For anyone who follows me on Instagram, or has ever seen me on my weekly fruit and veg haul at the market, you’ll know I love juicing. And I mean really love juicing. I don’t just enjoy creating new concoctions based on what’s in season at the time, or the pleasure of downing my 5 a day in one sitting; I also love the zero waste challenge too, as I attempt to use up the juice pulp in the most interesting and nutritious ways.

So when the lovely people at Thrive Magazine asked me if they could send me a free juicer to road test for them, I didn’t need long to think about it!

A couple of days later, I unpacked my brand new Juico UNO steel brushed slow juicer like a child unwraps its first present on Christmas day. And just like any child with something new and shiny, the instruction manual barely got a look in before I’d assembled the juicer and was deciding where in my kitchen it should live. Juicing madness here I come!

But determined to give the UNO a thorough and fair review, I decided to take this new relationship as slow as its mechanics, and rate it out of 10 for 5 key elements:

1. Design
2. Ease of Use
3. Taste and productivity
4. Energy Efficiency
5. Ease of cleaning

I gave myself 2 weeks to test out the juicer; making sure to use a variety of produce and ample time to get used to how all the parts work. And in true lazy girl style, I also wanted to judge it based on how easy and undemanding it would be!

So without further ado, here’s how I got on…

 

Design

The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was that the Juico Uno is much taller and slimmer than most standard juicers, as well as incredibly light weight to pick up. This is a bonus for me, as I live in a studio apartment where kitchen top space is a daily, brutal fight between the kettle and the toaster.

In fact, when I went away for the week to housesit for a friend, my Juico Uno dutifully came along from the ride and fitted quite snugly in my suitcase!

Another thing I liked about it is how few components there are to fiddle with. Where my previous juicer had 6 separate parts to assemble, this one simply has the base unit, the jug (which contains the spouts) the Squeezing Screw, and the lid.

My one, very tiny little gripe, would be that when lifting the squeezing screw out to clean, it can be quite slippery after use. Not so much that it’s impossible, it would just be handy to have something to grab onto when you’ve juiced something a bit sticky!

Rating for design: 9/10

 

Ease of Use

Having fewer parts makes the Uno really easy to assemble and – aside from the stickiness – very easy to pull apart. As with most juicers, you simply need to push your chosen chopped fruit and veg through the feeder, and catch the juicer in the jug. An added bonus is that the Uno comes with a second spout and jug to collect the juice pulp. No scraping out of the barrel like my previous juicer!

I must admit I was spoilt with my old juicer with having an extra-large feed – where I could push a whole orange through at a time – so it did take a bit of getting used to having to chop things a little smaller for the UNO. But considering it’s such a space saver in situ, it’s worth a little extra chopping.

Overall, I can’t fault its ease of use. It’s very quick and easy to use, and isn’t loud or fiddly at all. It effortlessly juiced everything from hard vegetables to leafy greens without drama.

Rating for use: 10/10

 

Taste and productivity 

I was pretty impressed with the amount of juice that came out of the UNO, though the pulp was a little more moist than I’d have hoped (said like a true Juice connoisseur!) I loved that the pulp was pushed out efficiently for me, so I could easily scoop it up and make pulp crackers or burgers. But I couldn’t help wondering if it could have been squeezed out a little more. But if you plan to use the pulp I guess this could be a good thing, as it keeps some of the moisture in for whatever you choose to make with it.

The juice itself was delicious (if I don’t say so myself) and super smooth. The juice and pulp are separately effortlessly, and once finished there is practically nothing left inside to clean!

Rating for productivity: 8/10

 

Energy Efficiency 

Even some of the best brands of electrical high speed juicers are known to consume up to 800watts of power, or more. The Juico UNO, however, only consumes 200w.

By rotating at just 35rpm, the Juico Uno claims to be one of the slowest vertical Juicers on the market today. By reducing the amount of friction normally involved with high speed juicers, the UNO is said to get the most available nutrition from your produce by eliminating heat from the juicing process.

In my experience, despite its definition as a slow juicer, it whizzes through fruit and veg quickly; therefore a glass of juice rarely took longer than a couple of minutes of power to make.

Rating for efficiency: 10/10

 

Ease of cleaning

Here’s where I get a little overexcited. The bane of any juice enthusiasts lives is the cleaning up afterwards. Its literally one of the most arduous tasks, and I have been known to leave my juicer untouched for months simply through a lack of desire to clean the damn thing afterwards!

But here’s where the Juico UNOs lack of complicated components come into their own. Taking the lid off, lifting the Squeezing Screw out and removing the base jug takes about 30 seconds. Rinsing the elements out with warm soapy water (using the handy brush provided) and setting aside to dry takes another minute or so. It’s literally that easy.

And because the majority of the pulp is pushed out during use, you can get away with washing it out every other juicing session! And thus, a juicer love affair truly took flight….

Rating for cleaning: 10/10 (I’d give it 100 if I could)

Verdict

Overall I would thoroughly recommend the Juico UNO steel brushed slow juicer. I began the trial expecting to simply enjoy the novelty of getting to juice every day, but came away pleasantly impressed with how easy, clean and efficient the UNO was. It truly made juicing, and even cleaning up, a pleasure. My very few gripes were more pedantic than deal breakers, and  – had I not been gifted one from Thrive – I would definitely purchase one myself.