Buying Better
Your olive oil probably doesn't need to be expensive
Price and quality are related, but not the way most shoppers assume. How to spend sensibly on the bottle you use every day.
By Olive Curious · Published 10 September 2026 · 4 min read
Good olive oil costs money to make. Harvesting is labour-intensive, yields vary enormously from year to year, and careful milling is not cheap. But a high price tag is not by itself evidence of quality, and an expensive bottle used badly is worse value than a modest one used well.
What you are paying for
- Early harvest fruit, which gives less oil per olive and costs more per litre.
- Single-estate or single-variety production rather than large-scale blending.
- Packaging, presentation and the gifting market.
- Distance: importing a small volume a long way adds cost without adding flavour.
A sensible way to split your budget
Buy a straightforward extra virgin in a larger format for cooking, and spend more on a smaller bottle you finish dishes with. The expressive oil then gets used where you can actually taste it, and you are not pouring it into a hot pan.
The thing that beats price every time
Freshness. An inexpensive oil from a recent harvest, stored away from light and heat, will usually taste better than an expensive bottle that has spent two years on a bright shelf.