Manual citrus juicers work superbly for the price because you are putting in that elbow grease and human effort into your juice which gives it a special touch. Be aware that you might just start buying a lot more oranges and lemons if you get one of these juicers!
Primary Benefits of using a manual citrus juicer
- The cost: It is a no brainer that a manual citrus reamer or juicer saves you money compared to an electric one.
- Ease of use: If you are juicing a small amount, such as one lemon for a tea, taking out an electric juicer may simply be a hassle to take out and store again. On the other hand, a manual reamer from your drawer is perfect for this use.
- Ease of cleaning: an electrical citrus juicer may have 4 to 6 parts to clean and may take a few minutes to clean. Also every once in a while you may want to clean the parts that aren’t supposed to get juice on them, such as the wires and you may not want to mess with that. With a manual juicer you get to clean faster and more thoroughly.
- Noise: An electric juicer can be very noisy and if you’re making breakfast with orange juice you may wake someone up. Manual hand squeezers are silent and probably more relaxing. I know that I could do without the loud noise.
- Amount of juice: once you get used to a handheld reamer, you can make more juice from your fruits. You can be much more efficient with a reamer or squeezer because they are made to get every last bit.
- The workout: this may sound like a joke, but your hands and arms do get stronger when using the manual juicers. If you would like to have a more firm handshake, then a lemon or orange reamer would be great for you.
Complications of using handheld citrus squeezers and reamers
- Time consumed in juicing: you will spend more time when juicing a large amount of fruits. So if you are planning to make juice in bulk for your family, doing it manually will take you longer than doing it with an electric equivalent.
- Physical exertion: even though it’s a good workout, you may not like it. Your hands may also get tired and you will not want to juice another ounce. However, any juicer will be a lot easier on your hands than if you squeeze the lemon with your bare hand.
- Requires a strainer for no pulp: If you want pulp free juice, you will likely need to strain the juice. Most electrically operated juicers do have a setting to have no pulp which can be convenient.
- What they can juice: you are limited really to oranges, limes, lemons and grapefruit. With a full-on juicer you can make juices from other citrus fruit, hard fruit, veggies, leafy greens, wheatgrass and more. With a homogenizer attachment you can even make nut butters, baby food, pasta, fruit ice cream, you name it.
Guide to Citrus Juicers
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Manual Citrus Squeezers
These are great lemon, lime and orange squeezers
Citrus Juice Presses, Commercial Grade
These are heavy-duty, the models they use in restaurants
Handheld Reamers
Cheaper than the other categories, but require more elbow grease
Countertop Manual Reamers
Might be the sweet spot, a balance between efficiency and price
