Breville JE200XL 700 Watts Juicer

Juicers, for whatever reason, have become a hot item as of late.  Whether you've seen documentaries such as "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" that promote juice fasting, or you're just interested in a product that will let you turn your favorite fruits into delicious drinks, you may be considering buying a juicer.

The world of juicers is far larger than I would have expected before I started looking into them myself, and there are a lot of good - and bad - juicers on the market.  For the money, the Breville JE200XL seems to be the popular choice for quality versus cost.  I purchased one for myself and, after some rigorous use, have to say that I am happy overall with the decision.

My partner, a roommate, and myself decided to try a 10-day juice fast to clean out our systems and get some much-needed nutrients that we have been missing from our diets (not to mention lose some weight).  Over the course of the 10-day fast, we used the Breville JE200XL between two and three times per day.  Our roommate continued to juice every meal exclusively for another 5 days, and we have continued to juice one meal per day during that time.  What that means is that we have had about 35 meals worth of juicing experience, and I feel like I can safely say we have a very good handle on this machine.

The JE200XL, for starters, seems very well-made.  I have always enjoyed Breville products (see my review of the Breville Wok) and the JE200XL is definitely up to snuff.  This machine is made of sturdy metal and hard plastics; none of the parts seem flimsy at all and everything feels nice in the hand.  I absolutely love that the power cord has a finger hole on it to aid with the removal of the cord from the power socket - no wiggling or jiggling of the cord to remove it from the outlet is required.  The only drawback to the machine's design is that the pulp bin (the part which collects the solid pulp once your produce has been juiced) is a little hard to clean by hand and doesn't support the option to use a plastic liner for easy clean-up like other juicer models.

Most of the juicer's parts are dishwasher safe, which is another useful feature if you're so inclined to run your dishwasher every time you use it.  However, from our experience you need to really clean the parts first (even more so than most dishes) or you wind up with dried pulp stuck to the rest of your dishes when they're done being washed.  For that reason, we have taken to washing the pieces by hand.  If you don't mind a bit of extra scrubbing beforehand though, everything but the plunger (the plastic piece which helps you safely press food down a chute toward the spinning blades) is the only piece which is not dishwasher safe.

Functionally, the juicer works well but does not compare to more expensive models.  The juicer has only a single speed - turned on and at 700 watts - which means you can't choose the right speed for specific vegetables or fruits.  Since different fruits and vegetables require different speeds to juice properly, this is the machine's biggest drawback.  What it ultimately means to you is that very juicy fruits (such as oranges) come out foamy or creamy, while drier vegetables (such as spinach and kale) wind up a little bit chunky.  If you can live with some inconsistencies in the liquidity of your drinks this may not be a big deal, but I believe it is the machine's biggest drawback.

Another issue with the juicer is that the pulp bin is a little small and, if you are juicing for more than one person at a time, you may need to empty it and do a quick clean of the filter while in the middle of a juicing session.  It can hold enough pulp to make about 20 oz. of juice without emptying, but that's just a little over the recommended 16 oz.-per-meal for a single person.  You may need to perform the emptying/cleaning routine once or even twice to get a full meal for two to three people.  Thankfully, you can re-juice the pulp from the bin to extract some extra juice, so at least you are rewarded for the effort.

The final issue with the JE200XL is relatively minor for us, but may be a headache depending on the size and shape of your kitchen.  Because you can't choose the juicing speed, some vegetables and a variety of fruits have a tendency to splatter when you first drop them down the chute toward the blades.  The splatter can be chunky or sticky, depending upon what you're juicing, and may be a mess to clean up.  I also had this problem using a friend's Juice Man-brand juicer a while back, so this isn't a problem specific to the Breville, but it's something to consider either way.  I should note, however, that you can mitigate this by immediately holding your hand over the chute when you drop in your produce; this works well at reducing splatter but means you may need to wash your sticky hands a few times while juicing.

Overall, I'm very happy with the Breville JE200XL 700 Watt Juicer.  It is extremely simple to put together, quite easy to wash (even by hand), and it looks great.  The juicer is also durable and has enough power to juice everything we've thrown at it - from soft oranges to hard carrots - without any signs of wear and tear even after frequent use.  All of this for the just-right asking price of around $100!

If you want to get serious about juicing but are afraid (or just plain can't afford) to spend $300+ for the high-end juicer models, you can't go wrong with the JE200XL.  Its minor flaws aren't big enough to justify getting any other juicer in its price range, and it's the absolute minimum I would spend on a juicer at all - even less-costly models tend to be poorly made (remember my friend's Juice Man that I mentioned?  We killed its motor after just one serious night of juicing - cost: $50).  I highly recommend it.

Recipe tip: Use the JE200XL to make pure orange juice.  The result is the creamiest, smoothest, most delicious OJ I've ever tasted.

Also check ou tmy comparison of the Breville JE200XL and the Cuisinart CJE-1000 juicers!