[With wrapping bag] [Yura olive]☆100 % Olive tea from Miyazu, Kyoto Prefecture

What is Yura Olive?

At a time when it was said that there were no examples of olive cultivation on the Sea of Japan side, we started olive cultivation as the first company, mainly in the Yura area of Miyazu City, which is famous for Amanohashidate in the northern part of Kyoto Prefecture.
These olives are carefully grown, one by one, in a village of natural warmth and beautiful mountains and rivers.

Who grows them?

They have been grown by members of the Yura Olive Growing Association since October 2013.
They plowed the fields and hand-planted 250 olives, one by one. That's how they got started. Mandarin orange cultivation has been popular in the Yura area for a long time.
However, due to the aging of producers, there are many fallow lands. They also play an active role in revitalizing the region by renting land that would be overgrown if left unattended and cultivating olives.
We have now planted 2,000 trees (as of July 2020)!! We plan to plant more in the future.

What kind of products do they have?

We have ``Olive Tea'', ``Newly Pickled Olives (Autumn Only)'', ``Original Olive Oil'', and ``Blended Olive Oil''.

What is ``Olive Tea''?

What does it taste like?

It has a fresh, bitter, and refreshing taste like young grass.

How do you brew it?

Put one pack in 1 liter of hot water and leave it for a few minutes before drinking. In the summer, you can also put one pack in 1 liter of water and make delicious cold-brewed olive tea.

How do you make it?

We hand-pick only the clean leaves from the branches that are left over when pruning the olive trees. The leaves are thoroughly washed, dried and crushed to make the oil.

What are the beneficial ingredients for your body?

Olive leaves are rich in oleuropein, a polyphenol unique to olives that has strong antioxidant and antibacterial properties.

The effects of oleuropein include suppressing the oxidation of cholesterol in the blood, preventing arteriosclerosis, suppressing increases in blood sugar levels, lowering high blood pressure, producing collagen in the body and activating the body's immune function, among many other beneficial benefits. (Based on the results of an ingredient analysis of Yura Olive Tea conducted by a specialist institution)

What are "Newly Pickled Olives"?

These are olives "pickled in salt water." This is a taste that is only available in autumn and winter, and allows you to enjoy the whole olive. The sweetness and saltiness of the olives are exquisite and addictive.

How are they made?

Olives are very bitter and cannot be eaten as is.
Therefore, the harvested olives are selected one by one, and the process of removing the bitterness begins immediately to maintain freshness.
After the removal of the bitterness, the olives are soaked in salt water with gradually changing salt concentrations. If you are concerned about the salt, soaking them in fresh water for about 5 minutes before eating will remove the salt and make them easier to eat.

The road to pressing olive oil

Impressive! First pressing

In the early morning of October 14, 2016, members of the Yura Olive Growing Association hand-picked olives of the "Nevadillo Blanco" variety, selected them, and pressed 65 kilograms of olives for the first time.

For three years since their activities, they have been working hard to grow olives for this day. With all the members watching, the first beautiful olive oil with a young leaf color was produced.

Some members were so moved that their hearts trembled and some were in tears... It was a truly moving moment!

Introduction of the ``Olive Press''

The ``Yura Olive Cultivation Association'' has an olive press loaned to them by Miyazu City.
It was ordered from Italy in time for the first pressing.
For olive producers, having an oil press that they can use freely at any time is very important.
This is because after the olives are harvested, the race against their greatest enemy, ``oxidation,'' begins. The olives that are hand-harvested first thing in the morning are sorted, washed, and then pressed immediately.
We work quickly and with the utmost care so that we can deliver it to your table in the freshest possible state.

Mixing our original olive oil

The taste of olive oil changes depending on the harvest timing and variety. Olives are green, but as they ripen they gradually turn red and finally black.
Even if they are harvested from the same tree, the flavor changes depending on the harvest time.
Generally, green fruits have less oiliness, a fresh and spicy taste, and less oil is pressed.
As they mature, the oiliness comes out, the taste becomes milder, and the amount of oil pressed increases.
The taste changes depending on the season even for a single tree, and the taste also differs depending on the variety.
So how do we decide the taste of olive oil?
Yura Olive has a dedicated olive sommelier who adjusts the subtle taste before shipping it.
Olives are not harvested and pressed for oil just once, but are done many times during the harvest season.
When bottling, we taste and blend the several types of olive oil available at the time to find the optimum solution.
Due to this process, even though we may call it Yura Olive Olive Oil, the taste may vary slightly depending on the season.
We hope you will find it enjoyable to experience this unique taste.

Decision to sell blended olive oil

Yura olive trees are still young, so we cannot expect a large harvest.

We cannot meet all of the requests of customers who purchase original olive oil.

Because it is all made by hand, the original oil is inevitably a pricey item.

In the midst of this dilemma, we discovered that there is an olive oil in Italy that is delicious and goes well with Yura olives.

Therefore, Yura Olive's exclusive olive sommelier has mixed olive oils from Italy and Yura to release a blended olive oil.

With the birth of blended olive oil, it is possible to produce more olive oil than 100% original olive oil, and an olive oil that can be offered at a lower price has been born.

A gift from olives

The olives on the young trees of Yura Olive are full of energy! They are very powerful. The olive oil made from such olives also has a strong taste and flavor.

If you feel a tingling sensation in the back of your throat, it is proof that the olives are rich in polyphenols called ``oleocanthal.''

This is a phytochemical that has strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. It is a very good ingredient for the body. Also, there may be brown sediment at the bottom of the bottle, but this is proof that the olives are 100% natural and are squeezed, and it is not harmful to your health, so please enjoy it with peace of mind.