Olive Oil Coffee
A spoonful of extra virgin olive oil blended into coffee. It is genuinely interesting to drink, and there is a practical warning that most coverage skips.
At a glance
- Espresso : milk
- 1:5
- Active time
- 3 min
- Total time
- 5 min
- Makes
- 1 cup
- Serve
- Hot or iced
- Kit
- Stick blender
Ingredients
Note: Oil choice decides the drink. A mild Ligurian or Spanish arbequina is soft and buttery; a peppery Tuscan oil carries a throat-catching bitterness that fights the coffee.
Method
-
Blend the oil into the hot shot
Pull the double into a tall narrow jug, add the oil, and run a stick blender or a handheld frother for fifteen seconds.
Stirring does not work. Oil and water do not mix, and without mechanical emulsification the oil sits on top as a slick and you drink it in one unpleasant mouthful at the end.
Blend 15 seconds -
Check it has emulsified
It should look slightly opaque and faintly golden, with no separate layer floating on top. If you can still see a slick, blend again.
-
Add milk
Steam 200 ml and pour it in as you would for a latte. The foam will be flatter than usual, because fat destabilises it.
Why this works
Fat changes coffee in predictable ways. It coats the tongue, which makes the drink feel heavier and smoother. It dissolves aromatic compounds that water cannot hold, so some flavours come through more strongly. And it blunts bitterness and acidity, because fat physically interferes with those compounds reaching the receptors. Olive oil adds its own grassy, buttery, faintly peppery character on top of that.
The result divides people sharply, and it is worth trying before deciding. At its best it is silky and rounded with a savoury edge. At its worst it is greasy, and the line between the two is mostly down to whether you emulsified it properly and which oil you used.
The warning. Olive oil is a known lubricant laxative in quantity, and when Starbucks launched its Oleato range in Italy in February 2023, a substantial number of customers and reviewers reported urgent digestive effects. This is not a rumour; it was widely documented at the time and the mechanism is well understood. A tablespoon in a drink you are not used to can move things along considerably faster than you planned. Start with a teaspoon, see how you get on, and do not introduce it on a day when that would be inconvenient.
Olive oil in coffee is not new. The practice turns up in parts of the Mediterranean, though usually as a spoonful in black coffee rather than a cafe menu item, and the 2023 launch is what turned a regional habit into a global talking point.
Variations
- Black: a teaspoon blended into an americano, which is the traditional Mediterranean version.
- Iced: blend oil into the hot shot, cool, then pour over ice and cold milk.
- With oat milk, which has its own soft sweetness and suits the oil.
- With a pinch of flaky salt, which sharpens the savoury side.
Made it?
Ratings are the most useful thing you can leave. They tell me which recipes need another pass.
No ratings yet. Be the first.
Questions
Does olive oil coffee upset your stomach?
It can, and for a lot of people it does. Olive oil acts as a lubricant laxative in quantity, and when the Oleato range launched in 2023 many customers reported urgent digestive effects. Start with a teaspoon rather than a tablespoon.
What does it taste like?
Silkier and rounder than the same coffee without it, with less bitterness and a grassy, buttery, slightly savoury note. Whether that is pleasant is genuinely a matter of taste.
Which olive oil should I use?
A mild, buttery extra virgin, such as an arbequina or a Ligurian. Peppery Tuscan oils have a throat-catching pungency that clashes with coffee.
Why does the oil float on top?
It has not emulsified. Stirring will not do it; you need mechanical force. Blend it into the hot espresso with a stick blender or handheld frother for fifteen seconds before adding anything else.