Whether you’re completely new to juicing or you’ve been doing it for a while, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by your options when you’re on the hunt for a new juicer. There are so many types of juicer available on today’s market, and it’s difficult to tell which is right for you.
It’s not always necessary to have all the juicing knowledge in the world when you buy a juicer. But knowing the difference between masticating and centrifugal juicers is essential. These two juicer types vary in design, and the juicing process itself differs greatly from one juice to the other.
In this guide, I’ll be sharing all the information you need to know about centrifugal vs masticating juicers, including their designs, advantages and disadvantages, and who they’re best suited for.
⏳ Masticating Juicers
Masticating juicers, otherwise known as cold press juicers, auger juicers or slow juicers, “masticate” the veggies and fruits that are fed into them. The word “masticate” means “to grind or to chew”, which makes it easier to imagine the masticating process.
Design
Working slowly and powerfully to crush and grind fruits and vegetables with force, masticating juicers open the cells of the produce, squeezing it to release every last drop of moisture. Because a masticating juicer works slowly and introduces very little heat, it helps to retain the majority of nutrients and enzymes in the juice.
The average speed of a masticating juicer is between 80-100 RPM (rotations per minute). Some may even operate as slowly as 60 RPM or less. This prevents oxidation, producing a juice that’s as close in nutritional value as the fruits and vegetables it was made from.
Advantages
Relatively Quiet Operation
Masticating juicers are much quieter machines, making them suitable for using at antisocial hours (think early in the morning, when you don’t want to wake up your neighbors with your juice prep). This is because they crush produce like fruits and vegetables between two hard surfaces, rather than using a fast-speed spinning blade.
Limited Heat & Oxidation
With their slow, steady masticating process, masticating juicers can produce a high-quality juice with very little heat introduction or oxidation. This retains the nutrients and enzymes in the fruits and vegetables used for the juice.
Longer-Lasting Juice
The juice produced by a masticating juicer can last for up to 72 hours in the fridge, while juice produced by a centrifugal juicer will lose its nutritional value much faster.
Little Foam
Masticating juicers typically produce very little foam. While foam isn’t bad for you – it’s just juice mixed with air bubbles – most people would prefer not to drink it.
Best for Leafy Veg
A cold press juicer is the best juicer to get if you plan to juice leafy greens. Juices made from spinach, kale and celery are all an option when you have a masticating juicer in your home. Most masticating juicers can even handle wheatgrass.
Disadvantages
Slower Juicing
It’s in the name: slow juicers are purposefully slow. If you want to wake up, make yourself a juice within minutes, and dash off to work, a cold press juicer might not be the best type of juicer for you.
Heavier Design
Slow juicers tend to be heavier and bulkier in design, making them less portable.
More Expensive
You pay for the extra perks of owning a slow juicer. These tend to be the most expensive juicers on the market, and can cost upward of $300.
Less Choice
There aren’t anywhere near as many masticating juicers available today as there are fast juicers.
Best For
- People with plenty of time for juicing
- Juicing enthusiasts who want to create the highest-quality juice
- Anyone who plans to juice a lot of leafy greens
⏫ Centrifugal Juicers
Centrifugal juicers, or fast juicers, offer a performance that’s essentially the opposite of a masticating juicer. These types of juicers are known for their high-power, high-speed juicing, and behave more like a blender than a masticating juicer.
Design
Centrifugal juicers have a series of rotating blades that chop and blend fruits and veggies at high speeds, before separating the juice from the pulp and directing them out of different openings.
These juicers tend to have a much wider feeding tube, too, which helps you save time and is the better option for anyone who wants to quickly make juices from different fruits and veggies at home before work.
When I say that centrifugal juicers are faster than masticating juicers, I mean they’re a lot faster – a typical centrifugal juicer operates at speeds of 3,000 to 16,000 rotations per minute (RPM).
Advantages
Widely Available
One of the biggest benefits of fast juicers is that they’re very common and easy to get your hands on. If you visited a store that only sold one juicer, there’s a good chance it would be a centrifugal juicer. Because this type of juicer is widely available, you have a lot of choice as a customer.
User-Friendly
Most centrifugal juicers are very easy to put together and use, making them ideal for beginners. Unlike masticating juicers, they don’t typically consist of five or more parts that you have to put together like a jigsaw puzzle.
More Affordable
Because there’s more competition in the market, and because they deliver a poorer-quality juice, centrifugal juicers tend to be a lot more affordable, costing around $100-$170 for a decent model.
Quick to Use
You can whiz up a juice in a matter of minutes using a centrifugal juicer. If you want to make something fast before heading out the door, a centrifugal juicer is for you.
Disadvantages
Noisy
Considering they use centrifugal force at a high speed, it’s no surprise that centrifugal juicers are noisy. They’re not the best option for early-morning or late-night juicing.
Poorer-Quality Options
I’m certainly not saying that all centrifugal juicers on the market are poor quality. But because these types of juicers can be more cheaply made, there are some bad options. I advise checking reviews carefully before purchasing a product that costs less than $100.
Not as Nutritious
The centrifugal force in this type of juicer produces heat and oxidation, which destroys enzymes and affects the quality of juice.
Foamy Juice
Centrifugal juicers tend to extract juice that contains a lot of foam. Many juicing enthusiasts would prefer not to have foam in their juice.
Not Ideal for Leafy Greens
Centrifugal juicers have a fast-spinning blade that leafy, sinuous veggies can quickly get tangled in. Additionally, a fast juicer doesn’t allow enough time to process these veggies, and they’ll be spat out as pulp before they’ve even had much juice extracted from them.
Rapid Juice Oxidation
The fresh juice produced from a centrifugal juicer has a lower shelf-life than cold-pressed juice. A good juice can quickly turn bad with oxidation. The juice made from a centrifugal juicer also separates quickly, so its lifespan isn’t as long. You should extract juice and drink it immediately if you want to reap the nutritional benefits.
Best For
- People who plan to juice for a big family or large parties of people
- Anyone who doesn’t have the time to use a masticating juicer
- Juicing enthusiasts who prefer to juice hard fruits and vegetables
- Anyone less familiar with juicing who doesn’t want to invest in something more expensive
🆚 Centrifugal vs Masticating Juicers: Which Should I Choose?
Juicing is a great way to take in a broad range of nutrients from all your favorite fruits and veggies. But it’s important to understand that there are different types of juicers on the market, and not all of them offer the same results.
Masticating juicers, also known as slow juicers or cold-pressed juicers, are the best juicers for yielding high-quality, nutritious juice. Masticating juicers have a slow-turning, masticating performance – so if you plan to juice in a hurry, a slow juicer might not be the right juicer for you.
A centrifugal juicer is great as a high-speed juicing solution. However, a juice made from this type of juicer won’t have the same quality of juice extraction. You’re likely to get a wetter pulp, and heat and oxidation may kill off some of the ingredients in your juice.
Comparing masticating vs centrifugal juicing machines, there is no right or wrong choice. The information in this guide should better prepare you to make a good decision, but there may not be one solid choice of the two options available to you.
While slow juicer models make the best choice when it comes to quality, their much slower performance is a turn-off if you’re looking to get their hands on a quick and easy juicing solution.
A centrifugal juicer takes far less time to produce the same juice yield, and newbies to juicing may not be bothered that they produce a poorer-quality result.
The biggest influencing factor for most people is price. The centrifugal juicer is one of the cheapest options on the market. Masticating juicers can be much more expensive – in fact, you could probably get two centrifugal juicers for the same price as one slow juicer.
Either way, whichever juicer you opt for, making your own juice from home, rather than purchasing an expensive type of juice from your local cafe, is a no-brainer.
