Homer called Greece’s olive oil “liquid gold” more than 2,500 years ago. These are the two words that inspired Thessaloniki resident Yiannis Tsapanidis to take olive oil and add real gold to it, creating a product that is literally and figuratively “gold” for one’s health.
Speaking to the Seleo.gr news website, the 32-year-old told the story of the conception of “Myst Gold”, a bottle of pure virgin olive oil that contains 24 carat gold flakes that are edible and add luxury and mystique to one of the best foods on earth.
Although Tsapanidis studied architecture, his parents’ olive groves in Halkidiki have been producing olive oil for years. On top of that, his wife’s parents own olive groves on the slopes of Mount Olympus. So it was easy for the young man to scrap his studies and focus on the product at hand.
It took three years of hard work to put Myst on the shelves in prestigious stores in 2017. The design of the bottle also took time to complete, but it made it to the Hall of Fame for Design in Chicago. The “Myst Gold” bottle is 500ml of extra virgin olive oil with 0.1gr of 24 carat gold flakes.
But “Myst Gold” has also the extra mystique of being produced in Olympus, the mythical mountain of the 12 ancient gods of Greece. This adds more value to an impeccable food product that spells Greece.
Now “Myst Gold” is producing gold for the team of its makers. The lowest price one can get it for is €80 ($92) in Greece, in very few shops because it mainly caters to the export market. On Mykonos it sells for €110 and €210 in Dubai.
Today “Myst Gold” is sold in the U.K., Sweden, Japan, Korea and the UAE. In Greece one can find it only in Athens and on Mykonos, where it is served in Michelin Star restaurants and luxury hotels.
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