Green Star Elite Juicer: A Work-horse

If you’re fed up with fighting with your juicer to take beets and wheatgrass, or you’re after a durable slow juicer that will last, look no more.

After trawling through hundreds of consumer reviews, it’s clear that the Green Star Elite GSE-5000 will get the job done over and over again and produce highly nutritious and delicious cold-pressed juice. But you need to be up for a bit of spending and cleaning.

Curious? Click here to see today’s price on the Green Star Elite juicer.

Cold Press Gentle Extraction Without Heating

First, you need to make sure you’re getting the right kind of juicer for your needs. This Tribest juicer is a horizontal “cold press” juicer.

How Does It Work?

Cold press juicers are also called “slow” or “masticating” juicers. They mimic the way our own teeth break down food. Juicing with slowly turning gears means that only minimal heat is generated in the juice. This delays oxidation, and the healthiest juices, which stay fresh for longer, can be gently extracted.

Centrifugal Vs Cold Press

Centrifugal juicers, on the other hand, work differently by grinding and spinning the produce at high speed to extract the juice.

Juicing can be a bit easier using centrifugal juicers as they are faster to use and the produce seems to get pushed through more easily. But the quality of the juice suffers. The speed of the centrifuge heats and oxidizes the nutrients and enzymes, supposedly rendering them less nutritious than cold-pressed juice.

So if you’re big on top-quality juice, stick to cold press. If you want to get an easy start to juicing (generally cheaper too), you could try out a popular centrifugal juicer such as the Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite.

Quick Overview: Pros & Cons

Now, I know time is precious, so if you’re in a hurry to make a decision, here is a quick overview of the Greenstar Elite juicer for your rapid consumption:

PROS	CONS
a high-end cold-press / slow juicer – juice lasts up to 72hrs in the fridge	not the slowest juicer at 110rpm (the Omega is slower)
produces tasty, nutritious juice	takes longer to juice than a centrifugal juicer
provides an excellent yield and is, therefore, more economical (the pulp comes out really dry!)	its twin-gears are NOT wholly stainless steel (go for the Super Angel if you need that)
works well with most veggies & fruit - all good with beets, celery, wheatgrass, ginger	cleaning all the parts takes a bit of time (approx 10 mins) but there's a special brush that really helps
a reliable machine that lasts and boasts a 12-year warranty	uses more benchtop space than a vertical juicer
pretty quiet compared to previous model	it's a pricey investment up-front, but most say it's worth it
easy to make sorbets, nut butters, coconut cream and pasta	special attachments for soft fruit and pasta need to be bought separately

In a hurry? Check out today’s price on the Green Star Elite juicer

Now let’s get down to the detail!

Give Me The Juice

If you’ve decided to juice, it’s because you want to benefit from all the qualities of highly nutritional juice from fresh fruit and vegetables. Is this Greenstar juicer effective in providing the best juice possible – in yield, taste, as well as quality? Let’s find out.

First of all, does it actually work with all kinds of vegetables and fruits? Many juicers say they do, but when you find yourself struggling to yank veggie strings that have gotten caught around the gears, you quickly realize that not all juicers are created equal.

The juicing knob on this machine is supposed to let you manually control the pressure inside, so you can juice a wider variety of fruits and vegetables of different consistencies. Does it actually work?

How Does It Handle Root Vegetables? Celery?

Easily. The Greenstar handles root vegetables very well, for example: carrots, beets, and ginger.

Celery is fine too. If you’ve ever experienced your juicer being jammed up by long celery fibers, you’ll be relieved when you don’t have to deal with that mess anymore.

Green Leafy Veggies Juice Well

This juicer excels at juicing green leafy vegetables. One consumer, who owns both a Norwalk and a Greenstar, shared that she did a comparison test on a bunch of kale. The Greenstar came out on top with greater yield, and with fewer veggies to buy, that’s a great cost-saving. An owner of a Jack LaLanne juicer had a similar experience: she struggled to juice kale until she got the Greenstar.

Wheatgrass is Best Paired with a Root Veggie

As for Wheatgrass, the strong twin- gears cut through the tough fibers to squeeze out every bit of juice possible.  The best thing to do is to pair the wheatgrass with a root veggie such as carrot, which greatly reduces the amount of foam produced during the juicing process. Wheatgrass and ginger shots coming right up!

Coconut Cream is a Dream

And if you like coconut milk, this juicer will extract coconut pulp down to the best-tasting cream.

What About Soft Fruits?

There’s an adaptor – called a “soft fruit knob“ for softer fruits – but the big downer is that it doesn’t come with the juicer! Weird huh? You have to buy it separately, which adds to the expense if you really want one.

However, you do get two juicer screens in the box, one fine and one course, and the fine one works okay with soft fruit. Just note that fruit such as oranges and pineapples may clog up the mesh screen quickly. Be prepared to clean the mesh a little more often, and you shouldn’t get any clogging up.

Tip for soft fruit: Use smaller chunks and wait a bit longer between adding chunks. To clean out the screen, you can also run a firm fruit through, such as an apple.

Although consumers have experienced some difficulties with juicing soft fruit in the Greenstar Elite, if you take on board these tips, you should be right.  One consumer said she doesn’t use her Omega anymore because it was worse with soft fruits.

What’s the Juice Yield?

So many people comment on the dryness of the pulp after juicing and how much less there is of it. This is due to the fineness of the juicing screen. So you can be confident of extracting the maximum amount of juice out of your produce. Get more juice out of your fruit and veggies and you won’t have to buy as much.

The juice yield of a cold press juicer is generally higher than that of a centrifugal juicer. But how does the juice yield of the Green Star Elite compare to other cold press juicers? Here is what I’ve gleaned from others’ experiences: The Greenstar Elite extracts more than the Kuvings B6000S, but the Omega J8006HDS produces greater juice quantity.

How Does It Taste?

Now I know that taste is rather subjective, and what tastes great to one person is not necessarily the case for another. However, there seems to be a general consensus throughout all the consumer comments that the juice extracted from the Green Star Elite does taste better than that from other juicers.

Now to the All-Important Question of Quality

If you’re like me and you want to make sure that all your effort is producing the best quality of juice possible, then you’ll be interested to read what Tribest claims:

Independent laboratory tests confirm that the Greenstar’s Twin Gear Press extracts a substantially higher quantity of minerals than leading juicers. Concentrations of essential minerals like calcium, iron, zinc are 50%-200% higher in juice from the Greenstar than from other name brand juicers.”

Tribest

What’s So Great About The Jumbo Twin Gears?

What’s the deal with the “Jumbo Twin Gears,” you ask? Most of the top-end juicers have two gears or dual gears, but Tribest claims it developed the original “twin-gears,” which are now trademarked.

So, these mostly stainless steel, magnetic twin-gears serve to retain valuable vitamins and highly sensitive enzymes and prevent nutrient degradation. Shelf-life is also increased, so you can do a juice blitz and then bottle up a stock of amazing juice that’ll last 72 hours in the fridge with very little nutritional loss.

However, the gears are not entirely made from stainless steel. As you can see in the photo here, the spiral end is actually plastic. Now if you’re concerned about plastic toxins leaching into your juice, then take a look at the Super Angel juicer instead. But be prepared to pay!

Also, if you’re after a really slow juicer, there are other good cold-press juicers that are slower. In this Greenstar Elite juicer, the gears rotate at 110 revolutions per minute. The Omega J8006HDS juicer goes slower at 80rpm, the Kuvings B6000S runs at 60rpm and the SKG Masticating Juicer runs at a mere 60rpm.

How Nutrients are Preserved

For those of us who love to know how gadgets work, these twin-gears provide three specific juicing stages:

1. CRUSHING up the produce using patented cutting teeth and pocket recesses which easily slice up the fibers so you don’t have to do any pre-cutting
2. MIXING (most juicers do not have this part) the crushed produce to enable further extraction of juice
3. SQUEEZING out the juice

The magnets create a focused magnetic field that rearranges clusters of water so that it can latch on to more of the valuable vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients and extract it into your juice.

Tribest

Putting It Together

If you’re just starting out on your juicing journey, you may be concerned about how easy it is to get this juicer up and running out of the box.

Some consumers say it’s easy to assemble, pull apart, clean and use. Others say it’s a bit challenging at first (especially when inserting the twin-gears) but it is quickly mastered. Check out this video showing how to assemble the juicer, in addition to making soymilk:

How Easy Is It to Clean?

It’s clear from user experience that the Greenstar juicer is a bit of a pain to clean. But then aren’t most juicers? Let’s face it, there are usually multiple bits that require individual cleaning, and that takes time.

What’s interesting to note is that even amongst those who say that cleaning takes some extra effort (about 10 mins), most of them also say that it’s totally worth it. Plus, the Green Star Elite’s juicing parts are heat resistant and can be put in a dishwasher. You are also provided with a special cleaning brush that makes the cleanup process a whole lot easier.

One serious juicer who owns a Green Star Elite, as well as a Kuvings B6000S AND and an Omega J8006HDS, commented that the cleaning is not so bad – not as easy as the Omega, but easier than the Kuvings.

Cleaning the Juicing Screen

The quickest and easiest way to clean the juicing screen is to run cold water through it while scrubbing with the cleaning brush (provided). Start from the inside and move to the outside. The pulp should lift off within a minute, though beet fibers might take a bit longer. Check out this short how-to video:

How To Prevent Coloring

A word of warning for the clean-freaks: the white plastic bits tend to get colored, especially from veggies such as beets and kale. But here’s a great tip:

Tip for staining: When you’re done juicing, run a lemon or lime through the machine. Your juice will be infused with an uplifting citrus zing, plus the juicer parts won’t get all veggie-stained.

Tribest also recommends making a mixture of white vinegar and water to clean off stains. Make a warm bath of 50/50 water and white vinegar mix. Add some baking soda for extra punch. Soak the juicer parts for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then scrub and rinse. Most of the stains should come off, though some coloring from veggies such as beets and turmeric may remain.

The Extra Juice

It’s a Work-horse

This juicer is a work-horse. If you’re a serious juicer, you’ll be happy to know this machine will go to work for you day in, day out without problems. You’ll get a 12-year manufacturer’s warranty from Tribest, a California-based company that has been making juicers for over 30 years. 

Older Model Was Noisy, This One is Better

You can get up early in the morning to juice, without waking up the rest of the family. The earlier Greenstar juicer was quite noisy, but Tribest has fixed that with this latest Elite version.

Make Sorbet, Nut Butters and Pasta

This juicer can also be used as a food processor to make foods like salsas, sorbet, nut milks and butters. The bread knob attachment will allow you to make breadsticks and mochi.

You can also make pasta – but you need to buy the extra attachment for that.

Safety Switch

If you lift up the juicer’s top cover, the juicer will automatically shut off, so you won’t accidentally touch any of the machine’s moving parts. This is great for when you have little people with their itchy fingers hanging around and haranguing you for a taste of the juice before it’s ready!

There is also a detachable power cord, making it easy to use different plug types when needed.

Specifications

Product	Greenstar Elite Jumbo Twin Gear Complete Masticating Juicer 3 colors: white, chrome, black
Model	GSE-5000-B
Juicer Type	Horizontal Twin Gear Masticating Juicer
Speed	110 RPM
Motor Power	200 Watts
Voltage	Available in 120V and 220V
Weight	27 lbs. (12.25 kg)
Dimensions	18.6″ W x 6.8″ D x 12.4″ H
Dishwasher-safe?	Yes
Warranty	12 Years

What You Get In The Package

• Juicing Knob
• Breadstick Knob
• Fine Screen – to extract juice with minimal pulp
• Coarse Screen – to extract juice with more pulp mixed in
• Homogenizing Blank (Open Blank) – for basic food processing
• Breadstick Blank (Closed Blank) – also called the “mochi maker,” for making delicious raw breadsticks and rice cakes
• Exclusive Jumbo Twin Gears
• Glass Juice Pitcher
• Drip Tray
• Plastic Plunger
• Wooden Plunger
• Stainless Steel Strainer
• Cleaning Tool with Brush and Scraper Heads with Handle
• Regular GS Cleaning Brush

What You Have to Buy Separately

• soft fruit knob / attachment
• pasta-making attachment

Get the Manual

Download the Green Star Elite GSE-5000 Manual

Crunch Time

To buy or not to buy?

This top-quality Greenstar Elite juicer is the one for you if:

• You’re looking for a robust and reliable cold-press juicer that can do a great job on a wide range of vegetables and fruits without it being a fight…
• You don’t mind a bit of cleaning and a little less benchtop space…
• And if you’re willing to make the investment for a long-term healthy lifestyle.

An added bonus is the 12-year warranty provided by Tribest, if you need peace of mind for this all-important purchase.

If you’re still not sure whether this Greenstar juicer is a match for you, take a look at these other excellent cold press juicers.

Happy Juicing!