EmailBest Reviewed
Olive Oil
- Best supermarket olive oil Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil *Est. $9
- Premium olive oil Columela Extra Virgin Olive Oil *Est. $16
- Best budget olive oil Whole Foods 365 Extra Virgin Olive Oil *Est. $5
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Best supermarket olive oil
- Enough flavor but neutral enough for everyday cooking
- Good value
- You can get better quality if you want to spend more
- Some say Colavita is not flavorful enough; others like it fine
We found the best reviews in three subscription-required websites for magazines Cook's Illustrated, Consumer Reports and Australia's Choice. Message boards, of course, have no official quality control; anyone can post what they want. Chowhound.com, however, has a knowledgeable user base, and Colavita gets some praise there.
Colavita is an Italian extra-virgin olive oil rated in reviews as the best supermarket olive oil. As with all olive oil, quality can vary from crop to crop. Also, it's possible to get a bad bottle, which appears to be the case for one poor ranking (the same source gave it a better rating three years earlier). The consensus is that Colavita is flavorful enough (with some dissent) but not as overwhelming as some more expensive oils. That makes Colavita a good choice for cooking, but not as nice for dipping, where you might want a stronger flavor. Some of the adjectives used in reviews include "buttery" and "fruity," yet with "light body." Columela (*est. $18 for 17 ounces), which is from Spain, sometimes gets better reviews than Colavita, but it costs more.
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Our Sources
1. Cook's Illustrated MagazineDetails/Subscribe
Cook's Illustrated's reviewers taste 11 extra-virgin olive oils readily available at supermarkets and discuss the sometimes slippery standards for quality. They choose two favorites and briefly discuss how they measure up against premium brands.
Review: Supermarket Olive Oils, Editors of Cook's Illustrated, July 2008
2. ConsumerReports.orgDetails/Subscribe
Consumer Reports pioneered laboratory testing for independent product reviews. Colavita is among 18 extra-virgin olive oils rated in this report, but you'll need a subscription to see it.
Review: Olive Oil Ratings, Editors of Consumer Reports, Sept. 2004
Choice is sort of an Australian effort to do Consumer Reports-style product evaluations - no advertising, thus no commercial reason to give a good rating to certain items. Editors rate 29 olive oils, with Colavita getting an "OK" rating ("little flavour"), although the organic version gets the highest rating of "very good."
Review: Test: Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, Editors of Choice, Aug. 2004
4. Choice.com.auDetails/Subscribe
Like Consumer Reports, Australia's Choice accepts no advertising, but you'll need a subscription to see this report. Editors rate 28 olive oils, with Colavita ranking dead last, although it seems Choice may have gotten hold of a bad bottle.
Review: Test: Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, Editors of Choice, May 2007
The Nibble tries to be unbiased, although it says some of the samples were provided by olive-oil companies. Still, that's a bit of a non-factor here, because the oils aren't ranked as much as they are described. Colavita is "grassy and leafy with a lingering aftertaste, including a slight pepperiness."
Review: The Great Extra Virgin Olive Oil Project, Stephanie Zonis, Not Dated
Chowhound is a message board, so anyone can post whatever they want. However, Chowhound posters tend to be knowledgeable and opinionated and generally don't refrain from shouting down the uninformed. Colavita gets some positive mention here.
Review: Best Olive Oil for General Cooking, Contributors to Chowhound.com, Feb.-April 2007
