Juicers

Citrus juice is a very common ingredient in a lot of mixed drink styles. What's a Daiquiri without a squeeze of lime, or a Sidecar without lemon juice. While a Mimosa without orange juice is still a good time, fresh squeezed juices are a holy pairing to spirits and liqueurs.

As you get more into mixing drinks you're going to get into juice. You’ll think about juice, you’ll start judging people based on how they store or display their citrus fruit, or how they don’t inspect their limes well enough before buying them, and of course, you will spend a lot of time juicing. For the task of juicing, I think I've had or currently have, no less than 8 juicers. I've had a wooden reamer that might have worked better as a butt plug. I've burned out multiple electric spinning contraptions. I have a dusty monolith of a Pakistani juicer that sits in a pantry corner but I can't fathom parting with. I've had cutely painted specialized presses for lemon juice and lime juice. I've had plastic contraptions with a built in reamer. I've used the ends of bottles and squeezed citrus with my hand. I’ve had a lot of bad juicers.

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What to look for in a juicer

• Metal. You’re going to want a durable and strong juicer - which I’ve only found in metal juicers. There will be plenty of times you attempt to eek out the last drop from a lime, and squeezing like that will stress plastic juicers to the point of bending. Once that happens, your juicer will become increasingly inefficient.
• Non-painted. Paint eventually comes off, and the last thing you want is to be fishing paint chips out of a drink. Unless those floating paint chips make a neat garnish - then maybe it’s a plus.
• Minimal opening. You don’t want to waste effort by cranking open your juicer 6 inches just to fit a 2 inch thick life half in. It’ll slow you down.

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My recommendation

Without a doubt, I can recommend one juicer and only one juicer.

The Norpro 523 Stainless Steel Citrus Press. I purchased this bad mamba jamba on August 11, 2010, and a new era began. If I’ve made a drink for you, you have probably heard me drone on about how the Norpro is perfect. I love the idea of buying something so well made that maybe my kids will fight over it when I'm dead (if it isn’t buried with me). But each time I use it I worry that maybe this will be the last time. Maybe the hinge will break, or the pin will have rusted through. Maybe I'll snap the grip from trying to squeeze out that last quarter ounce of my last lime at 2am on a Saturday and I know the neighbors don't have any more limes. I'm scared of losing this juicer. I don’t have any reason to suspect its demise - after 10 years, I just can’t imagine parting ways with it.

Buy it. Don't even think about another option. It’s designed for lemons and limes, but I’ve cut up oranges and grapefruits and successfully juiced them with the Norpro. I’ve haven’t used it to make nut milk, but I have crushed plenty of nuts with the Norpro 523. It's super easy to clean and is dependable.

If for some reason you can't find the Norpro, don't buy anything that isn't 100% metal. Try finding the Norpro 523 used on eBay. No other juicer compares.

If the day comes when you need to juice an entire crate of limes in mass, such as for a large party, then consider an electric juicer. I’m of the opinion that all electric juicers are not made well, unless you’re purchasing restaurant/professional quality. Even then, I’d probably recommend buying multiple Norpro 523’s and getting your friends to help, similar to how tiki bars used to employ a kitchen of juicers.

But don't worry about that now, especially since hand juicers produce better results, are quieter, and give you an opportunity to, hopefully, enjoy a Norpro 523 in your hand.