Breville JE98XL Juice Fountain Plus Review

Pros

• Very easy to assemble and use
• Highly durable as most of its parts are made of very high quality materials
• Excellent performance in most juicing performance tests
• An outstanding value because of its great performance at a very reasonable price

Cons

• Below average performance juicing grapes
• Some of its parts are susceptible to scratching and smudging after cleaning
• Poor versatility compared to slow juicers
• Comes with only a 1 year warranty

Category Scores

Assembly Diff.	5.0
Food Prep.	5.0
Soft Produce	4.0
Hard Produce	4.5
Pulp Free	4.5
Overall	4.5
Cleaning Diff.	4.0
Ease of Use	4.5
Versatility	3.0
Durability	4.5
Value	4.5
Cumulative	48

All category scores are out of 5.

Assembly

Parts List

• Food pusher
• Feed chute
• Juicer cover
• Filter basket
• Filter bowl
• Motor base (sometimes called the “body” of the juicer)
• Juice container
• Froth separator (part of the lid of the juice container)
• Pulp container

Procedure

Assembly of the JE98XL follows standard procedure for a centrifugal juicer.  The images and captions below describe this process in detail.

To begin assembly the filter bowl is placed on the motor base (top left). The next step of assembly involves placing the filter basket inside of the filter bowl (top right, bottom left, and bottom right) onto the motor coupling jutting out from the top of the motor base. Note the white arrow on the bottom of the filter basket (top right) being aligned with the corresponding white arrow on the motor coupling on top of the motor base.

Continuing from the steps described above, the juicer cover is placed over the filter bowl (left), the pulp container is placed underneath the cover (middle), and the safety locking arm is pulled up into a locked position (right). Placing the juice container underneath the juice spout is the only assembly step not shown above.

Difficulty

The JE98XL is just as easy to assemble as almost every other centrifugal juicer we tested. As such, its parts fit together very quickly and easily. Perhaps the most difficult part of centrifugal juicer assembly, in general, is properly fitting the juicer’s filter basket to its motor base. The bottom of the JE98XL’s filter basket is clearly marked with three large white arrows that are identical to (and match) three white arrows marked “ALIGN” on the juicer’s motor base. The arrows on each part need to be properly aligned in order to fit the juicer’s filter basket onto its motor base properly. With these arrows as a guide, we didn’t have any difficulty putting the JE98XL’s filter basket properly in place when assembling it during testing. Another potentially problematic part of centrifugal juicer assembly is the final step – securing all of the juicer’s parts in place with the juicer’s safety locking arm. Once again, we didn’t have any trouble completing this step for the JE98XL. The design of the tabs extending from the top of the JE98XL’s juicer cover is such that the locking arm very easily locks into place (assuming correct assembly of the parts that it secures in place).

The safety locking arm locked into place over one of the two plastic tabs described above.

For reasons we outline in our general buyer’s guide, the Juice Fountain Plus receives a perfect 5 out of 5 for assembly, despite the fact that its assembly difficulty is only average for a centrifugal juicer.

Food Preparation

Once again, we don’t have anything special to say about the JE98XL compared to the other centrifugal juicers we tested – this time with regards to food preparation. The Juice Fountain Plus features what is a fairly standard sized feeding chute – one that is 3 inches in diameter. This is the exact same sized feeding chute that you’ll find on almost every other centrifugal juicer on the market and on 13 of the 17 centrifugal juicers we tested. This same size (3 in. diameter) feeding chute was able to accept almost all of the produce we tested with each juicer whole – the only exception being apples, which we had to cut into quarters for 17 of the 18 centrifugal juicers we tested.

Performance

In order to test the JE98XL for juicing efficiency we used it to juice five different fruits and vegetables. We juiced 1 lb. each of oranges, grapes, carrots, celery, and apples. As we just mentioned in the food preparation section above, only apples needed to be cut to a smaller size before they could be juiced with the JE98XL and most other centrifugal juicers we tested. The four other types of produce we juiced required no cutting at all.

Most produce needed to be cut to reach the exact 1 lb. weight requirement for our performance tests; however, the same produce (except for apples) did NOT need to be cut to fit into the juicer’s feeding chute.

This table, found in our general buyer’s guide, shows the out of juicer and after sieve yield for the JE98XL and all the other centrifugal juicers we tested. For more information on our testing procedures and the different types of yield we measured see here.

Juicing Performance Summary and Score

The Juice Fountain Plus did very well in most of our juicing performance tests. It performed below average in only one test – our grape juicing test, in which its out of juicer yield of 10.5 oz. was a full 2 oz. less than the upper 12, low 13 oz. range that top performing centrifugal juicers were able to garner in the same test. Similarly, its after sieve yield (the after sieve yield is the yield that was collected after the out of juicer yield was poured through a fine sieve to remove excess pulp) of 9.7 oz. was again about 2 oz. less than the upper 11, low 12 oz. range of top performing juicers in the category. This 2 oz. difference in both tests equates to about a 13% difference in percent yield.

Again, the JE98XL’s below average performance juicing grapes was an aberration. It scored above average in 4 out of 5 tests. Its after sieve yields for oranges (11.1 oz.), carrots (10.3 oz.), and celery (12.6 oz.) were good for a top 2 result in each category, meaning that the Juice Fountain Plus was able to extract more pulp-free (after sieve) juice from oranges, carrots, and celery than 16 other centrifugal juicers we tested (we tested 17 in all). Only the Juice Fountain Compact was able to extract more pulp-free juice in those three tests (in other words, only the Compact had better after sieve yields than the Plus in those three tests). The J98XL’s apple juicing ability was a little bit less impressive but still above average as its out of juicer yield and after sieve yield for apples were good for 6^th and 4^th best in the category, respectively. Overall, the Juice Fountain Plus earns an almost perfect 4.5 out of 5 for juicing performance. The only reason it does not receive a perfect score is because of its below average performance juicing grapes.

As far as pulp is concerned, the JE98XL is a great option for consumers looking for an out of juicer yield with as little pulp as possible. As we mentioned above, the after sieve yield was obtained by pouring the out of juicer yield through a sieve. Thus, the difference between out of juicer yield and after sieve yield is equal to the amount of pulp in the original out of juicer yield. For example, the aforementioned out of juicer grape juice yield for the JE98XL was 10.5 oz. while the after sieve yield was 9.7 oz. The difference between these two measured values is 0.8 oz. Thus, the amount of pulp in the original out of juicer grape juice yield can be said to be 0.8 oz. Applying this same math to other tests, it’s clear that the JE98XL produces a virtually pulp-free juice right out of the juicer. This was especially true for all tests except for our grape juicing test, in which the difference between out of juicer yields and after sieve yields was never more than 0.4 oz. – that’s a maximum of only 0.4 oz. of pulp collected in each test.

Cleaning

Procedure

Cleaning the JE98XL follows standard procedure for a centrifugal juicer. This procedure is shown below.

Washing the juice container (top left), food pusher (top right), and juicer cover (bottom right). Pulp being removed from the cover by hand is also shown (bottom left).

The filter bowl being washed (top right), the filter basket being placed into the sink to soak (top right), the pulp container full of pulp before it is removed by hand (bottom left), and the pulp container being washed (bottom right).

The last part to be washed is the filter basket, which is scrubbed clean using the included cleaning brush.

Cleaning Tools

Breville includes the same heavy duty cleaning brush with all of their centrifugal juicers, including this one – the Juice Fountain Plus. The cleaning brush is included for one purpose – to clean the filter basket.

The cleaning brush included with the JE98XL.

Staining, Scratching, and Smudging

One major disadvantage that the mostly plastic Breville Juice Fountain Plus, Multi-Speed, and Compact juicers have over the mostly stainless steel Breville Juice Fountain Duo and Elite is the fact that the former juicers’ plastic parts stain, scratch, and smudge much more easily than the latter juicers’ stainless steel parts.

To attempt to combat these problems Breville has applied a blue tint to two of the the JE98XL’s most likely to stain, scratch, and smudge plastic parts – its cover and filter bowl. This tint does do a fairly good job of hiding minor staining. However, as the pictures below clearly show, it does not hide scratches or smudging.

An example of smudges.

Note that the juicer’s cover and filter bowl leaving a soapy residue (smudges) after cleaning only occurs if you clean do not clean them properly or more specifically, if you do not rinse them properly after juicing. Why then, do we count this against the juicer if it occurred, during testing, due to our own ostensible negligence? The reason is simple. Our goal when testing any juicer is to use it in a way that is representative of how the average consumer might use it on a normal day to day basis at home. Is it possible to clean the JE98XL so that no smudges whatsoever remain after cleaning it? Absolutely. However, it would take an unreasonable amount of time and care to do so. The juicer cover alone has a myriad of different difficult to reach crevices that would each have to be properly cleaned, rinsed, and then inspected (to make sure that their smudge-free) individually to be sure that the entire cover doesn’t have any smudges at all after cleaning it. We don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the average consumer to spend the additional time or effort it would take to properly clean, rinse, and inspect each individual crevice of the juicer’s cover and bowl in order to make sure that both parts are smudge-free after cleaning them. Thus, it is more likely than not that the juicer cover and/or bowl will have at least a few smudges after the average consumer cleans them, just the same as they had after we cleaned them during testing.

These same two parts scratching, on the other hand, had absolutely nothing to do with our cleaning techniques. We only used a microfiber cloth to wash and clean both parts. Their scratching was solely due to the fact that the plastic used for their construction is not of a very high quality. We know this to be true because we washed all of the plastic parts of the slow juicers we tested in exactly the same way using the exact same microfiber cloth. None of slow juicers’ plastic parts scratched during testing. Why? Because they’re made of a much higher quality more durable and resilient plastic (reflected, in part, by the fact that slow juicers, on average, retail for more than two or three times the price of an average centrifugal juicer).

Dishwasher Safe Parts

The Juice Fountain Plus is mostly dishwasher safe. All parts, except for the juicer cover and food pusher can be washed in the top shelf of a dishwasher. The fact that the JE98XL’s juicer cover is not dishwasher safe is unique among Breville juicers. All four other Breville centrifugal juicers we tested have juicer covers that are 100% dishwasher safe.

Note that we did not wash any of the juicers we tested in a dishwasher, including this one. All parts were always cleaned by hand. The reasons why we always cleaned by hand are explained in detail in the relevant section of our general buyer’s guide.

Cleaning Summary and Overall Score

The JE98XL is essentially just as easy to clean as the other Breville centrifugal juicers we tested, which makes it slightly easier to clean than most other centrifugal juicers from other manufacturers. The most difficult part to clean on any centrifugal juicer is its filter basket. How difficult the filter basket is to clean is dependent on two factors. The first is the design of the filter basket and the second is the quality of the cleaning brush included with the juicer. The Juice Fountain Plus gets above average marks in both categories. Its filter basket’s design makes it easier to clean than average and its cleaning brush is of above average quality. Negatives for the JE98XL in the cleaning category are how easy it is to stain, scratch, and smudge many of its parts. However, these negatives are not unique to this juicer in particular and therefore we cannot detract too much from its score in this category because of them. All things considered, we give the Juice Fountain Plus an above average 4 out of 5 for cleaning difficulty.

Ease of Use

Centrifugal juicers are very easy to use. That being said, not everything having to do with centrifugal juicer use and care is equally simple. The two most difficult tasks associated with using and caring for them are (1) assembly and (2) cleaning. We’ve already covered both of these topics earlier in this review. Actually juicing with a centrifugal juicer is very easy. You don’t have to worry about preparing food in a particular way for juicing with them or properly feeding produce into them in the same way that you do for masticating (slow) juicers. As long as a piece of produce fits, you simply put it into a centrifugal juicer’s feeding chute and push down to juice it.

Factors that separate the difficulty of using one centrifugal juicer compared to another (other than ease of assembly and cleaning) are the implementation and use of different controllable juicing speeds, manual quality (a better written manual makes learning how to use and properly using the juicer easier), the weight of the juicer (lighter juicers are easier to move around the kitchen), the length of its power cord (a longer power cord means that you have more flexibility in terms of where you can place the juicer on the countertop relative to the location of a wall outlet), the size of the included pulp and juice containers (larger containers mean that you’ll have to empty and replace them less often when juicing a large quantity of produce in one go), and whether the included juice container has a froth separator or not. We look at each of these factors below.

Juicing Speeds

The Juice Fountain Plus is a two speed juicer. On the front of the juicer is a switch that allows the user to set the juicer to either a low or high speed. Setting the juicer to a low speed sets the filter basket to spin at 6500 RPM. This setting is used for juicing softer produce such as oranges and grapes. Setting the juicer to its high speed setting sets the filter basket to spin at 12,000 RPM. The high speed setting is used for juicing harder produce such as carrots, celery, and apples.

The juicer’s user manual includes a “Speed Selector Table” which lists over 20 popular fruits and vegetables and which setting to use for juicing each fruit or vegetable in the list. If you want to juice a fruit or vegetable not on the list, you simply have to find the fruit or vegetable on the list most similar to the produce you want to juice and use the corresponding speed accordingly. For example, if you want to juice lemon or lime, you can use the manual’s directions for juicing oranges. In addition, the switch on the front of the juicer that controls speed settings is labeled “Softer” and “Harder” next to “Low” and “High”, respectively, to enable experienced users to set juicing speeds by simply identifying the produce they want to juice as soft or hard. If such a user wants to juice oranges, for example, he or she may not even have to reference the included manual as he or she may already know that oranges are considered to be a softer fruit and that the juicer should be set to the “Softer” or “Low” setting for juicing oranges.

Manual Quality

The Juice Fountain Plus comes with a very high quality user manual. The included manual starts off by listing all of the juicer’s parts (and what they do) with a photo of the parts and where they are located on the juicer. Once you’ve familiarized yourself with all of the juicer’s parts you can move on to the next section of the manual which covers assembly. Assembly instructions include detailed text instructions and accompanying photos. Next, the manual discusses actual juicer operation. Here is where you’ll find the previously mentioned “Speed Selector Table” – a table that you’re likely to reference quite frequently. The table itself is detailed and well organized. All produce is listed alphabetically and different versions of different produce are also listed. For example, peeled cucumber is listed separate from skinned cucumber. Each type of cucumber has its own corresponding speed setting. Next, the manual dedicates an entire section to proper disassembly of the juicer before it begins its discussion of how to go about properly cleaning the juicer. This discussion is quite detailed. Several paragraphs are dedicated to a discussion having to do with properly cleaning the filter basket. Rounding out the rest of the manual’s content is a troubleshooting section, a “tips on juicing” discussion, a “fruit and vegetable facts” section, and a list of recipes. The “tips on juicing” and “fruit and vegetable facts” sections are unique to Breville juicer manuals.

Why did we list the JE98XL’s manual’s contents in such detail above? We did so because the quality and in-depth nature of the included manual’s content is unique to Breville juicer manuals. Other manuals cover most of the same topics but they do so in a much less detailed and illustrative manner. Furthermore, the fact that the manual includes sections such as “tips on juicing” and “fruit and vegetable facts” is far from necessary but goes a long way to show the care that Breville puts into their products. If a company is willing to put that much effort into their user manuals, how much more care do they put into their actual products?

Weight, Power Cord Length, Juice and Pulp Containers

The juicer’s fully assembled weight, body only weight, and power cord length are listed below in addition to the same specifications for similar juicers that we tested. Note that all of the listed measurements were taken by us when we tested the JE98XL for review. These are not manufacturer specifications.

TABLE

The juice container that’s included with the JE98XL.

Ease of Use Summary and Score

The JE98XL is not quite as light as some of the lightest centrifugal juicers we tested but neither is it very heavy. We found it quite easy to move around the kitchen during testing. Its power cord is also of above average length and its juice and pulp containers are of above average volume. Both of these things add to the ease with which we were able to use it during testing. Add in the fact that the included manual is of well above average quality and the fact that the juicer only has 2 speeds and you have a juicer, in the JE98XL, that is extremely easy to use no matter how you look at it. We give it a well above average 4.5 for ease of use.

Versatility

The JE98XL is just as versatile as almost every other centrifugal juicer we tested. Unfortunately, this means that it is actually not very versatile at all. For a detailed explanation of centrifugal juicer versatility and how it pales in comparison to slow juicer versatility please see this part of our general buyer’s guide.

Durability

Build Quality and Materials

We were quite critical of the quality of the JE98XL’s plastic parts earlier in our review when we discussed how easy it is to scratch them when cleaning the juicer. However, it’s important for us to put such criticism in perspective before we continue any further with the review. First, the JE98XL’s plastic parts, while not as durable and resilient as the plastic parts you’ll find on a typical slow juicer, are actually a much higher quality and more durable than similar plastic parts on a typical centrifugal juicer. The Juice Fountain Plus’s parts are of a much higher quality than what you’d find on less expensive centrifugal juicers such as the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Pro or the Juiceman juicers, to list just a few examples. This leads us to our second point. The JE98XL retails for around $150. Those slow juicers that we are comparing it to retail for a minimum of $300. It’s unreasonable to expect the quality of the JE98XL’s parts to be similar to that of the parts of juicers that retail for at least double the JE98XL’s regular price.

The bottom line is that, while not as well constructed and with as durable and high quality of parts as what you’d find on a typical slow juicer, the JE98XL is still highly durable – more durable in fact than the majority of other centrifugal juicers that we tested.

Brand Reputation

Breville manufacturers six different centrifugal juicers, five of which we tested for review. The Juice Fountain Compact is the least expensive (around $100) and the least feature-rich but it is also the best centrifugal juicer we tested. The Juice Fountain Plus, Cold, and Multi-Speed are a bit more expensive (between $140 and $180 normally) and come with a few more features. Of these three juicers we only tested the Plus and the Multi-Speed. Both were observed to be very high quality highly durable juicers that received top scores in most review categories. The Juice Fountain Duo and Juice Fountain Elite are the most expensive, come with the most features (really only true for the Duo) and are the only two juicers Breville makes that are composed of mostly stainless steel parts. The fact that they are primarily composed of stainless steel parts makes them the most durable centrifugal juicers we tested. We also spoke very highly of them in our reviews for them.

The point of the above discussion is that Breville doesn’t manufacture even one cheap, unreliable, underperforming juicer. All of the Breville juicers we tested were observed to be high quality appliances. All of them performed very well in all of our juicing performance tests. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend any one of them to a consumer looking to purchase a centrifugal juicer. Which one we recommend is solely based on the consumer’s budget and needs. The Compact is rated as the best centrifugal juicer we tested only because it serves the needs of most consumers at the lowest possible price.

Quality of Support

Breville provides several means of contact including a toll free number, an email address, and a physical address in the United States. Our survey of consumer reviews tells us that Breville customer service is mostly excellent. Very few consumer reviews that we read for the JE98XL (and other Breville juicers) had anything negative to say about Breville customer support.

Warranty

The JE98XL comes with only a 1-year warranty, the same as every other Breville juicer on the market. The two positives regarding its warranty are that (1) there are no listed exclusions (all of the juicer’s parts are covered by the warranty) and (2) Breville will actually pay for shipping of parts or the whole juicer to and from them if a warranty claim is made.

You might be asking how the JE98XL’s warranty compares to other warranties of other popular centrifugal juicers on the market. As we already mentioned above, the JE98XL’s warranty is the exact same 1-year warranty included with every other Breville centrifugal juicer on the market. Even the approximately $400 Juice Fountain Duo has the exact same 1-year warranty. Other manufacturers of other centrifugal juicers that we tested are slightly more generous when it comes to the duration of the warranties included with their juicers. The Cuisinart CJE-1000 comes with a 3-year warranty while the Big Boss, Bella, Juiceman, and Black and Decker juicers we tested all come with a 2-year warranty. Note that on many of these warranties certain exclusions do apply – exclusions that are not present in Breville warranties.

It’s important for us to note here that if your new juicer having an outstanding warranty is important to you, you’ll be much happier purchasing a slow juicer instead of any centrifugal juicer on the market, including the JE98XL. Most slow juicers come with 10 to 15 year warranties which are obviously much longer in duration than the warranties included with centrifugal juicers. See this part of our general buyer’s guide for a more in-depth breakdown of this topic.

Summary and Score

The JE98XL is definitely better built and of better quality parts than most of the 16 other centrifugal juicers we tested. We also discussed above how Breville simply doesn’t make any low quality juicers. You can rest assured purchasing any Breville juicer that you’re buying an appliance that is well designed, well built, and highly durable. The only negative for the JE98XL in this category is the fact that it comes with only a 1-year warranty. Then again, this is the exact same warranty duration of every other Breville juicer currently on the market. Longer warranties for other centrifugal juicers do exist, but those other warranties normally exclude certain parts. Breville warranties do not. We give the JE98XL an above average 4.5 out of 5 for durability.

Value

Initial Cost

The JE98XL normally retails for about $150. This makes it one of the more expensive centrifugal juicers we tested (12 other centrifugal juicers we tested retail for less). Only the Jamba 67901 and Juice Fountain Multi-Speed, Elite, and Duo retail for more. What do you get for the JE98XL’s higher than average price?

Long Term Cost

When assessing any juicer’s value it would be remiss of us to exclude the juicer’s durability and the cost of buying produce for the juicer from the discussion. If a juicer is relatively inexpensive but breaks after just a few months of use, it’s obviously not nearly as good a value as its initial price might seem to indicate. Conversely, if a juicer is more expensive than comparable options but lasts longer than those other options it may be a greater value than those other options because of it. We already discussed our observations regarding the JE98XL’s durability earlier in the review. We won’t be redundant and discuss them again here but do note that the juicer’s durability will factor into the score it receives for value below.

The other factor dictating long term cost of juicer ownership is the cost of produce. The cost of produce is directly related to juicer efficiency or performance as we talk about in detail here. For now, we will simply say that the better performing the juicer is, the less the cost of produce will be over time. Thus, juicers that performed well in our juicing performance tests will score better in this category (again, please see here for more information on this topic).

Value Summary

Earlier we asked the question, “what do you get for the JE98XL’s higher than average price?”. The answer to that question is simply “top tier performance”. The best reason we can give for spending more on the JE98XL than those 12 centrifugal juicers we tested that retail for less, is the fact that it simply juices much better than all but one of them. The JE98XL’s yields were much higher than most of them and as such, the price difference between the JE98XL and those other juicers will more than be recouped in produce cost over time (again, if you’re unclear about why this is true see here). Not to mention the fact that the JE98XL is better built and more durable than those other juicers as well.

The one exception is the BJE200XL (the Juice Fountain Compact), which actually garnered better (after sieve) yields than the JE98XL in all tests. The Compact is slightly less durable than the Plus based on the fact that its main body is made of a lesser quality plastic. However, all of its other parts are essentially made of the exact same materials as those same parts on the Plus. Why then, might you want to buy the Plus instead of the Compact, when the Compact is better performing and comes with all of the perks of a Breville juicer (warranty, customer support, etc.) at a much lower price? There are several reasons which we list below.

Comparison to the #1 Rated Juicer

Reasons To Buy The Juice Fountain Plus (JE98XL) Instead of the Top Rated Juice Fountain Compact (BJE200XL)

The Juice Fountain Compact receives our recommendation as the best centrifugal juicer you can buy. There are, however, a few reasons why you might want to spend the extra $50 or so and purchase the Plus instead. We didn’t find these reasons sufficient to recommend the Plus over the Compact for most users. However, your needs and priorities may be different from the norm. As such we list those reasons which might compel you to buy the Plus instead of the Compact below.

1. The Plus features a traditional centrifugal design with a separate pulp container while the Compact features an integrated design in which pulp is collected in the filter bowl. An argument can be made that it is easier to clean a separate pulp container.
2. The Plus has two speeds while the Compact only has one. Our test results show that additional speeds do not equate to improved performance. However, results may vary depending on whether produce other than that which we tested is juiced.
3. The Plus has a higher wattage motor than the Compact. The Plus has an 850-watt motor while the Compact has a less heavy duty 700-watt motor. Our test results show that additional wattage does not equate to improved performance. However, juicing certain especially difficult to juice produce in large quantities could be a scenario in which a juicer having a higher wattage motor could be advantageous. In addition, an argument can be made that a higher wattage motor is put under less stress during most juicing tasks and thus will last longer than a lower wattage motor.
4. The Plus has a much larger juice container. The Plus has a 40 oz. juice container while the Compact has a much smaller 32 oz. juice container – that’s 8 oz. more juice you can extract using the Plus before having to empty and replace the juice container.
5. Finally, the Plus features a much more solid heavy grade polymer body while the Compact simply has a plastic body. Because of this the Plus’s main body should be more durable over time.

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