Ancient Olive

Ancient Olive occupies a distinctive spot within the Casa Monica Resort and Spa building along King Street, one of St. Augustine’s grandest historic hotel structures, and specializes in imported, award winning olive oils and vinegars sourced from producing regions including Spain, Greece, Italy, and Australia. The shop built its reputation on a tasting forward retail model, encouraging customers to sample flavored oils and vinegars before committing to a purchase, a considerable advantage over buying olive oil sight unseen off a grocery store shelf.

The tasting counter typically features an evolving rotation of flavored options, from bacon infused olive oil to cherry balsamic vinegar, alongside more traditional single varietal extra virgin oils that let customers appreciate the genuine differences between olive cultivars and growing regions the same way a wine shop encourages tasting across different grape varieties and terroirs. That comparative tasting experience turns a routine pantry purchase into something closer to an educational, even entertaining, shopping experience.

Beyond oils and vinegars, the shop stocks a broader gourmet pantry selection including French mustards, artisanal pastas, and bath products that complement the culinary focus with a small wellness dimension. A particularly customer friendly touch is the in store bottle refill service, allowing shoppers to bring in their own clean containers and refill favorite oils and vinegars rather than purchasing new bottles every time, a practice that reduces packaging waste while also rewarding repeat customers with a more economical way to restock kitchen staples they have already come to rely on.

Being located within the Casa Monica, a hotel originally built during Henry Flagler’s Gilded Age transformation of the city and later restored to luxury status, gives the shop a particularly upscale, destination feel compared to a standalone storefront. Guests staying at the hotel or dining at its restaurants naturally encounter the shop, while King Street’s steady flow of pedestrian traffic between the historic plaza and the Lightner Museum area brings in a broader mix of shoppers as well. For anyone who cares about the quality and provenance of everyday cooking oils and vinegars, or who simply enjoys the sensory experience of tasting before buying, Ancient Olive offers a genuinely specialized, independently run retail experience built around a single product category executed with real depth and care.

The tasting bar format also makes the shop a natural stop for anyone hosting guests or looking for a hostess gift with some genuine flavor and story behind it, since a bottle of a distinctive infused oil or aged balsamic tends to make a more memorable present than a generic souvenir, particularly for recipients who already enjoy cooking and would appreciate ingredients selected with real care rather than picked up as an afterthought.