I am not paid to endorse any juice machine company.
Cold Press Machines
Some cold press machines do use a blade, but in a different configuration than rotary machines. The produce is chopped into larger pieces, which start releasing juice immediately. That pulp is then wrapped in a filter cloth and placed under a hydraulic press. The press squeezes out the juice, and the cloth filters out most of the pulp, though some fibrous material still makes its way into the final juice. That’s why cold-pressed juice often has a darker color and more texture. Cold press machines like the Nama and Hurom are my preference because they use a slow-turning auger instead of a fast-spinning blade. We have a Nama J2 at home.
The real value of cold press lies in its ability to minimize oxidation. Rotary machines whip air into the juice due to their high-speed spinning, which leads to large air bubbles in the final product. More air in the juice means faster spoilage. While I can’t measure the oxygen levels scientifically, years of hands-on observation confirm this.
Cold press machines also extract more juice and essence from the produce, creating deeper, more robust flavor notes. They're simply more efficient and yield a higher quality product.
I highly recommend the Nama J2 juicer (as of August 2025). I bought one for my wife 💛 about three years ago, and she still uses it once a week. She loves it—and says she’d buy it again. I studied the design and found it to be well-built, durable, and relatively easy to clean. Just remember: if you buy a cheap auger juicer, don’t expect it to last a decade. Crushing dense vegetables puts a lot of stress on the mechanics, and quality parts matter.
If you’ve got more cash to spend—hallelujah!—there’s a stainless steel commercial juicer worth considering: the Kuvings CS700X Stainless Steel Masticating Juicer. It’s about 2.5 times more expensive, priced at $1,395, while the Nama (under $600) still offers outstanding value for the money (as of August 2025). I’ve seen, touched, and examined the CS700X in person, but I haven’t personally used it or studied it in detail. If you buy it from a company with a generous return policy, you might be able to try it and return it if it turns out to be a disappointment.
Above: The Norwalk is a classic cold press machine. It uses a fast-spinning blade to pulverize produce, and then the user transfers the pulp to the press side to squeeze out the juice. While there’s no hard scientific data proving that cold press juicing produces better flavor than rotary machines, in my experience, it absolutely does. Before Norwalk closed their doors, this machine sold for around $2,600. A company called Pure Juicer later knocked off the Norwalk, and to their credit, they actually improved on the concept. That said, these types of machines have very low yield for commercial use. Even though we beat them to death during the early years at Juice Press, at goodsugar we started off with a Goodnature tabletop machine, which runs about $15,000.
Above: The Hurom cold press machine is about $700. It uses a slow-turning auger, not a blade, to extract juice. I had one of these when they first came out, and I was even featured in the New York Times in a 2010 article where I recommended it. They’ve only made these machines sleeker and sexier since then.
Above: Breville makes rotary (centrifugal) juicers. They use a spinning blade and cost about half the price of a cold press. I don’t like this type of juicer—I prefer a cold press. That said, if Breville paid me a million dollars to endorse them, hell yeah, I’d love them. Otherwise, not my cup of tea.
Just for fun I will mention that I've been in the juice industry as a mid-scale producer since 2010. Over the years, I've worked with machines as substantial as the Goodnature X6, which is a fantastic piece of equipment, provided you have the resources to build the right facility around it. I’ve also learned how to retrofit both the X-1 and the X6 to better suit our operations. If Goodnature machines are a 9 out of 10 out of the box, our small modifications pushed them to a 10. Obviously these are not for home use, unless you live in a castle and have swimming pools filled with juice.
Goodnature is an outstanding U.S.-based brand. Since I haven’t lived or worked outside the U.S., I don’t have experience with European-made juicers, and I can’t speak to machines made in China.
Above: We had one Goodnature X6 and four X1s. These are cold press machines that shred produce into pulp, which falls into a cloth bag before being pressed to extract the juice.
I started my juicing journey with the Norwalk juicer, a boxy, industrial-looking machine. It first grinds produce into a pulp through a small chute (around 2.5 inches wide), and then uses a hydraulic press to extract the juice from that pulp inside a cloth bag. This machine was the gold standard for small juice bars when I got started. However, I don’t recommend it for home use, it’s bulky, heavy, requires a lot of setup and cleanup, and takes up a lot of space. It's approximately 8 x 15 x 15 inches and built like a tank. $32,000 for the all stainless steel model.
Bonus Tip: Juice + Blender Combo for Plant-Based Living
One final thought: If you’re leaning toward a more plant-based lifestyle, the two machines you absolutely need are:
- A high-quality juicer, and
- An excellent blender.
It’s great to alternate between juices and smoothies, depending on your activity level and whether you prefer lighter or more calorie-dense liquids.
Vitamix is still the gold standard in the blender world. The “magic bullet” types you see on TV work fine (if you get a good version), but they don’t compare to the power and versatility of a Vitamix. I’ve used one for years. It handles everything from frozen fruit to fibrous veggies with ease.
Think of the pricier machines as an investment:
- A Vitamix blender: ~$600
- A Nama juicer: ~$500
- Hurom: ~$700.
- Kuvings CS700X: ~ $1,395.
And all are worth every penny.
Above: Totally unrelated to juicers, this was my old pride and joy, a custom-built produce washing machine I co-designed with an industrial equipment specialist. It had a full submersion bath, perfect for thoroughly washing every kind of produce. Truly an incredible machine. The whole setup cost around $60,000 to build and operate.
(goodnature juicers, juice machines, juicing, vitamix blenders)