Manual Citrus Juicers

Citrus juicers too often deliver a lackluster squeeze and are clumsy or difficult to use. So we tested a variety of manual juicers to find our favorite.

Manual juicers fall into three categories: handheld reamers, tabletop reamers and lever-style juicers. Handheld reamers use simple ridged cones to extract juice but can be messy and require significant hand strength. Tabletop reamers are more stable and catch juice in a built-in bowl but still demand hand twisting. Lever-style juicers utilize a hinged mechanism for efficient juicing with less strain on the hands.

We tested each type for ease of use and ease of cleaning. We also measured juice yields from lemons and limes. We weren’t impressed with any of them.

A classic glass tabletop reamer did well with lemons, but it struggled with limes and lacked a strainer to catch seeds. A handheld reamer delivered sufficient juice but required serious hand strength, needed frequent cleaning and lacked a means of catching the juice or seeds.

A traditional lever-style juicer—which holds the citrus in a cup and squeezes downward to express the juice—delivered a disappointing volume of juice and required considerable strength with larger fruit. The clear winner ended up being an alternative style of lever juicer, the Fluicer. This juicer, which uses a unique lateral squeezing action, combines sturdy construction and ergonomic design. It delivered the highest overall juice yields in the shortest time with minimal effort.

Finally, we wondered whether you really need different juicers specifically sized for each fruit. Most lever­style juicers come in multiple sizes to handle limes, lemons and oranges. But across our testing—including the Fluicer—we found lime and orange models performed poorly. The lemon-sized Fluicer easily handled all three fruits.