For full disclosure: until two years ago, we knew practically nothing about olive oil.. 

Things started with a documentary on Dutch television. What should have been a simple product turned out to be anything but. Blending. Mislabeling. Vague marketing terms like “mild” and “classico”. Even outright fraud.

Olive oil, a product that has existed for thousands of years, had apparently become far more complex and industrialized than we ever realized.

That pushed us to look deeper into the industry. We started digging into what actually makes good olive oil good. Not the marketing, but the fundamentals. Olive varieties. Harvest timing. Harvest years. Taste profiles. Storage. How light and oxygen affect the product over time. 

We also learned something else: many of the health benefits people associate with olive oil are specifically tied to extra virgin olive oil. And even “extra virgin” itself is a very broad spectrum that ranges from poor to exceptional. What is clear, however, is that fresher oils (think: the most recent available harvest) generally contain higher levels of polyphenols (antioxidants), while lower acidity is another crucial indicator of quality. 

It quickly became clear to us that there was no point in creating yet another ultra-premium olive oil brand. There’s already plenty of fancy-looking, often very good olive oil out there, but the problem is that most people can’t realistically use it every day.

Then there’s the packaging bit. Most olive oil is sold in plastic or clear glass, through which light gradually breaks down the quality of the oil over time. And plastic, frankly, is not something we’re particularly excited to store oils in either. 

What we felt was missing was a better standard: premium olive oil that is clearly better than what you’ll find in most supermarkets across North-West Europe, while still affordable enough to cook generously with every day.

So we decided to develop something ourselves. We focused on the few things that actually matter: top quality oils, the latest available harvest, protection from light and oxygen, and sourcing as directly from the farm as possible. Cans topped off with nitrogen to help preserve freshness. Ceramic decanters made to stay on your kitchen counter. Refills sized to fit the decanters perfectly. A simple system that works. 

We are former colleagues and before Cabra, we worked across different commercial roles at both large and small companies, built businesses, and lived in Europe and the Americas. What brought us together was a shared interest in developing great products with a connection to artisanship, nature, and the simple things in life that can bring people together. And for some reason, olive oil felt like the right move in that regard.

The name Cabra means goat in Spanish. Colloquially, it can also mean slightly crazy. The goat stands for quality and resilience. The crazy part, we figured, is trying to do things differently in an industry that often feels stuck in the past. We’re not trying to make the most exclusive olive oil in the world. We’re trying to make a better everyday one. Great taste. Transparent sourcing. Freshness. And a price that allows you to actually use it generously, every single day.

Thanks for joining the ride. 

Skye, Roderik & Maxime