The Olive Tap

What a great little find! This store is awesome. I’ve been searching high and low for a really good salad dressing that doesn’t really contain any sugars. It’s been a difficult task until I walking in this store. They have a huge selection of specialty olive oils and balsamic vinegars that you can sample. You can tell that it’s all really high quality with many great flavors. I particularly enjoyed trying all the balsamic vinegars. They had chocolate espresso, mango, peach, raspberry etc. so many delicious flavors and I’m so indecisive. Hard decision to make but I went with the Peach White Balsamic. An employee there filled my bottle and custom sealed it… Fancy :) For a 350 ml bottle I paid about $ 17, not bad considering all the money I spent on unhealthy, not so pleasant tasting salad dressing in the past week. The store has the specialty oils, vinegars, gourmet food items, gift baskets and they do custom bottling. These oils would make an awesome gift. Such a cool store– too bad it’s located all the way in Manitou Springs. When I run out of my Peach vinegar I’m definitely taking a trip back because it’s worth it. I may even do some early Christmas shopping there.

Any type of olive oil or balsamic blend you could possibly think of. And the ability to taste all of them? Nice

A fantastic oil, vinegar and spice store where you can sample almost all the products!
I am in love with all the flavors of everything — truffle oil. Habanero olive oil. Peach vinegar. Coffee balsamic.
Some sounds bizarre, some IS bizarre tasting and others are genius!
But what makes this place great is that all the oils and vinegars are in canisters with a tap so you can taste test each one. There are at least 30+ to try, from basics to aged.
You can do side by side comparisons of what olive oil tastes like from Italy v Greece v Spain. Or if you prefer a honey balsamic or chocolate balsamic.
And then there are spices and salts! Himalayan salts. Truffle salts. Sriracha salt (and heck yes it’s yummy).
There are also super cute oil containers and plates. The prices are a bit higher but the variety is also second to none and unlimited sampling!
Go in! You will LOVE it if you are a foodie.

Wow! Flavor explosions! Leaving with 6 bottles. Education with tasting. Can’t go wrong.

We live in Colorado Springs, and we have been wanting to check out this place for some time now. We happened to be in Manitou last weekend, and when we walked past the shop, we decided to finally stop in.
Upon entering, we were not acknowledged by the sales staff, and that should have been our first sign that things weren’t going to go well. We also weren’t spoken to as we made our way around the store to sample the oils, despite there being two staff members on the floor and only five total customers. After browsing for ten or so minutes, we did find an oil that we thought was extraordinarily delicious and were going to purchase it, that is, until the lady who seemed to be in charge finally decided to speak to us and was cold to the point of being rude. There was no greeting, and she didn’t ask us if we had any questions. She told us that we were tasting the oils incorrectly. It seemed as if she was put out to have us in the shop and really annoyed to have to instruct us on how to taste the oils the right way. We have lived in this area for two years now, and I have not had any other experience in a local shop that even comes close to how we were treated. It was extremely disappointing. Needless to say, we left the shop without making a purchase.
They do have excellent products, however (thus the two-​star rating instead of just a single star), so if you can get past the lack of helpfulness and attitude from the staff, this might be the place for you. We prefer to shop local and will go far out of our way to patronize a store that we believe is worth supporting, but at least the employees at Whole Foods are nice to you. Because of our experience, we will not shop at the The Olive Tap in the future.

My wife and I love to visit this store. We usually sample 9 or 10 vinegars and purchase several. The staff are really helpful and accommodating. The store offers a military discount for service members! We always refill our bottle of Ruby Red Grapefruit vinegar to use in several different salads that are now on our monthly recipe list.

I really do think I could stay at this place all day. A very nice, very well organized olive oil and vinegar shop in DT manitou. I loved the fact that you can sample so many different types in one place. Two of my faves were the garlic olive oil and a new comer, smoky bacon. Can’t go wrong with those.
Paired with the raspberry vinegar, they are awesome. they also have a nice selection of spices and salts. The spicy garlic salt packs some punch.

I usually get my flavored olive oil from a place in Littleton. Not only was the staff not friendly here but the prices were higher. I wouldn’t mind paying a little more to support a local business, but if they are not going to be helpful, friendly or appreciate the business… I will go elsewhere. I gave a couple of stars because the flavors I purchased were tasty.

Olive oil is one of my weaknesses. I worked at a french restaurant and I think I ate bread and olive oil more often than I would eat our family meals.
That set up was really only to say that I love olive oil and I could spend all afternoon and a years salary at The Olive Tap.
Luckily since I cook for a living I consider it ‘continuing education’
The EVOOs and BV are on tap and there are paper cups for tasting. There is a water station for palate cleansing and each tap has a full description of the contents and it flavor profile.
They sell the large bottles, unfortunately this may cause people to go there to sample and purchase smaller bottles online. Unlike restaurants, the average consumer may not consume the quantities of oils or vinegar that they sell within a year or even two.
Luckily you can taste taste taste, and make the investment worth your while.

I loved this place too! My husband thought I was crazy to sample the olive oit straight out of the cup, but they are all so tasty! I was like a kid in a candy store!

The Olive Tap is GREAT. The staff is very knowledgeable about all the oils and vinegars available, and I love the wide variety of selections! Best part are the free samples that you can try in unlimited little paper cups, and they are thoughtful enough to provide a little water station to rinse out any aftertaste.
We’ve made all kinds of combinations of our own salad dressings and bread dips from their products over the last 2.5 years since we started buying from them (sorry, Kraft and Paul Newman!). From basic olive oils pressed from all over the world in all sorts of conditions, to herbally-​infused olive oils like rosemary, basil, oregano, garlic, truffle, etc, and vinegars such as the basic yet divine Acetos, to the fruit-​infused like fig, peach, and cherry– they have never deprived us of experimentation!
Btw, if you want to freak people out, pour some of the peach white balsamic over vanilla ice cream. It sounds gross, but the acid cuts through the fat and brings out the sweetness to make pure awesomeness. Guests will ask WTF you’re doing.
The Olive Tap also has a stamp card, where if you buy a certain number of bottles (12? can’t remember), you get one free.
One reason I subtracted a star is because after a giving my business to them at least half a dozen times, the staff has never been clear on how to clean my empty bottles (they give you a $ 1 off if you bring in one of their previously-​used bottles that has been thoroughly washed and dried). For the life of me, the first 4 times I followed their apparently inadequate cleaning instructions, they tell me Nope. So I ask what I need to do better, they tell me what to do, I do exactly what they say, and it’s still unacceptable. So I said screw it, the hassle ain’t worth the $ 1.
The second reason is that it’s pricey. I know quality olive oil is worth paying for, but I feel I’d go here more often if they’re charging about $ 1-​$ 2 less per small (15.75oz) bottle. With that said, we’ve probably bought $ 250 worth of oil from these guys over the last 2.5 years. Yes, we love oil and vinegar. They DO mix. :)
Pay them a visit, taste their unlimited samples, and you’ll soon not want to buy crappy oil ever again.

So I was mildly skeptical about this place since the surrounding stores on the street don’t interest me in the slightest. But being an avid cook I was intrigued. This place is awesome. with tons and tons of different olive oils to choose from you will surely find one that meets your taste. The only down side to the place is the high prices. But when you want quality you have to pay for it.

I can’t believe no one has reviewed this place yet — it is amazing!
If you like Olive Oil (and who doesn’t?!) you will be in absolute heaven! Mini kegs (of oil) everywhere with all flavors begging to be tasted! Along the wall are more kegs of balsamic vinegar, of such exotic flavors they make your head spin! Give your hands a thorough washing (licking dirty fingers may impact taste) and give yourself over to the oily goodness!
I bought a bottle of mixed basil and garlic olive oil (slightly pricey at $ 15) and some white peach balsamic. At home I got some rosemary bread and seriously lived off this for 3 days. (Only stopped because I ran out of bread!) The bottles are a pretty good size, and when you pick your flavor they bottle and cork it right there for you — awesome!
Get yourself to Manitou Springs and over to The Olive Tap, and prepare for bliss!

A great store with fantastic products– very high quality oils and vinegars in a myriad of flavors. I succumbed to the strawberry balsamic vinegar myself. They are all available for tasting.
My only complaint is that they don’t sell small bottles – I would surely buy more if they came in something like a sample size. At $ 15 a pop for the smallest ones, you really have to make up your mind.