Our Story
We carved in stone the values we follow: family, respect, honor, innovation, reliability, responsibility, and sustainability.
In 1997, we – the Talmon family – moved from the suburbs of Tel Aviv to the wild, beautiful nature of the Sea of Galilee region, choosing to live in a truly sustainable way. We began planting olive trees on our farm, knowing that olive trees have grown successfully in the region for millennia. We decided to start pressing and selling our own olive oil, and built an olive oil mill dedicated exclusively to our family farm's crop. When we felt that natural, ecological, organic farming is our chosen way of life we had no idea that our farming culture is literally “regenerative” farming. As we grew and improved, we committed ourselves to the sustainable, environmentally conscientious way of cultivating olives, and our olive oil began to gain fame for its unparalleled high quality.
Like other olive oil mills, we were also troubled with the olive residue, which harms both soil and water as a result of the high concentration of antioxidants, too much to absorb neither by man nor nature. We knew that such a high quantity of antioxidants is actually “too much of a good thing,” and wanted to explore the ways that we can harness the amazing traits of the olive for the benefit of both ourselves and the environment. We established a line of laboratories to explore the olive residue, olive oil and their many virtues. Our mission was to develop olive-based skincare that is eco-responsible and fully natural, using all of the olive to the last molecule and disposing of nothing.
And that's how Olea Essence was born.
Farming Near the Sea of Galilee
Our olive trees are nurtured on a vista near Capernaum, near the Sea of Galilee. Our family-owned and operated groves are never sprayed with herbicides, pesticides, or fungicides, or grown with chemical fertilizers. In doing so, we can ensure that all of our products are fully natural and environmentally sustainable from start to finish.
During harvest, we use a rotating, tractor-mounted hydraulic machine to gently jiggle the olives off the branches. That means that, unlike traditional harvesting methods, we don’t use long sticks to beat the branches until all of the olives are picked. We feel that the technique we use is kinder and less aggressive to the leaves and branches. Additionally, we only use the olives that we shake from the trees, rather than also gathering the olives that fell during the night, ensuring that only the best olives go on to become olive oil.
After a morning of harvest, the picked olives are rushed to our nearby, state-of-the-art olive oil mill. There, they are pressed on the same day to ensure the highest quality and the lowest acidity. We press both green and black olives to make our extra virgin olive oil: the green olives are the first fruits of the season, while the black olives sun-ripen on the tree for an extra month.