10 Things To Consider Before Buying A Juicer
1) What do you plan to juice?
Try and estimate broadly what percentage of each of the following you plan to juice – Soft Fruits, Citrus Fruits, Harder Fruits, Vegetables and Leafy Greens. Given the amazing variety of produce mother nature provides it is important to note that no juicer is designed to excel at all of the above, so it’s important to broadly identify what you primarily plan on juicing as this will heavily influence the best juicer for your needs. For example, I know that I personally juice approximately 10% soft fruits, 25% leafy greens and 65% hard vegetables and fruits, as a result, a masticating juicer is most suited to my needs.
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2) How much juice would you like to make and how quickly?
How many times per day or week do you plan to juice and what quantities will you require? Is it just for you, you and your partner or your entire family? Is the time it takes to make a juice a major concern? Masticating juicers, while producing the highest quality juice are much slower than high-speed centrifugal juicers, so if you need to make a lot of juice quickly and you are willing to sacrifice a little on quality then centrifugal juicers are a good option, however if juice quality is your primary concern and you plan to juice mainly vegetables and leafy greens then a masticating juicer is by far the best choice. Masticating juicers take 60-100% more time to make juice compared to a centrifugal juicer. For example, it will take a masticating juicer about 5-7 minutes to make 500ml of juice, while it would take a centrifugal juicer only 3-4 mins (you will have a lot more waste!).
3) High juice yield & dry pulp
Juice yield is a critical way to measure the quality and effectiveness of a juicer. If you look online you will see many video comparisons showing how effective different juicers are at juicing the same quantities of produce. Typically as the Juice yield increases so does the price. For example, the Omega H3000D Horizontal Slow Juicer for £189 is an excellent juicer and one of our top-selling juicers for under £200, however if you compare it to one of the Rolls Royce of Juicers; the Angel 5500 Twin Gear Slow Juicer, which retails for £1249, the difference in yield is quite apparent. The Angel for example can extract 25% more juice from carrots and 30% more from leafy greens. Twin gear masticating juicers tend to give the highest juice yield and produce very dry pulp while centrifugal juicers tend to give lower yields and produce wetter pulp.
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4) Your budget
Like most things in life, you get what you pay for, the same applies when it comes to juicers. Typically as the price goes up so does the juicer's performance. With a higher price comes higher juice yield, more features, an easier-to-clean product, a better warranty and in many cases a more aesthetically pleasing product. If you plan to make juicing a key part of your diet and health regime we recommend not skimping on the price, many people start off juicing by buying a cheap centrifugal juicer for less than £100. This is a false economy; you may quickly become disheartened by the effort involved in assembling the juicer, the large amount of waste produced and indeed the poor quality of the juicer and juice. In time the juicer just becomes another kitchen gadget gathering dust or worse breaks down within the first year. If you are willing to spend £200+ you will get a high-quality juicer that should last you at least 10 years.
5) Warranty
Juicers come with varying warranties, you will see that most high-speed centrifugal juicers come with only 1-5 year warranties as the motors can burn out, on the other hand, many masticating juicers come with substantial 10-year plus domestic warranties on the motor and 5-year plus warranties on the parts. Ensure to check where warranties are serviced and what the warranties do and do not cover. Juicers.co.uk are the official distributor and retailer for the products we sell and we have a dedicated service centre based in the UK where we can quickly repair juicers. We also carry a full range of spare parts for the Juicers we sell.
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6) Leafy green juicing ability
In my opinion, one of the greatest benefits of juicing is the capability to extract raw live juice from leafy green vegetables. No other foods are as rich in vitamins, minerals and enzymes as leafy greens, especially wheatgrass, spinach, kale, chard and cabbage. Centrifugal juicers are very poor at juicing leafy greens and in effect simply cannot juice them. Our advice is to stick with masticating juicers (single gear = good, twin gear = best) which are excellent at extracting leafy green juice.
7) Assembly, disassembly and maintenance
The time it takes to assemble, disassemble and clean a juicer is overhyped in many marketing brochures. Our experience tells us that once you’ve used a juicer a few times you become proficient at assembly, disassembly and cleaning. Yes, many juicers have more parts but ultimately you are talking about seconds to rinse clean these parts under a running tap. A word of warning though, do not be overly swayed by one juicer claiming to be dramatically quicker to clean than all the rest, we are yet to see this magical juicer.
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8) Feed chute size
The ability to juice whole apples and other fruits and vegetables is important for people who wish to reduce the prep time involved before juicing. Most centrifugal juicers have large feed chutes to take whole apples etc… While most masticating juicers have a smaller feed chute of typically 4cm, this prevents overfeeding of the feed chute and is also a safety requirement under EU law (to prevent children from putting their hands into the chute). Nonetheless, your prep time is typically only increased marginally with masticating juicers, I find I only have to chop apples, beets and some large carrots. Some of the latest vertical masticating juicers such as the Hurom H400 include a self-feeding hopper that can cut and prep produce to the perfect size by using an internal cutting blade at the bottom of the hopper for hassle-free juicing!
9) Additional features & accessories
Many juicers now come with a variety of food processing features. For example, many can now make oils, nut butter, ice creams, sorbets and pasta, can crush ice and coffee, make soya and almond milk and can also feature a host of other grinding and mincing features. Ultimately we recommend your juicer for Juicing, experience tells us that most of these other food processing features could be done using a cheap food processor and using your juicer regularly as a food processor could deteriorate its juicing performance, nonetheless, keep an eye out for product descriptions to see what accessories come with the juicers and if accessories can be purchased separately.
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10) Juicer design and aesthetics
To get the most from your juicer we recommend keeping it visible otherwise it may end up unused in a cupboard somewhere. Many juicer designs are stunning; most leading manufacturers have tried to design a range of styles and colours for contemporary kitchen environments. Consider the colour of other appliances in your kitchen and the size and shape of your juicer to ensure you will have adequate room around your juicer for collector bowls and the produce you are juicing, also consider the space above your juicer where you will need to access the hopper to feed produce in. Many juicers can be quite large and are now either horizontally or vertically positioned. It is important to consider the juicer dimensions when choosing your juicer. Some of the most stunning juicers include the Hurom juicers and the all-stainless steel Angel juicer range.
Final Thoughts
Now that you have taken time to consider your key requirements let's go to Step 2 and compare the different types of juicers currently on the market to find the category of Juicer most suited to your needs. Step 2: Different Types of Juicers
