What Does High Polyphenol Olive Oil Taste Like?

The first time someone tastes a genuinely high polyphenol olive oil, the reaction is almost always the same. A pause. A surprised look. Sometimes a cough. Often, the question: is this oil meant to taste like this?

Yes. It is. And what you are tasting is the most useful thing about it.

The bitterness on the tongue and the peppery sting at the back of the throat are not defects. They are direct sensory readouts of the same compounds responsible for the cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects documented in clinical research. A mild, smooth olive oil that goes down without comment is almost always a low polyphenol oil. The burn is the signal.

This guide explains what to expect on first taste, why the throat sting happens, how to taste olive oil properly, how concentration maps to intensity, and why most people develop a strong preference for the burn after about three weeks of daily use.

What Does High Polyphenol Olive Oil Taste Like? The Short Answer

High polyphenol olive oil tastes green, grassy, and bitter, with a sharp peppery sting that arrives in the back of the throat a few seconds after swallowing. The aroma is herbaceous, with notes of freshly cut grass, tomato leaf, artichoke, or green almond. The bitterness is pronounced on the tongue. The throat sting may trigger a single involuntary cough. None of this is a flaw. The burn comes from oleocanthal binding receptors in the back of the throat. The bitterness comes from oleuropein and its derivatives on the tongue. Both compounds are why the oil is worth drinking in the first place. To experience the full profile, the oil must be aerated in the mouth before swallowing, not poured straight down.

The Three Positive Sensory Attributes (IOC Method)

The International Olive Council (IOC), the body that defines global olive oil standards, uses a formal sensory panel method to grade extra virgin olive oil. Trained tasters score every oil on three positive attributes: fruity, bitter, and pungent. Each attribute is rated on a 0 to 10 intensity scale. The method is codified in IOC document COI/T.20/Doc.15, which is the same protocol used at international olive oil competitions and by the EU for legal classification.

The three attributes are not subjective preferences. They are physiological signals.

Fruity refers to the aroma, both directly through the nose and retronasally during tasting. It captures the green, grassy, herbaceous notes that come from the volatile aromatic compounds in the oil. Higher polyphenol oils tend to have more intense fruity attributes because the same early-harvest, green-fruit conditions that produce high polyphenol concentrations also produce more aromatic volatiles.

Bitter is sensed on the tongue, particularly toward the back. In olive oil this is caused mainly by oleuropein and its derivatives (oleuropein aglycone, ligstroside aglycone, oleacein), which are present in much higher concentrations in early-harvest fruit. The bitterness in olive oil is structurally different from caffeine bitterness or quinine bitterness, and it tends to be more rounded and slower to build.

Pungent is the peppery sting in the throat. It is not a taste in the strict sense. It is a trigeminal nerve sensation, more closely related to the burn of chilli or the cool of mint than to sweetness or bitterness. The compound responsible is almost entirely oleocanthal, with oleacein contributing.

For an oil to qualify as extra virgin under EU and IOC rules, it must score above zero on the fruity attribute, have zero detected defects, and meet chemical thresholds for acidity and peroxide values. The bitter and pungent scores are not minimums for extra virgin status, but the IOC publishes definitions for "mild" (intensity below 3), "medium" (between 3 and 6), and "robust" (above 6).

High polyphenol olive oils are almost always classified as robust on at least two of these three attributes.

Why It Burns Your Throat: The Oleocanthal-TRPA1 Mechanism

The peppery throat sting is the single most surprising thing about high polyphenol olive oil for new drinkers. It is also the most well-understood part of the sensory experience, thanks to a remarkable discovery made at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.

In 2005, Beauchamp and colleagues published a paper in Nature showing that a then-newly characterised compound in olive oil, which they named oleocanthal (from oleo for olive, canth for sting, al for aldehyde), caused the same throat irritation as ibuprofen and acted as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent through inhibition of the COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes. The two molecules are chemically unrelated, but they share a sensory fingerprint and a pharmacological one.

Six years later, the same research group went further. In a 2011 paper in the Journal of Neuroscience, Peyrot des Gachons and colleagues showed that oleocanthal selectively activates the TRPA1 receptor, a transient receptor potential ion channel, and that the TRPA1 receptors responsible for the burn are anatomically concentrated in a narrow band at the back of the throat (the oropharynx). They are virtually absent from the front two-thirds of the tongue. This is why oleocanthal does not burn your mouth, only your throat.

This anatomical restriction is what makes the sensation so distinctive. Most oral irritants, including capsaicin from chillies, piperine from black pepper, and alcohol, activate the related TRPV1 receptor and irritate the entire mouth lining. Oleocanthal does almost none of that. It travels down the oral cavity without effect, then triggers an intense, focal response in the back of the throat. Hence the single involuntary cough that gave the compound its informal nickname: the cough oil.

Two practical consequences follow from this mechanism.

The intensity of the sting correlates directly with oleocanthal concentration. There is no general "polyphenol burn." If an oil contains high concentrations of hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol but low oleocanthal (which is possible depending on cultivar, harvest timing, and processing), the throat sting will be muted. If oleocanthal is high, the sting will be intense regardless of other compounds. The Greek convention of counting coughs (one, two, or three coughs) is informal but tracks oleocanthal concentration reasonably well.

The burn is also why the old tongue-map diagram you may have seen in school is wrong. That diagram showed sweet at the tip, salty and sour on the sides, and bitter at the back. It was based on a 1901 German paper misinterpreted into English, and it has been disproven for decades. Taste receptors are distributed across the entire tongue. But the TRPA1 receptors that oleocanthal binds really are concentrated at the back of the throat, which is the only part of the original diagram that maps onto something real.

Why It Tastes Bitter: Oleuropein, Oleacein, and the Tongue

The bitterness of high polyphenol olive oil is the second sensory signal, and it operates through a completely different mechanism.

Bitter taste is sensed by a family of receptors called TAS2Rs, encoded by 25 different genes in humans. These receptors are distributed across the tongue, with a slightly higher density toward the back. The compounds in olive oil that activate them are mainly the secoiridoid derivatives of oleuropein: oleuropein aglycone, ligstroside aglycone, and to a lesser extent the dialdehydic forms including oleacein.

Bitterness in olive oil is not a defect. It is the plant's own defence chemistry. The olive tree (Olea europaea) produces oleuropein in its leaves and unripe fruit to deter insects, fungi, and ruminants. The earlier the harvest, the higher the concentration. By the time olives are fully ripe and ready to fall from the tree, oleuropein has been substantially metabolised into less bitter compounds, which is why late-harvest oils are mild and early-harvest oils are sharp.

There is a useful distinction to draw here between two kinds of bitterness in olive oil.

Polyphenol bitterness is structured. It builds slowly across the tongue, lingers for a moment after swallowing, and combines pleasantly with the green grassy aroma and the throat sting. It feels alive, in the same way that a good unsweetened dark chocolate feels alive.

Defect bitterness is flat, metallic, or chemical. It tastes like the rind of a grapefruit gone wrong, or like overcooked greens. It usually comes from oxidised oil, poor storage, or olives processed too late in the season after the fruit has started to ferment.

If you taste an olive oil and find the bitterness unpleasant, the question to ask is not "is bitterness bad?" but "is this bitterness clean?" A clean, complex bitterness is the marker of a high quality high polyphenol oil. A flat, chemical bitterness is a marker of something else entirely.

The Aroma: What You Should Smell Before the First Sip

Before any oil reaches your tongue, it should be smelled. The volatile aromatic compounds in olive oil carry as much information as the polyphenols do, and they correlate strongly with quality and freshness.

High polyphenol oils, especially those made from early-harvest olives, typically carry one or more of the following aroma notes:

Green grass and freshly cut hay. This is the most common note in robust oils made from Koroneiki, Coratina, or Picual olives. It comes from compounds in the C6 aldehyde family, particularly (E)-2-hexenal and hexanal.

Tomato leaf and stem. A green, slightly metallic, herbaceous note found in many Italian and Greek oils. It comes from the same enzymatic pathway as the grass aroma and is often more pronounced in fresh oils.

Artichoke. A more vegetal, slightly bitter aromatic that tends to appear in oils with high oleuropein content.

Green almond. A milder, slightly nutty aroma that often appears in oils from Spanish cultivars.

Banana, apple, or green herbs. Sometimes present, particularly in oils that include some slightly more mature fruit.

These aromas are best detected when the oil is warmed slightly. Professional tasters use a small blue tasting glass (the colour masks visual bias, so the taster cannot judge by colour), cover it with one hand, and warm the oil in the palm for about a minute. This brings the aromatics into the headspace above the oil where they can be smelled.

A high polyphenol oil that smells like nothing, or smells of crayon, old nuts, or fermented vegetables, is either oxidised or defective. The aroma is the first quality check.

How to Taste Olive Oil Properly: Why Aeration Is Non-Negotiable

This is the single most important section in this article. If you have read everything else and skipped this part, you will still miss most of the experience.

The IOC sensory panel method has a specific name for what you do once the oil is in your mouth. In Italian it is called strippaggio. In English it is sometimes translated as slurping or aspiration, but the precise word is aeration. It is the difference between tasting the oil and barely tasting it at all.

Here is why aeration matters mechanistically. Olive oil carries two categories of compounds that produce flavour. Volatile aromatic compounds (the C6 aldehydes and others responsible for the grass, tomato leaf, and artichoke notes) are sensed through the olfactory receptors at the top of your nasal cavity. They reach those receptors in two ways: orthonasally (through the nostrils, which is what you do when you smell the oil before tasting) and retronasally (through the back of the throat, up through the nasopharynx, which is what produces most of what we call "flavour" while we are eating). Non-volatile compounds (the polyphenols responsible for bitterness and pungency) need to physically contact the receptors on the tongue and in the throat.

If you sip a small amount of olive oil and swallow it without aerating, almost none of the volatile aromatics make it to the retronasal pathway, and the oil contacts only a small portion of the receptors. You get a fraction of the flavour profile and a fraction of the burn.

Aeration solves both problems at once. By drawing air sharply across the oil in your mouth, you aerosolize the volatiles so they reach the olfactory receptors, and you distribute the oil across the full surface of the tongue and the back of the throat.

The proper technique is straightforward.

1. Pour about 10 ml (two teaspoon) into a small glass. Professional tasters use a blue-tinted tasting glass. At home, any small clean glass works.

   
   

2. Warm the glass in your palm, covered with your other hand, for 30 to 60 seconds.

   
   

3. Smell the oil orthonasally. Uncover the glass, breathe in deeply through the nose, and try to identify the dominant aromas.

   
   

4. Sip a small amount. Take roughly half into your mouth and hold it for two or three seconds without swallowing.

   
   

5. Aerate. Part your lips slightly and draw three to four short, sharp inhalations across the oil, almost like sucking air through a straw. The oil should distribute across your tongue and the inhaled air should carry the aromatic compounds up to your nasal cavity.

   
   

6. Swallow in one go.

   
   

7. Exhale through the nose as you swallow. This captures the retronasal aromatics.

   
   

8. Wait 20 to 60 seconds and rate the intensity of the throat sting and the lingering bitterness.

   
   

For daily users who drink 5 ml as a morning supplement rather than as a tasting exercise, a simplified version works. Hold the oil in your mouth for two seconds. Take two short sharp breaths through pursed lips. Swallow. Exhale through the nose. This captures most of the sensory experience without requiring a full IOC tasting protocol every morning.

Drinking the oil straight without aeration is like swallowing wine without smelling it first. You taste a fraction of what is in the glass.

Why Storing the Oil Cold Tames the Burn

There is a practical observation that follows from the chemistry of how polyphenols dissolve in oil at different temperatures: a cold oil burns less.

When oil is poured directly from a chilled monodose, the polyphenols are less mobile, the volatiles are less aerosolized, and the trigeminal response in the throat is dampened. The throat sting is still there, but it is gentler. The bitterness is also softened. For first-time drinkers who find the burn at room temperature too intense, refrigeration is the easiest adjustment to make.

This works only with squeezable monodose packaging. A bottle of olive oil placed in the fridge will partially solidify within hours, taking on a cloudy or buttery appearance. This solidification is normal and does not damage the oil. The polyphenols, the fatty acids, and the aromatics are all preserved. The oil returns to its liquid state within a few minutes at room temperature. But pouring solid oil from a glass bottle is impossible, which is why most people who recommend cold olive oil are referring specifically to monodose formats that can be squeezed even when partially solidified.

For consumers who use Oleaphen's 5 ml monodoses, this is straightforward. Keep a box in the refrigerator. Open one each morning. The cold oil is easier to drink, the burn is gentler, and the polyphenols are protected from oxidation between production and consumption.

Olive Oil solidifies in the fridge; it is normal and does not affect its quality

Defects vs Quality: When the Taste Is Telling You Something Else

The IOC sensory panel method also defines six specific defect attributes that an oil can carry. If any defect is detected at intensity above 3.5, the oil is downgraded from extra virgin to virgin or lampante (industrial grade). The six main defects are worth recognising because some of them can be confused with polyphenol bitterness or pungency by an untrained palate.

Rancid. Smells and tastes of crayon, old nuts, or stale fat. The most common defect in supermarket oils, especially those that have been on the shelf for over a year or stored in clear bottles under light. This is the smell of oxidised fatty acids.

Fusty. A heavy, slightly sweet, fermented smell, like wet hay or vegetables left in a sealed bag. Caused by olives that were left in piles for too long before pressing and started anaerobic fermentation.

Musty / Mouldy. A damp basement smell. Caused by olives stored in humid conditions where fungi developed before pressing.

Winey-vinegary. Sharp, acidic, like fermenting wine or vinegar. Caused by aerobic fermentation of damaged or overripe olives.

Muddy sediment. A heavy, earthy taste from oils that were left in contact with sediment after extraction for too long.

Metallic. A tinny taste caused by prolonged contact with poorly maintained equipment.

None of these are bitterness, and none of them are pungency. A polyphenol-driven bitterness builds slowly on the tongue and combines pleasantly with green aromatic notes. A defect produces a flat, off, or chemical impression that competes with the rest of the flavour rather than enhancing it.

If you taste an olive oil and find it unpleasant, the question is which kind of unpleasant. The right answer can be the difference between an excellent oil you have not yet trained your palate for, and a defective oil that should not have been sold.

Varietal and Harvest Differences in Taste

Two oils with the same total polyphenol concentration can taste meaningfully different because they come from different olive cultivars and were harvested at different points in the season. This is one of the more interesting aspects of olive oil sensory analysis and one of the most overlooked by buyers.

Koroneiki (Greece, Crete, Cyprus, and now widely planted globally). Bright green, grassy, intense pepperiness, sharp bitterness. The dominant cultivar in most high polyphenol Greek and Cypriot oils.

Coratina (Puglia, Italy). The most intensely bitter and pungent of the major cultivars. A young Coratina oil can score above 7 on both bitter and pungent attributes on the IOC scale.

Picual (Andalusia, Spain). Bold, slightly woody, with a long-lasting pepperiness. The most-planted olive cultivar in the world.

Picholine (Provence, France, and Languedoc). Slightly more elegant and less aggressive than Coratina or Picual, with green almond and herb notes.

Chemlali (Tunisia). Milder, sweeter, with lower polyphenol concentrations on average. Often used in blends rather than as a high phenolic varietal.

Frantoio (Tuscany, Italy). Balanced fruity, bitter, and pungent notes. Less aggressive than Coratina but still firmly in the robust category.

The other major variable is harvest timing. Olives change colour from green to purple to black as they ripen, and polyphenol concentration drops dramatically through this process. An olive picked in early October will produce an oil with 3 to 5 times more polyphenols than the same olive picked in late December. Early harvest oils are sharper, more bitter, more pungent, and more grassy. Late harvest oils are mellower, sweeter, and more golden in colour, but they are also lower in active compounds.

This is why most ultra-high phenolic producers harvest early accepting a much lower yield in exchange for a much higher polyphenol concentration.

Early-harvest green olives carry the highest polyphenol concentrations. Polyphenol levels drop sharply as the fruit ripens and turns purple, then black.

Will You Get Used to It? The 3-Week Adaptation Threshold

Almost everyone who starts drinking high polyphenol olive oil daily reports a consistent pattern. The first week is intense. Some people describe the burn as harsh or even unpleasant. By the second week, the sensation becomes familiar. By the third week, most regular drinkers report not just tolerance but active enjoyment. They start anticipating the burn. They notice when an oil is missing it. And they begin to find commercial supermarket oils flat or weak by comparison.

This is consistent with what is known about bitter taste receptor (TAS2R) adaptation in adults. Repeated exposure to bitter foods (coffee, beer, dark chocolate, bitter greens, grapefruit) does not desensitise the receptors themselves, but it changes the central perception of the signal. The bitterness is still detected, but the brain stops categorising it as a warning and starts categorising it as a feature. The same shift happens with the trigeminal response to oleocanthal. The TRPA1 activation is still firing, but the central interpretation of the sting changes from "this is unpleasant" to "this is the part I came for."

Three weeks is the most commonly cited threshold by daily users. Some people make the shift faster, sometimes within a few days. A small percentage report that they never fully enjoy the burn, but they continue drinking because of the health benefits. Almost no one quits because of the taste once they have established a daily routine.

For first-time drinkers, the practical advice is simple: stick with it for three weeks before deciding whether you like it. If the cold storage trick (refrigerated monodoses) makes the first week easier, use it. Most people stop needing it once their palate adapts.

How to Use It So the Taste Works for You

High polyphenol olive oil is best treated as a finishing oil, not a cooking oil. Heat does break down some polyphenols, although the most important ones (oleocanthal, oleuropein derivatives) are more heat-stable than is often claimed. The bigger issue is economic. If you cook with a 2,000 mg/kg oil, you are paying a premium for a product whose primary value is being lost to the pan. Cook with a good but unremarkable extra virgin olive oil. Reserve the high phenolic oil for everything that arrives on the plate at the end.

Daily teaspoon protocol. The most common usage pattern among regular high phenolic users is a single 5 ml dose taken on an empty stomach in the morning. This provides a clinically meaningful polyphenol intake at the start of the day and works well alongside the body's overnight fasting state. For an oil at 2,000+ mg/kg, 5 ml delivers around 10 mg of total polyphenols, well above the EFSA-authorised health claim threshold per daily dose.

On warm food. The heat releases more aromatic compounds and rounds out the bitterness slightly. Drizzle over hot pasta, soup, roast vegetables, or grilled fish. Add at the end, not during cooking.

With bitter greens. Rocket, radicchio, chicory, dandelion greens. The bitterness of the greens and the bitterness of the oil compound rather than compete, producing a sharper, more layered dish.

With tomato. The classic Mediterranean combination. The acidity of the tomato softens the throat sting; the green grass note in the oil matches the green vegetal note in the tomato.

With legumes and pulses. Lentils, chickpeas, white beans, hummus. The starch absorbs and carries the oil, and the bitterness cuts through the otherwise bland background.

With eggs. Particularly soft-boiled or poached. The fat-soluble aromatics combine with the yolk in a way that flatters both.

On vanilla ice cream. A classic Italian pairing that sounds wrong and tastes excellent. The sweetness of the ice cream rounds the bitterness; the cold tames the throat burn; the green grass note of the oil complements the vanilla in a way that is genuinely unexpected. Add a small pinch of flaky sea salt. This is the pairing that most often converts sceptics.

For Oleaphen specifically, the 5 ml nitrogen-flushed monodose format is designed to address the two practical issues high phenolic oil drinkers run into: oxidation between opening and consumption, and uneven dosing. Each monodose contains exactly one daily portion, sealed under nitrogen, with no oxygen contact until the moment of use. Refrigerated, the bitterness and throat sting are gentler, which makes the first three weeks of daily use easier for new drinkers.

Read More

If the bitterness and throat sting raised more questions than they answered, the natural next read is how to tell if olive oil is high in polyphenols, which expands on the sensory cues alongside the laboratory side of the question.

The cold-storage point in this article connects directly to does olive oil lose polyphenols after opening, which covers what happens chemically once a bottle (or monodose) is exposed to air, light, and heat.

For readers wondering whether the intensity is worth the adjustment period, is ultra high polyphenol olive oil worth it lays out the evidence base in one place.

The full mechanism story sits in two articles: the health benefits of olive oil polyphenols for the overview, and 10 science-backed health benefits of high polyphenol olive oil for the deeper clinical data.

From there, two specialised pieces dig into specific areas: olive oil polyphenols and telomeres for cellular ageing research, and olive oil benefits for women's health, hormones and menopause for sex-specific findings.

For practical use, when is the best time to take high phenolic olive oil walks through dosing timing.

FAQ

Why does my olive oil burn my throat?

The throat burn is caused by oleocanthal, a polyphenol unique to olive oil, binding TRPA1 receptors concentrated in the back of the throat. The same receptor responds to ibuprofen and produces the same kind of throat irritation, which is one of several reasons oleocanthal and ibuprofen share anti-inflammatory activity. The intensity of the burn correlates with oleocanthal concentration. A pronounced throat sting is a sign of a high phenolic oil, not a defect.

Is bitter olive oil bad?

No. The bitterness is caused by oleuropein and its derivatives, which are the same compounds responsible for many of olive oil's documented health benefits. A clean, complex bitterness that builds on the tongue and combines with green grassy aromas is the marker of a high quality high polyphenol oil. A flat, chemical, or metallic bitterness can indicate a defect such as oxidation or fermentation, which is different.

Why does high polyphenol olive oil make me cough?

The cough is an involuntary reflex triggered when oleocanthal activates the TRPA1 receptors in the oropharynx. Greek olive oil tasters informally count coughs as a rough measure of oleocanthal content. The reflex usually subsides within a few weeks of daily use as the palate adapts.

Does high polyphenol olive oil taste good?

It depends on what you are used to. To someone whose only reference is mild supermarket extra virgin, the first taste is often described as harsh or surprising. To someone who already enjoys other intense flavours (espresso, dark chocolate, bitter greens, IPA beer, single malt whisky) the bitterness and pungency are immediately appealing. Almost all daily users develop a strong preference for the intensity within three weeks.

Can you get used to the taste of high polyphenol olive oil?

Yes. Most daily drinkers report that the burn and bitterness feel familiar by week two and actively pleasant by week three. This is consistent with the general adaptation pattern for bitter foods in adults. The sensation does not fade. What changes is the brain's interpretation of it.

What does a 2,000 mg/kg olive oil taste like?

Very intense. Strong fruity aroma, often green grass and tomato leaf. Pronounced bitterness on the tongue. Sharp throat sting that typically triggers an involuntary cough on first taste. Once your palate adapts, this becomes the most expressive part of the oil. Independently verified concentrations above 2,000 mg/kg are ultra rare and require specific cultivars, early harvest, and oxygen-protective packaging.

Does the taste predict polyphenol content accurately?

Directionally yes, precisely no. A pronounced bitter and pungent taste reliably indicates a high phenolic oil. A mild, smooth taste reliably indicates a low phenolic oil. But two oils can have the same total polyphenol concentration and taste meaningfully different because of cultivar, harvest timing, and the specific compound profile. The definitive measurement is an IOC-accredited laboratory certificate using HPLC or LC-MS/MS.

Why are some high polyphenol oils mild and others harsh?

Three reasons. Cultivar: Coratina and Koroneiki are sharper than Picual, which is sharper than Chemlali, even at the same total polyphenol level. Compound profile: oils with high oleocanthal taste sharper than oils with high hydroxytyrosol. Storage: oxidation softens the burn over months because the active compounds degrade. An oil that tasted intense on bottling can taste mild a year later if it was poorly stored.

Does refrigeration ruin olive oil?

No. Olive oil partially solidifies in the fridge, turning cloudy and buttery in appearance. This is reversible within minutes at room temperature and does not damage the oil. The polyphenols, fatty acids, and aromatics are all preserved. Squeezable monodose packaging makes cold oil easy to dispense; glass bottles do not, which is why most general olive oil advice does not recommend refrigeration.

The Bottom Line

The taste of high polyphenol olive oil is intense by design. The bitterness on the tongue is the same compound responsible for the oil's antioxidant activity. The peppery sting in the throat is the same compound responsible for its anti-inflammatory effects. A mild olive oil is almost always a low polyphenol oil. The burn is the signal.

To experience that signal properly, the oil must be aerated in the mouth, not poured down the throat. To make the first three weeks easier, refrigerated monodose packaging dampens the burn without altering the chemistry. To know whether your oil is genuinely high phenolic, taste it. To know exactly how high, ask for the laboratory certificate.

By week three of daily use, the burn stops feeling like a hurdle and starts feeling like the point.

REFERENCES

1. Beauchamp GK, Keast RSJ, Morel D, et al. Phytochemistry: Ibuprofen-like activity in extra-virgin olive oil. Nature. 2005;437(7055):45-46. doi:10.1038/437045a

2. Peyrot des Gachons C, Uchida K, Bryant B, et al. Unusual pungency from extra-virgin olive oil is attributable to restricted spatial expression of the receptor of oleocanthal. Journal of Neuroscience. 2011;31(3):999-1009. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1374-10.2011

3. International Olive Council. Sensory analysis of olive oil – method for the organoleptic assessment of virgin olive oil. COI/T.20/Doc.15/Rev.10. Madrid: International Olive Council; 2018.

4. International Olive Council. Determination of biophenols in olive oils by HPLC. COI/T.20/Doc.29/Rev.1. Madrid: International Olive Council; 2017.

5. European Commission. Commission Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 establishing a list of permitted health claims made on foods. Official Journal of the European Union. 2012;L 136:1-40.

6. Covas MI, Nyyssönen K, Poulsen HE, et al. The effect of polyphenols in olive oil on heart disease risk factors: A randomized trial. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2006;145(5):333-341. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-145-5-200609050-00006