Best juicers for cocktail preparation

[Christopher396]

I've been using a regular hand juicer for lemons, limes, oranges, and gratefruits for my drinks. While that works, it's not very fast, and it makes a bit of a mess. What kind of juicer do you use and recomend? I've been looking at electric units and also the big manual units with the slot machine style levers. I'm not sure which kind I should buy.

Edited July 28, 2012 by Christopher396 (log)

[budrichard]

I use a heavy duty hand sqeezer made by NorPro http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Stainless-Steel-Citrus-Juice-Press/dp/B0002IBOAK/ref=sr_1_3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1343517079&sr=1-3&keywords=lime+squeezer

I believe and sold for around $25..

Works great!-Dick

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I have a hand-squeezer (cast iron) and a lever-press (stainless steel), both of which are excellent and rapid tools. The lever press extracts a bit more juice, but it's too large for most limes, hence the hand-squeezer. The lever, hence, is used for large citruses including my friend's ginormous lemons, sweet and sour oranges, the occasional grapefruit, and mandalimes.

I'd advise against light metal lime presses - they require a great deal more hand strength and often don't press as completely as heavy models. I have a light stainless steel lime press, and it's the crappiest gadget in the drawer - it doesn't have enough weight to completely express a lime, and after 3-4 my hands start to hurt due to the thinner handles (and this from somebody who kneads 16-20 lbs of heavy bread by hand every day - hand strength isn't an issue for me.)

[Lisa Shock]

I've got an old 1950's manual juicer that has the slot machine type handle and a domed top. I also have an automatic juicer attachment for my DeLonghi DSM7 mixer. I tend to just use the manual one for a couple of drinks. It seems easier to clean than the automatic one. I've only used the automatic one a few times; when I was making sorbet and needed a lot of juice. That said, the attachment was significantly cheaper than buying a free-standing electric unit and takes up less space.

[cbread]

I bought a hand orange juicer at Penneys of all places, with the horrible name chef'n FreshForce. Despite the name, It's amazingly effective. It uses a simple gear mechanism to squeeze oranges very easily and very completely. It's so powerful that I have to deliberately use it very gently to avoid practically exploding the oranges. About my only complaint is that it is, for a hand tool, somewhat large and bulky, and a bit expensive. $35. But if I lost this one I buy another in a second.

[Hassouni]

I have one of those NorPro ones (as well as the ubiquitous green lime sized one). The Norpro quite good, though I don't think it gets 100% of the juice out. However, the performance is perfectly satisfactory.  What does get to be obnoxious is when juicing 20 lemons as I did on Saturday, the handle gets really slick and tough on the edge of the index finger.  Oxo has a version with their usual ergonometric features, but it seems to have some really crappy reviews re: performance. 

 

I've seen the chef'n fresh force in person at a shop and in use at a bar, and it does look effortless. However, there are several mentions of plastic gears in the device on Amazon, which the reviewers say are prone to breakage, which is why I didn't buy one. cbread, how is yours holding up?

 

If I had the space, I'd get one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-932-Commercial-Citrus/dp/B00015NN0S/ref=sr_1_6?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1394477252&sr=1-6&keywords=lever+citrus

 

I've seen several respected bartender types recommend it (Jeffrey Morgenthaler, to name one)

Edited March 10, 2014 by Hassouni (log)

[slkinsey]

I use a large freestanding lever-type citrus juicer.  I think it's now called the Olympus Citrus Press Juicer.  When I bought mine years ago it was called the Orange-X.  I love it.  Ra Chand makes a similar large freestanding lever-type citrus juicer that others really like.  I prefer the Olympus for a number of reasons, not least because it gives a true vertical press which the Ra Chand does not.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I've returned from the kitchen, having been hammering limes with a heavy pot.  The process risked damaging more than just my wrist.

 

From reviews I've read the OrangeX models work well with larger citrus but do not do well with limes.  So I now have a Hamilton Beach on order.

 

Finding counter space is the big problem.  A press won't fit underneath my cupboards.  Were it not for that I would have ordered a citrus press a long time ago.  Sadly it took pain to get me motivated.

 

After I cut the pounded limes, I'll try using a fork before reaming them for my mai tai.  I doubt the fork will help, but the fork shouldn't hurt...unless I put it through my hand.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

P.S. Attacking a lime with a fork did not noticeably increase the yield, however it did spatter me with juice.

[dcarch]

You can use the juicer for pomegranates.

 

I think rack and pinion design will work better for juicing pomegranates.

 

 

dcarch

[Hassouni]

This is true, I've used it for pomegranates too, it's great for them, and produces a lot of juice.