In CR’s recent tests of extra virgin olive oils, the one Trader Joe’s product we included—Trader Giotto’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil—landed on our “Not So Hot” list. But as anyone who’s cruised through Trader Joe’s knows, you could fill a shopping cart with the variety of olive oils it offers, and they’re often priced right. So we returned to the popular market to test six more olive oils to see if there were better options.
In this article
- What Extra Virgin Olive Oil Should Taste Like Putting TJ's Oils to the Test
What Extra Virgin Olive Oil Should Taste Like
First, a quick refresher on extra virgin olive oil, which is the highest-grade olive oil sold determined by special chemical and sensory tests.
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The oil is carefully processed from the get-go to preserve the olives’ polyphenols, antioxidant plant compounds that give EVOO its flavor and protect health by helping to prevent cell damage that can lead to heart disease and other conditions.
Extra virgin olive oil should be fresh, and not taste stale (a sign of oxidation), musty (moldy), or fermented (fusty), which results from substandard olive storage. A quality olive oil has a fruity flavor, but that can range from herbal, grassy, or vegetal to flavors of ripe fruit, like apples, bananas, or peaches. It should have at least some bitterness and pungency—these flavors come from the oil’s polyphenols.
Putting Trader Joe’s EVOOs to the Test
CR’s assessment of Trader Joe’s extra virgin olive oils was conducted blind, with expert testers sampling two bottles of each oil from standard blue glasses used for olive oil tasting, which also ensures that the color (not an indication of quality) doesn’t influence the evaluation. All of the oils tasted had a best buy date of December 2024 or later.
“It’s good to see that there are some really high-quality oils at very low prices,” says Amy Keating, RD, nutritionist at Consumer Reports. The prices range from 27 to 59 cents an ounce. Two EVOOs in particular were fresher tasting and more complex than the others. That makes them great for dunking bread or drizzling over foods, and they can be used in cooking.
Trader Joe’s Best Bets
Trader Giotto’s 100% Italian President’s Reserve Extra Virgin Olive Oil
$13 for 33.8 fl. oz.
38¢per oz.
Complex with a good balance of fruit, bitterness, and pungency, and a spicy, herbal flavor.
Trader Joe’s Sicilian Selezione Extra Virgin Olive Oil
$10 for 16.9 fl. oz.
59¢per oz.
Pungent and grassy-green fruit flavor, with a slightly nutty taste and a bit of a kick.
Good for Cooking
Trader Giotto’s 100% Italian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
$9 for 16.9 oz.
53¢ per oz.
Complex and balanced, with both ripe and green fruit notes, but one of the samples was less fresh tasting.
Not So Hot
Trader Giotto’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil
(packed in Italy)
$12 for 33.8 fl. oz.
36¢ per oz.
This oil had hardly any fruit flavor and tasted stale.
Trader Joe’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil
(packed in Spain)
$9 for 33.8 fl. oz.
27¢ per oz.
Very little fruit flavor and tasted stale and fermented.
Trader Joe’s Spanish Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
$9 for 16.9 fl. oz.
53¢ per oz.
Stale, with a taste of overripe olives.
We also tasted Trader Giotto’s Imported Olive Oil ($11 for 33.8 fl. oz.; 33¢ per oz.) This one is just plain olive oil, not extra virgin, but some people prefer regular olive oil because it has a neutral flavor.
That’s in part because it is further processed than extra virgin, and that processing removes the polyphenols.
Our tasters instantly recognized this one as regular olive oil because it had very little fruit flavor and no bitterness or pungency. You may not want to drizzle it on tomatoes or dip bread into it, but it is perfectly fine for cooking.
@consumerreports Love olive oil? We conducted a blind test of seven extra virgin olive oil options at Trader Joe’s. Get the full scoop through the link in our bio. #oliveoil #foodtok #foodtiktokph
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Jennifer Cook
Jennifer Cook is an award-winning freelance writer who contributes to Consumer Reports on health, wellness, mind-body, and environmental topics. She lives in New York's Hudson Valley in a farmhouse built in the 1840s. An avid walker and dancer, she feels fortunate to live near wetlands and wild things, and to have easy access to culture and good food.
