The First Press: Benefits of an Early Olive Harvest

This year’s olive harvest has come early and that’s something truly worth celebrating. After months of steady rain and kinder weather, the trees have given us a generous head start. Picking began in October - a whole month earlier than last year - when the olives were still bright green, full of energy, and bursting with flavour.

Early-harvest oil has a special kind of magic. It’s vivid in both colour and character,  vibrant green with a peppery, grassy edge and that unmistakable fresh aroma that only lasts for a short window each season. Because the olives are pressed before they’re fully ripe, this first harvest olive oil is naturally higher in polyphenols - the powerful plant compounds that act as antioxidants and give Honest Toil its distinctive, lively personality.

Small Yields, Big Character: the αγουρέλαιο*

Early harvesting means a little less yield, but a lot more personality: each drop is more concentrated, more complex, and full of life. 

Since extra virgin olive oil is nothing but pure, squeezed olive juice, we try to give you the truest expression of the koroneiki olive as a fruit: always unfiltered, extracted without extra heat, and unrefined. It’s a reminder that good olive oil isn’t just about abundance: it’s also about timing, patience, and the care that goes into every step from tree to tin.

*Greek for the green olive oil produced from unripe, green olive fruit. Similar to the concept of olio nouvo in Italy, though that expression refers to all new olive oils in general.

Over the next few weeks, everything around here will be a hub of activity, picking, pressing, and bottling happening daily. The presses are already going and the first golden-green streams of oil are flowing! It’s a busy time here, but also the most rewarding.

A Taste of the New Season

Once the oil is settled and ready, we’ll start filling our tins and bottles and send them back to be with you as soon as possible. If all goes to plan, you'll find our freshest oil in the 500ml dark bottles, the 1 and 2L cans by end of Nov - beginnning of Dec, which is pretty record speed in the evoo world! Keep an eye out for the freshest olive oil to in the UK!

If you wanted to try a new evoo, then December is your best bet: the month when a true extra virgin olive oil's character will really shine through, if it actually is freshly picked, pressed and packed (tip: ALWAYS look for harvest date on the bottle!).

This is when our Honest Toil is at peak flavour - peak fresh flavour that is, as its later, mature flavour is also close to our hearts. Read more on these subtle difference in the life cycle of true extra virgin olive oil here.