How to taste olive oil
To analyse an olive oil, you need to carry out two tests. A chemical-physical analysis, which measures both the percentage of the fat and the level of acidity (expressed through the percentage of oleic acid), and an organoleptic test.
The organoleptic test is the result of years of experience and of a precise ritual that the taster has to follow to really appreciate the true characteristics of the oil.

Here's a simple way to test olive oil correctly:
1	Pour the oil into a small glass. Warm the glass with your hands to free the aroma, then inhale and smell the oil.
2	Smell the oil, first briefly, then more deeply, trying to capture the different aromas.
3	Sip a small quantity of oil from the glass, trying to keep it in the front of your mouth between your lower lip and tightly shut teeth.
4	Breathe in through clenched teeth, first delicately, then more vigorously, so as to vaporise the oil inside your mouth and along the sides of the tongue where your taste buds are.
5	Exhale through your nose while you try to identify and catalogue all the different aromas and flavours, so that the vaporised oil particles can reach your nasal membrane giving you an even more precise sensation.
6	Repeat the tasting procedure, keeping the oil in your mouth for at least 20 seconds.

Colours from green to yellow are typical. These can vary according to the area or origin, the extraction process or how ripe the olives are, but they don't affect the quality of the oil.


Oil characteristics
You can describe the characteristics of an olive oil in many different ways. These depend on specific elements such as the quality of cultivation, the area of origin, the climatic conditions, the soil, the variety, the maturity and health of the fruit, how ripe it is, the method of harvesting and preserving, the extraction methods and how the oil is stored.

Here are a few examples of how certain elements can affect the taste of an oil:
•	Cultivation quality: bitter, sour, sweet, fruity ("fruttato"), herbaceous, fresh or dried almonds, lively, artichoke, piquant.
•	Climatic conditions: frozen (woody taste), dried (dry taste).
•	Area of origin: mixture of aromatic flavours typical of a certain geographical zone.
•	Olive maturity level: astringent (oil extracted from sour olives).
•	Harvesting method: use of nets (olives left on the cropping nets for a long time give a dried gum flavour).
•	Storage methods: the length of time and where the olives are stored can affect the oil (wine or vinegary flavour, mould or moisture, inflammation, oil from fermented olives).
•	Extraction methods: "fiscolo" (rope discs used to press olives and extract oil), metallic flavour due to extended contact with water, dirty discs or metal containers.

The following terms can be used to describe the characteristics of an oil
Almondy:
There are two types of almond flavour - the typical fresh almond or the dry healthy almond. It is valued as an aftertaste when the oil stays in contact with the tongue or the palate, and is associated with sweet oils and a mild aroma.

Bitter:
A characteristic flavour of an oil obtained from green olives, it can be more or less pleasant, depending on its intensity.

Mild:
Neither a negative nor a positive attribute of an oil whose organoleptic characteristics are very weak as its aromatic components have been lost.

Sweet:
A gentle and pleasant flavour which is not exactly sugary, but one where the bitter, astringent or peppery attributes do not predominate.

Fruity:
The aroma and flavour of healthy, fresh fruit picked when it is just ripe.

Ripe fruit:
Olive oil obtained from ripe fruit with generally a mild aroma and sweet taste.

Grassy:
An aroma and flavour characteristic of some oils that are reminiscent of cut grass.

Green leaves:
Oil obtained from over-green olives or olives which have been ground together with leaves and stalks.

Apple:
An aroma and flavour of olive oil reminiscent of apples.