Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor
Customer Review: The MONSTER of Juicers (and I mean that in a good way)
Summary: 5 Stars
I have owned this juicer for over a year, and I juice 2-3 times a week on average.
When I first saw this machine in a store demo (W-S), I was amazed at how this thing TORE through everything.
After reading "The Raw Food Detox Diet" by Natalia Rose, I decided to invest in my health. My first purchase? This juicer.
PREVIOUS JUICING EXPERIENCES:
Having juiced with smaller and less powerful machines in the past, I found the process tedious and time-consuming. Not only did I have to cut all the fruits and vegetables into minute pieces, but it took forever to load them. At the end of the process, the amount of juice produced was almost not worth the effort.
I encountered NONE of those problems with this machine.
THIS JUICER:
I call this juicer a monster for several reasons:
-Size: It's big -- really big. It takes up the majority of my NYC kitchen counterspace, but after using it once, I didn't mind its size. Another big plus is the 3" feed tube.
-Construction: It's built solid, and is pretty hefty...this isn't an appliance, it's a machine.
-Effectiveness: It DEVOURS everything I put into it.
Hard vegetables juice best, but I've juiced everything I can get my hands on (and I live near a Whole Foods, so that's a lot of variety). The large feed tube is the best thing about this machine. Instead of having to slice apples in 8 pieces, I toss 3 WHOLE APPLES in at a time and let this machine do all the work. (I occasionally have to slice an edge off a larger apple to get it to fit down the tube, but the slicing is minimal). Carrots literally disappear, and you can even juice those gigantic, extra-large carrots with no slicing -- I even leave on the tops. I've even juiced an entire cantelope (sliced in 8ths), rind and all. Try THAT with any other juicer!
With leafy vegetables, they suggest pairing them with harder vegetables and juicing on the low setting, but I've found a solution that works very well for me. I juice kale/romaine/collards everytime I juice, and I've found that if I wrap them together in a "roll" lengthwise with the larger leaves on the outside, you can juice them like any other hard vegetable.
The trick is to have enough to keep the roll packed, but not so much as to slow/clog the chute -- make the "roll" just smaller than the chute. I insert it stemside-down, then use the food pusher in a slow up-and-down motion to keep it moving (some leaf pieces tend to break off and cling to the side of the chute, jamming the pusher -- this motion prevents that). Also, I find that the high setting works better, as juicing using this method simulates juicing harder vegetables.
JUICING EFFICIENCY:
If you do your homework, you'll read that centrifugal juicers (which rely on spinning force to separate juice from pulp -- like this one) don't juice as well as masticating juicers (which basically "chew" and squeeze the juice out). While this may be true, you'd be pressed to find a more time-efficient juicer than this one. A long-time juicer and I discussed this issue, and he asked, "Would you rather have a juicer that works at 95%, but you never use? Or a juicer that works at 90% and that you use all the time?" If I'm spending $300 on a juicer, I plan on getting my money's worth.
Note: Yes, the pitcher is large, but be careful when juicing. There's a "MAX" line for a reason. If you reach it, turn off the machine, pour some of the juice into another pitcher, and then continue. Keep in mind that you're often juicing entire fruits or vegetables, and it can produce more juice than you're used to.
CLEANUP:
Cleanup is fairly simple, and it's easiest if you clean up immediately after juicing (nothing has a chance to dry on the parts). You'll need to use the supplied brush to clean the "teeth" and filter, but everything else can pretty much be rinsed off without much effort.
They also suggest putting a plastic bag in the pulp container before juicing. All the pulp goes into the bag, and you avoid having to clean the container.
CONCLUSION:
In a year of use, I've found no flaws in this juicer. It's a solid and effective machine that I plan on using for years.
Customer Review: Absolutely Brilliant, Highly Recommended!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been juicing for well over 10 years and have used more juicers than I care to admit. I started with the juiceman Jr. and eventually worked my way up to a Green Power Juicer, which I am still extremely happy with, but I was still unsatisfied with certain aspects of my juicing including overall time required and ease of cleaning up. I actually received the Breville 800JEXL as a gift from my sister as she had been using one for quite some time and was aware of my dissatisfaction with certain aspects of the juicers I was using. I was super excited to get home and try it out as the picture on the box makes it look mighty impressive and I had heard good things about this model. I certainly wasn't disappointed as this juicer works just as good as it looks.
First off to say that this thing has some serious power behind it is a massive understatement. It has 2 power settings and the first time I used the 2nd, more powerful setting, I was absolutely blown away. For a minute there I thought it might launch right off my counter, through my roof, and into orbit. The first power setting is extremely quiet and powerful enough for most of the items people juice including most fruits and vegetables. The 2nd power setting is far more powerful and while its much louder than the first setting, its not excessively noisy. Still, you can just feel the power that this thing is kicking out. None of the juicers I had used in the past could match the 2nd power setting on the Breville. It simply must be seen to be believed. It made quick work of everything I put in it.
One of my favorite aspects to this juicer is that its mostly stainless steel which means no more stained plastic and no more lengthy clean up sessions. I can have this entire unit cleaned, dried and put back together in a matter of a couple minutes. Its the best juicer I have used yet in this regard, and not by a small margin either. The piece that takes the most time cleaning is the mesh screen and I now have a technique with a soft bristled toothbrush that roughly only takes me about a minute flat.
Another aspect I absolutely love is the 3" diameter juicing opening. It makes prep work with your fruits and vegetables practically non existent. Whole apples, as long as they aren't to big, can fit without a single cut although I still use a corer to get rid of the core and seeds. With my previous juicers prep time was actually one of the most time consuming aspects to juicing. Well, no longer with the Breville.
The one area that concerned me the most was the efficiency in regards to extracting as much juice as possible and once again the Breville did not disappoint. My pulp was just as dry as it was using my Green Power Juicer. I got in the habit a long time ago of running my pulp through a couple more times to try and extract as much juice as possible yet when I did it with the Breville, almost no additional juice was extracted. I would get maybe a couple drops here and there but for the most part the pulp is pretty dry.
Of course it would be a crime not to mention how nice this juicer looks. It is the nicest looking juicer I have ever seen and my kitchen has a lot of stainless steel accents so it looks fantastic right out on the counter. The appearance just screams quality and fortunately that is exactly what you get with this model.
The bottom line - I really cant possibly give this juicer a higher recommendation. If you juice more than 2-3 times a week then you should at the very least give this model a serious look. Actually now that I think about it, even if you only juice once a week or once every couple weeks, this would still be the model I would recommend. Its powerful, easy to clean, requires very little prep work with the items your juicing, and most importantly is very efficient in regards to extracting as much juice as possible. The Breville 800JEXL is the best juicer I have come across yet.
5 Stars and then some!!
Customer Review: Quiet, well-built, easy-to-use and easy to clean.
Summary: 5 Stars
[Update Feb 28, 09: Still using the unit. The unit has had zero problems to date]
[Update Feb 03, 10: Still using the unit. The unit has had zero problems to date]
I read tons of reviews about this product before I bought it and most reviews mentioned the difficulty of cleaning so I was somewhat trepidatious about its cleanability.
Others mentioned the noise. I'm unusually sensitive to noise and I wear hearing protection when using the vacuum cleaner, lawn mower etc. Neighbors lawn equipment and barking dogs drive me nuts. I didn't find the sound from the Breville to be at all objectionable.
I bought a bunch of fresh organic vegetables to play with; beets, celery, carrots, peppers, tomatoes and some dark green leafy stuff. That covered the entire gamut from soft to extremely hard (beets) vegetables.
I did read the entire manual before using and pushed the vegetables in through slowly for maximum extraction. The juice never became warm.
I had the most difficulty with the leafy stuff even when extracting with hard vegetables (as the manual advises). Much of the leafy stuff went unprocessed. My wife suggested putting the partially ground up stuff back in and trying again. Indeed, a lot more juice actually came out.
I found that one should process soft, low-fiber veggies (e.g. tomatoes) before the stringy stuff like carrots since the high fiber material tends to fill up outside the strainer reducing the effectiveness of the centrifuge.
Although the fiber felt relatively dry, it seemed like an awful waste to discard all that expensive organic material.
Our original intention was to make our own fresh juice as the liquid base for making shakes (we add freshly ground flax seeds, psyllium husks, and about a number of low-carbohydrate, high protein powders (e.g. "Private Reserve Superfood" )from [...]).
My wife uses a hand-held Cuisinart mixer to mix the powders into the juice. The mixer can't handle hard material like carrots. My idea was to add the vegetable puree back into the shake making a smoothie. Now, no waste and we eat the vegetable fibers. We have at least one of these shakes each day in place of a meal. It's satisfying with no fats, oils or meats. Although I was just a bit overweight, I've been able to lose 20 pounds in the past 3 months and never go hungry. I now have a totally flat stomach and no "love-handles".
To save time, I make two quarts at a time and put the juice into mason jars with a 1/4 teaspoon/jar of crystal ascorbic acid (vitamin C) as an antioxidant. You'll notice ascorbic acid added to a lot of foods.
Cleanability: I really don't understand all the fuss over cleaning the unit. The vegetable fibers easily come out with a warm/hot water spray. The provided brush takes out all fibers from the disk and screen. I can't see any reason what so ever for using a dishwasher as long as the parts are cleaned while still wet. I air dry the unit before reassembling.
The one problem I encountered is the dripping from the spout when the juice collection container is removed. I had deep red beet juice dripping all over the counter (nasty staining stuff). Then I thought of using a flared lip container to collect the residual dripping juice. Breville really should have added a collection cup for this purpose.
I thought the large finger pull in the plug was absolutely clever. I've never seen it before. You put your finger in the hole and tug rather than trying to pull the plug out of the wall by the wire.
I bought the unit from Bed and Bath over the Internet with a 20% discount coupon for $256.11 including tax. Luckily, I didn't get charged the normal $28 shipping charge. I bought from Bed and Bath in the event that if I didn't like the product I could return it locally without having to pay a large return shipping fee. I absolutely intend to keep the unit.
Customer Review: Pro/Con from a long time Juicer ACME 6001 vs. Breville ELITE
Summary: 4 Stars
I have been juicing for 15-20 years. I did take a break for a few years before buying this juicer. I used an ACME 6001 for all the other years.
The ACME works on a different principle which draws more juice out of the product than the Breville. However the very way the ACME draws the juice through makes it difficult to clean and also makes you need to stay with machine while running so it does not dance across the counter. The Breville can sit there all alone, sounds like a small jet but c'mon......get over the noise, and it is quieter than a blender. I had two big concerns when buying the Breville, the first was it was made in CHINA....I still get sick when I think about that as I look at our soaring unemployment.....and yes, USA could make it as good if not better for that kind of price, lets not kid ourselves Breville. The second was a fact that leafy type things such as KALE (which is your BEST item to put in any juice for highest benefit) would not juice well. This is a FACT however; I think I have a workaround. After trying several methods with the Kale, I decided to soak in water and then immediately juice it. This method will add some water to the juice for sure but clearly from the MUCH stronger Kale taste I would estimate I get 5-6 times more actual Kale juice in the mix. This works with the lettuce, the parsley and so on.
As far as some of the other bad info in the reviews, this item is NOT hard to clean, if you think it is then you have never juiced before. This item does NOT stain easily, if you wash it right after juicing then it will stay clean. If you leave it on the counter dirty like someone from "Hoarders" then yup....it will stain. It does NOT leak at seams at all like some reviews have said unless you put the pulp bucket on crooked. I use cheap food storage bags to line the bucket, I wash the device right after use and I think it works very well. The ONLY way stuff has jumped out of the chute has been if I throw it down the chute, IE: a handful of grapes tossed in the chute will transform your juicer into a paintball machine gun.....easy to fix, just drop them in with your hand over the chute.....no big deal as all. One thing I DO NOT like is the jug that comes with the device to receive the juice, it works flawlessly, don't get me wrong but the design of the machine forces you to use only this jug. It has a 'cutout" on the bottom so it gets closer to the machine than you could get with a regular glass or measuring cup so if you break this one.....you will be calling Breville to order a new one. Here are my juice suggestions for you:
1) Don't forget to get more fiber in your diet, Juicing will take it away 100%. Either take the pulp and do something with it in your meals or use a fiber supplement.
2) Always use organics veggies, I shop at Whole Foods and can find deals on organics many times, like 1/2 price kale. I just vary my drinks that week to adjust for the sale items.
3) Always drink immediately, juice will oxidize after juicing and the living enzymes is the KEY
4) Always wash the machine thoroughly after use, like I said, my plastic parts have ZERO staining and I have run about 100# of carrots through already.
5) I use a thermal mug, one of those ones you freeze in the freezer. I pour from the Breville Jug into the frosty mug and let sit for 2-3 minutes; it does help a bit if you are not into the taste.
6) If you are new to this, look out for strong items such as cucumber. Your body needs to ease into this a bit but I have a sensitive system and I have NEVER had an "uncontrollable" issue that I needed to deal with
7) If you are new, have a few crackers or something when you drink, it tends to take the edge off a bit.
Favorite drink~1# carrots, Handful wet Kale, apple (I do this one daily and vary the final ingredients: Squash, grapes, cucumber, celery, pepper, broccoli, lettuce, garlic)
Enjoy!!!
Customer Review: Fantastic juicer! I'd buy it again.
Summary: 5 Stars
I guess I'm an "experienced juicer" - I owned a Juiceman II a few years ago, used it to make all kinds of juice. It was a decent little unit.
But I was ready to move up. Having been around the juice carousel once, I knew what I wanted. Here are the things that the Breville Juice Fountain does like no other:
1) It's easy to clean. If you don't think this matters, you've never used a juicer. Every part can go in the dishwasher. Parts that get heavy exposure to juice are brushed steel, so they don't stain. Every part can go in the dishwasher. The plastic parts are clear so you can see where the bits of pulp are hiding. The pulp can is specially shaped and sized to hold the bag that you used to hold your fruits and vegetables at the grocery store. And did I mention: every part can go in the dishwasher? That's huge.
2) It doesn't drip, splatter, or spray. In other words, it's designed right. After a huge juicing session, your countertop will be clean beneath the machine.
3) It's loaded with POWER. Sure, it has a huge 3" juicing feed tube - big enough to accept a whole medium sized apple - and that's neat. But if the disk at the bottom is going to slow down and bog when you press a whole apple on it, what good is that? None, because you'll end up having to take the machine apart, fishing a half-juiced stuck chunk out of the stuck disk, if there isn't enough power. The Breville's 1000 watt motor macerates an entire apple in less than half a second without even appreciably slowing down. And it could care less about seeds or stems, although you don't want to put too much wood down the feedpipe because you will drink bitter wood juice if you do.
4) It's quiet. This is a side effect of the POWER, I think. Since the motor doesn't bog, it does its business efficiently without a lot of waste energy being dissipated as noise. It's not whisper quiet, but you could probably use it in the kitchen without waking up hubby in the bedroom. If your cat is sleeping in the kitchen, though, she'll wake up.
5) It's got a really fine screen. Much finer than the one on the Juiceman. This means that there's no pulp in your beautifully colored, clear juices. It also means that the pulp is not quite as dry, and that you might have to work a little bit with the included stiff bristle brush to clean it to keep it operating efficiently. That's fine.
6) It has two speeds - fast for hard fruits and veggies like carrots, ginger, and apples; slow for soft ones like grapes, berries, peaches, tomatoes, and peeled citrus. No compromise.
Basically this is just a well-designed unit. Even the power plug has a hole in it so you can pull it out easily with 1 finger. There are no annoying nooks and crevices where unreachable pulp can hide. The included juice pitcher has a separate fill port that fits the spout perfectly, and a pour spout that has a special anti-foam ledge. And it's clear, with graduations every 2 ounces so you know just how much juice you've made. It feels like this is the juicer you'd design if you'd been thinking about juicers for many years.
And you can get it shipped right to your door! The health benefits of fresh, unoxidized juice are incomparable. The labor savings are incredible - have you considered soup stock? Celery, onions, tomatoes, peppers? Healthy and delicious! And I'm looking forward to putting the Breville's output to work in my Cuisinart ice cream maker!
The only caution I'd give is that if you drink 30 carrots the first day you get the machine, you might find yourself to be in violation of your states' "emissions laws" - if you know what I mean, and I think you do!
So, what are you waiting for?