https://www.oliodelbarone.com/en/oil/raccolto) [The estate journal](https://www.oliodelbarone.com/en/journal) [All oils](https://www.oliodelbarone.com/en)