Nama J2 Cold Press Juicer Review
The Nama J2 has gathered an almost cult following, but does it live up to the hype?
Verdict
The Nama J2 is one of the best juicers I’ve ever tried, in terms of design, features, performance and the juices it creates. It more than lives up to the hype. The downside is that this superiority doesn’t come cheap. If you make a lot of juices or are short on time, it’s worth the investment but the price will put it out of reach for many people.
Pros
- Can juice every part of any fruit
- The tall hopper allows for a large maximum yield
- Quiet motor
Cons
- Bulky size
- The masticating motor means this juicer isn’t the fastest on the market
Key Features
- TypeThis is a slow (masticating) juicer, which extracts juice with very little foam.
Introduction
One of the main reasons I buy juice from the supermarket, despite the fact it contains sugar and other additives and costs a fortune, is because it’s convenient. Even with good intentions, I don’t have time or the motivation to chop and peel bags of fruit and veg in order to have fresh juices at home.
The Nama J2 Juicer has been designed to break down this barrier. It creates fresh juice from any and all fruit and veg and automatically separates the skin, pulp and pips, meaning you can throw it all in with minimal prep. Moreover, it’s been designed to create juices using multiple different fruits in one go.
Design and features
- Three-tiered design
- Tall hopper allows for maximum yield
- Separate juice and pulp spouts, and containers
The Nama J2 is one of the heaviest juicers I’ve reviewed, it’s also one of the tallest due to its three-tiered design. The first tier is its relatively wide and chunky base. This is where the motor sits, controlled by a dial on the front. This dial has three settings – On, Off and Reverse.
On top of this base is the plastic chamber. Inside this chamber is a black auger – this resembles a large drill bit and is used to press the juice from the flesh; a spinner brush to catch and brush away the pulp and skin; and a strainer that removes any pips and foam. A spout on the left of the chamber funnels the fruit juice into a plastic measuring jug that comes with the Nama J2 as standard. A larger spout on the right pushes out the pulp and skin into a second plastic waste container.
Despite how tall this juicer is, the spout isn’t high enough to fit a glass underneath and even though it comes with a plastic container to catch the juice for you, this feels like a slight anomaly.
Above the chamber is a tall hopper with a ribbed design where the fruit is held. It’s this hopper that gives the Nama J2 its height, but it’s also what sets the Nama J2 apart from the majority of other juicers I’ve tried.
Thanks to the tall nature of the hopper, you don’t have to chop fruit and vegetables into slices or small pieces, or even peel them, in order for them to fit in the Nama J2. Large chunks work just fine, and I’ve put in whole carrots and apples before without removing the core or ends.
You also don’t have to add different fruit and veg separately. Instead, the hopper allows you to layer your ingredients – with the softest ingredients at the bottom and the hardest at the top to weigh everything down – to create multi-fruit and veg juices with minimum effort.
When the dial is switched to the On position, a small plastic blade guides pieces of fruit into the chamber. This fruit is then pressed against the strainer by the rotating auger, which drills down into the fruit, extracting the juice and filtering out everything else. This includes pips, pulp, skin, cores and more.
If any of the fruit gets stuck in the hopper, you can use the feeding chute via a hole in the hopper’s lid, or you can switch the dial to Reverse to move the fruit and veg in the opposite direction.
The downside to all these moving parts is that it can be a little confusing during set-up. For instance, you have to assemble the chamber and hopper before you put it on the juicer. Otherwise it won’t lock into place, and the juicer won’t turn on. This isn’t immediately clear in the instruction manual – so much so I had to watch a video on how to assemble it – and is unlike most other juicers I’ve tried. A small point, but one that causes friction nonetheless.
The height and size of the juicer also means it can be difficult to tuck the Nama J2 out of the way; it didn’t fit underneath my kitchen cupboards, nor did it fit inside them unless Itook it apart. It then takes up a fair bit of space on the kitchen side.
However, given that this juicer is also one of the most attractive juicers I’ve tried, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Design-wise, I think the Nama J2 has the perfect combination of modern aesthetics and 70s retro feel and I’m a really big fan, so I don’t mind it standing out. If it’s not to your taste, its size and shape may be a dealbreaker.
Performance
- Can handle large amounts of fruit and veg in one go
- Quiet, slow motor produces minimal foam and froth
- Creates flavoursome juices
Thanks to its tiered design, the Nama J2 juicer uses a mixture of crushing and pressing to extract the juice. Not only does this system mean you get almost every last drop of juice from your fruit and veg, but it means the pulp has been squeezed and is, therefore, drier than in other juicers I’ve tried. This makes it easier to get rid of.
The brand claims this preserves more nutrients and makes the juices healthier and more flavoursome. I can’t vouch for the former, but I can vouch for just how tasty and fresh all the juices I make with the Nama J2 are.
I’ve used this juicer more than a dozen times during my testing and have never experienced a bad batch of juice. Not a single bit of pulp has made its way into my drinks; there is minimal foam and having the perfect-sized plastic containers to catch the juice and pulp makes the whole process convenient.
The juicer isn’t the fastest I’ve used. This is largely because it’s a masticating juicer rather than one that relies on centrifugal force, but it’s also deliberate because it reduces the amount of foam and froth it creates. Plus, it makes it a quiet juicer.
Despite the many moving parts, the Nama J2 juicer is also surprisingly easy to clean. First, it doesn’t get too clogged up or dirty during the juicing process. Centrifugal juicers tend to fling bits of fruit and veg everywhere, whereas the Nama J2 keeps it neat and contained.
The spinning brush, auger and strainer all come apart and the Nama J2 comes with a cleaning brush to help you get into hard-to-reach places.
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Should you buy it?
You’re looking to get maximum juicing results with minimum effort: This handles large chunks of layered fruit and veg with the minimum of hassle.
You’re on a budget or you make juices sporadically: This is a great juicer but it’s big and expensive.
Final Thoughts
For those who make juice less often, the smaller Ninja Cold Press Juicer JC100UK may be a better bet. However, if you regularly make fresh juice and want the job to be as easy as possible, the large and powerful Nama J2 Cold Press Juicer is excellent.
How we test
We test every juicer we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main juicer for the review period.
We test juicers with a variety of fruit to see how they cope and how much juice can be extracted.
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FAQs
The parts need to be separated and washed with soap and water.
Fruits with inedible skins have to be pealed, but most other fruits will fit in whole.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
