Pamako Premium EVOO BLEND 500ml BIO BOX SALE BB.04.2025

Pamako Premium Blend "single estate high phenolic" 500ml BIO

Pamako Monovarietal is 100% Tsounati variety - fresh and fruity aroma with strong spicy elements and a subtle bitter taste. Pamako Blend is 60% Tsounati and 40% Koroneiki - fresh and intense fruity aroma with mild spicy elements and a gentle bitter taste.

In 2014, Eftihis Androulakis decided to create a modern olive oil company. He named it Pamako, inspired by the Linear B script ideograms meaning "medicine," as his organic, high-phenolic extra virgin olive oil earns awards for both its health benefits and its quality and taste.

Eftihis dedicated himself to a unique combination of tradition and innovation, achieving spectacular results.

Reviving the relatively rare Tsounati olive variety (also known as Mastoidis and Athinolia) in his family’s mountainous olive groves, he produced some of the first exceptionally healthy extra virgin olive oils from this variety. Traditionally, Tsounati olives are left on the trees until they fall when overripe, making high-quality olive oil production challenging. However, Pamako Tsounati has been recognized as one of the most phenolic-rich olive oils globally (containing high levels of oleocanthal and oleacein), providing anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, cardioprotective, and neuroprotective benefits.

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In addition to its health accolades, Pamako was one of the first Greek olive oils to receive certification for carrying the European health claim regarding the protection of blood lipids from oxidative stress (European regulation 432/2012). Pamako olive oils are annually awarded for their quality and taste in international competitions.

Eftihis prepared for this success by attending tasting seminars in Italy and Greece. He set up his own small bottling line, designed custom packaging, and built a meticulously crafted storage facility. He then experimented for several years to refine his olive oil before offering it for sale.

This innovative young man continues the traditional yet challenging harvesting process in his family’s ancient olive groves, scattered across rocky mountain slopes near the ancient city of Elyros and the modern village of Agriles in the Chania prefecture in southwestern Crete. Eftihis believes these trees have survived wars over the years because the locals protected them more than their homes, enabling them to support the healthy Cretan lifestyle now famous as the Mediterranean diet.

At an altitude of 500 to 700 meters, the area has the perfect microclimate for growing olives. Some trees, reaching heights of 14 meters, are challenging to harvest. In October, after a 30-minute uphill walk, harvesters climb the trees to pick olives, mostly by hand, very early to obtain the olives at their freshest and healthiest.

"They called me crazy, a tree destroyer, a fool - but now they call me asking what to do," says Eftihis.

He plans experiments to determine what is best for the trees but currently avoids constant pruning, which he believes forces the trees to struggle with producing new leaves, flowers, and olives. "I like to let them do what they want; the more you allow them to reach for their nourishment, the more phenolic compounds they produce." All his olive trees, grown organically, thrive in a very wild area that has been unsprayed for decades.

Once the olives are harvested, serious innovation and experimentation begin, sparing no costs or difficulties. Androulakis experiments with new olive oil extraction methods, crushing only the finest fruits without pits at low temperatures (below 25 degrees Celsius), using inert argon gas to eliminate oxygen, which can harm the oil. The resulting olive juice is stored in steel tanks at controlled temperatures, away from sunlight. The annual production averages just 3.5 tons.

During bottling, using the finest stainless steel Italian equipment, argon is used to eliminate oxygen from dark Venetian glass bottles, which are then sealed with natural Portuguese corks with wooden finishes. These measures ensure external factors do not affect the oil's aromas. The packaging is completed with a clasp and fishing line to keep the label (made of potato paper) in place.

"Of course, it has always been about what’s inside. I want it to be fresh. I want to show people around the world that there aren’t just one or two olive varieties; there are ancient ones that work wonders." Androulakis collaborates with researchers from the University of Athens, repeatedly testing both the flavor and the healthy phenolic compounds to discover how to create the perfect Tsounati olive oil.

This young entrepreneur says he is "obsessed with the organoleptic properties of olive oil and its phenolic compounds," the key olive oil components that scientists believe can treat and prevent numerous diseases, "because I believe olive oil can be more than just food or a superfood - it can be hyper-nutrition!"

In 2023, after several years of collaboration in joint seminars and lectures, Eftihis Androulakis of Pamako and Chloe Dimitriadis of Biolea decided to deepen their partnership.

With their enthusiasm, energy, youth, and innovation, they plan to create innovative products.
These producers will share what they believe is Greece’s only olive mill with two completely different production lines working side by side to produce olive oil in both the old and new ways simultaneously—stone-milled and cold-pressed, as well as cold-extracted in steel machines. Even the stone mill combines tradition with modern improvements, making it far from a typical modern production line, enriched with adaptations invented by Androulakis and Dimitriadis.
They are confident that their collaboration will yield fruitful results. Accustomed to working in a modern mill, Androulakis notices things to improve in the stone mill that Dimitriadis hadn’t observed, while Dimitriadis looks at the modern line with fresh eyes and comes up with promising ideas that surprise Androulakis.

Producer: Pamako