LAVERDE ARTISAN is a London-based premium food company founded in 2025 by Luis Jurado Laverde. Through family connections with multigenerational producers in Sicily’s Caltanissetta regio – one of the island’s most remarkable yet lesser-known agricultural landscapes – the company offers Sicilian extra virgin olive oil, two varieties of raw unfiltered honey, black lentils from Villalba and a Colombian single-origin speciality coffee, as well as gift sets combining these products.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Sicilian Cold-Pressed Artisan EVOO
Available in three sizes – 100ml (£8.00), 250ml (£12.00) and 500ml (£20.00) – this is a single-estate Biancolilla extra virgin olive oil. LAVERDE says that not all Sicilian olive oil is the same and works exclusively with Biancolilla, one of Sicily’s oldest cultivars, grown at altitude in the Caltanissetta hills. The olives are harvested in November at optimal ripeness and cold-pressed within hours of leaving the tree. The result is an oil with floral and herbaceous notes rather than an aggressively bitter flavour, while still offering high polyphenol levels.
The EVOO worked wonderfully as a finishing oil. I drizzled it over simply cooked potatoes and used it to finish a crab risotto; it was equally good with crusty bread, ripe tomatoes and Symplicity Nduja in a bruschetta-style dish. It brought enough character to transform even the simplest ingredients.
The EVOO also worked well in a fresh, light salad dressing, mixed here with LAVERDE honey and apple cider vinegar. The combination added both freshness and zing to a salad.
The oil’s green hue remained visible, and its fresh character was equally clear, while the lingering peppery finish came through. Overall, it is an elegant oil.
Light and oxygen are two of the main enemies of olive oil’s freshness, which is why both the bottle and the filling process matter as much as the harvest. LAVERDE bottles its olive oil in London and uses dark glass to help protect it from light.
Raw Honey – Sicilian Unfiltered Artisan Wildflower Honey
LAVERDE honey comes in two types – the Sulla Blossom Honey from Sicily (£10.00) and the one I tried, the Sicilian Wildflower Honey (£9.00), both in 200g jars.
The Wildflower Honey is a raw, multifloral honey from apiaries in central Sicily. It is unfiltered, cold-extracted and never heated, helping it retain the natural aroma of the wildflowers on which the bees foraged. Its single-origin provenance is another encouraging sign when choosing a good honey.
I eat a lot of honey, but this one stood out for its distinctive floral finish, particularly when spread simply on toast or a crumpet. Mine had crystallised naturally, giving it a texture that was ideal for spreading.
The honey also brought a lovely sweetness to the delicate, almost caramel-like sweetness complemented the fresh fruit beautifully, but some of the honey ran onto the baking parchment—possibly more a reflection of my technique than the pairing. Whoops!
Colombian Specialty Coffee – Madrigal Single Origin Whole Beans
Madrigal is LAVERDE’s Colombian speciality coffee, priced at £12.00 for 250g. It is a single-origin coffee sourced from ASOCAFE TATAMÁ smallholder growers in the high-altitude hills around Santuario, Risaralda.
Our bean-to-cup machine meant the whole bean format was perfect but be aware that LAVERDE does not offer this coffee pre-ground, so a way to gride the beans is a necessity. LAVERDE does, however, provide online brewing suggestions for different preparation methods.
LAVERDE’s coffee brings a little touch of luxury to my morning cup. It is silky, smooth and well balanced, with a pleasing brightness and clear notes of almond, milk chocolate and sweetness. Descriptors used by LAVERDE that matched my own tasting experience. I prefer mine with a touch of oat milk, and the flavours of the coffee still shone through, but you equally enjoy this coffee black… or whichever way you prefer., really
Roasted weekly in small batches to bring out the natural character of the beans, and grown using high-altitude farming to develop its complexity, this is a Colombian specialty coffee that feels both accessible and quietly sophisticated.
LAVERDE ARTISAN brings distinctive Sicilian produce to the UK without losing sight of where it comes from, making it a great option for a taste of Sicily without having to leave the UK. Across the range, the olive oil stood out for its versatility and peppery finish, the honey for its floral sweetness and the coffee for its smooth, balanced character. All the products feel carefully sourced, and the value placed on small-batch ingredients, provenance and a sense of place is clear to see and taste.
As LAVERDE puts it: “The rain changes, the sunlight changes, the flowers change — and all of it is expressed in what we bottle. When a harvest ends, it does not simply sell out. It ceases to exist.”
LAVERDE ARTISAN products are available from https://laverdeartisan.com/