Green Star juicer review
The Green Star juice extractor is manufactured by Tribest and is a new model
of what was formerly known as the 'Green Power' juicer. Out of the box the Green
Star feels sturdy enough and comes ready assembled so it is quite easy to pick
up how the juicer and its parts fit together. I thought for a minute that the
power cable was missing but it turned out to be neatly concealed within the
juicer body in a hidden compartment at the rear, a nice touch. A wide selection
of accessories and attachments were included (the review model was the S3000,
the S1000 is the same juicer but with fewer accessories and attachments). Some
of the attachments are for making non-juice items such as pastas, pates, frozen
sorbets, breadsticks and baby food. A 5 year warranty is included on the motor,
gears and plastic parts.
The
Green Star uses twin gears to crush the produce and expel the juice. These twin
gears are made of Stainless Steel with plastic ends and are patented as they
contain magnets and bioceramic materials in them. These magnets and bioceramic
materials are said to extract higher levels of minerals out of the produce and
also give fresher juice that's enzymes and vitamins have a longer shelf life.
The fact that the twin gears operate at a very low speed (110 RPM) when compared
to many other juicers also helps to considerably slow down the oxidation of
nutrients. There is also virtually no or very little heat transfer thus helping
in retaining enzyme content. Indeed the technology of the Green Star twin gears
enables carrot juice to be stored for up to 2 days in the fridge without significant
loss of nutritional value. This is great for those who don't like having to
spend time on juicing and cleaning up every day as juice can be made one day
and consumed the next.
Assembling the Green Star is very much a similar process to assembling the
Twin Health although an extra stage is necessary with the Green Star - the addition
of a pulp outlet adjusting knob. How tightly this knob is tightened affects
the rate / pressure at which the pulp is ejected, the tightness varies with
type of produce being juiced. Two screens come with the S3000, a fine screen
that is suitable for juicing carrots, leafy greens, wheatgrass, kale and herbs
and a coarse screen (optional extra on the S1000 model) which is suitable for
apples, oranges and other fruits and vegetables. Two plungers (one wood, one
plastic) are included which push the produce down the feeding chute onto the
twin gears. A double sided cleaning brush is included along with a juice jug.
On further use I found that adjusting the pulp outlet knob gave the
flexibility to set the right balance between juice and pulp output
In use the Green Star did a good job of juicing a wide variety of produce,
apples, oranges, brocolli, carrots, wheatgrass, spinach. At first I thought
that the outlet adjusting knob was a bit of a pain to have to adjust and it
took a few goes to work out the best tightness settings for the different types
of produce. On further use I found that adjusting the pulp outlet knob gave
the flexibility needed to set the right balance between juice and pulp output
for different types of produce. This meant that the Green Star very rarely got
clogged up from too much pulp in the feeding chamber as the Twin Health did
from time to time. If you open the pulp adjustment knob too much then your pulp
will be very wet, if you tighten it too much then the pulp won't be able to
get out and the juicer will get clogged up. The Green Star has an on/off switch,
no reverse function as is found on the Twin Health although the need for reverse
is less if you use the outlet adjusting knob correctly.
The manual suggested that best results were to be obtained when produce is
fed in slowly as this allows produce to come into contact with the magnetic
field in between the gears for a longer period of time.
The juice yield from the Green Star was good in both the apple and carrot tests
and also with other produce. The wheatgrass juice contained small levels of
froth. The level of pulp in the juice was significantly less than the Solo Star
and roughly the same as the Twin Health.
Cleaning took a lot longer than with the centrifugal juicers, longer than the
Solo Star and slightly longer than the Twin Health. A few of the parts have
hard to reach areas but the provided brush did a good job of getting into these
areas. I found the juicer body harder to clean than other models as there are
a few too many rims. The parts are not dishwasher safe. An interesting point
to note is that because the juicer is so efficient at extracting minerals from
the produce that mineral deposits may form on the gears over time which will
need cleaning.
The Green Star is without doubt an excellent juicer that can handle a wide
variety of produce and produces juice of fantastic quality. Whether it is everyone's
cup of tea is another matter however as it has a long juice preparation and
cleaning time. This can be countered by producing a large amount of juice, some
of which can be consumed the next day thus only using the juicer once every
two days. Like the Twin Health the Green Star is suited to those who are looking
for maximum nutritional benefit from their juicer who don't mind the extra time
required for making juice.
Happy Juicer Recommended!
Other models reviewed in this juicer comparison series include:
