Kurio Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
An olive oil to inspire the ages. Pre-order our new harvest. The newest shipment is due to arrive in April; pre-order now for the freshest possible bottles.
Our early-harvest, single-estate Koroneiki olive oil is from the Messara plain in southern Crete. The olives are picked in early October while still green and firm, and pressed the same day at a mill a short drive from the groves. No delay, no oxidation, no loss of high-impact nutrients.
The oil is bright green, herbaceous, and unapologetically alive. Notes of green apple, cut grass, and tomato leaf, finishing with a pronounced peppery kick at the back of the throat. That sensation is not heat, it is polyphenols in their natural state, present only in oil pressed and consumed fresh.
Use it for finishing, drizzling, dressing, or cooking. The smoke point is high enough for roasting and sautéing. It’s perfectly good for turning Tuesday night dinner into something that tastes like a night out in Paris. Heat will mellow the peppery intensity, so many prefer it raw to preserve flavor and nutritional potency. This is a superfood in the truest sense: some people in Crete (and increasingly, New York) take a shot straight each morning, the way one might down a vitamin. First you’ll taste the difference, then you’ll feel it.
Tasting notes
The oil is bright green, herbaceous, and unapologetically alive. Notes of green apple, cut grass, and tomato leaf, finishing with a pronounced peppery kick at the back of the throat. That sensation is not heat, it is polyphenols in their natural state, present only in oil pressed and consumed fresh.
Koroneiki is the defining varietal of Crete: small olives with concentrated flavor, naturally high polyphenol content, and a peppery finish that announces itself. These groves have produced oil for thousands of years. On the island, olive oil is not a condiment. It is sustenance, inheritance, and the foundation of every meal worth remembering. In Greek Orthodox homes, a kandili—a small oil lamp—is tended each morning, fed daily with olive oil. The same oil that fuels the flame nourishes the table. A bottle of olive oil sits always within arm’s reach of the stove: spooned generously over boiled greens, grilled fish, roasted peppers still warm from the oven, or day-old bread dusted with coarse sea salt.
Early-harvest olive oil is naturally rich in antioxidants, the same compounds that give it its characteristic bite, unlike your regular grocery store option. The benefits accumulate without pretension as you dress your salads, dip your breads, and drizzle on your favorite dishes.
Packed with care
Harvest begins early in October. The olives are still green and firm, and packed with polyphenols, the compound that gives the oil its characteristic intense flavor and health benefits.
Haste makes taste
Early harvest yields less fruit, but what it produces is concentrated and vibrant. The olives are taken from grove to mill in hours, not days. The olives are cold-pressed in Tympaki, minutes from the farms in the Messara plain.
The oil is extracted below 27°C, cool enough to preserve the delicate aromatics and nutrients. It is not blended, nor is it chemically refined or altered after pressing like many commercially available olive oil. What you taste is exactly what left the press: unheated, unblended, alive.