I’ve been reviewing the best blenders and the best juicers for a while now, so I was excited to try out a machine that can do the job of both in one. While the Breville The 3x Bluicer is expensive, I think it is reasonable when you consider how much you’d pay for a good juicer and blender. The same could be said for the attachments. While they take up a lot of space, they don’t necessarily take up any more space than a separate blender and juicer would. Overall, the Breville The 3x Bluicer really impressed me in this review. Not only was it powerful enough to make all manner of iced drinks and smoothies, but it also delivered some of the best juicing I’ve ever experienced.
Breville The 3x Bluicer: Specifications
Colors: smoked hickoryType: blender-juicer comboWeight: 20.9 poundsPrograms: self-clean, smoothie, ice crush, frozen cocktail, 5 juicing settingsSpeed settings: 5Material: Stainless SteelDimensions: 14.1 x 15.7 x 17.7 inchesMotor: 1000 watts
Breville The 3x Bluicer design
The Breville The 3x Bluicer has a somewhat bulky design. The blender attachment sits on top of the Bluicer base, and is locked into place with a sturdy metal lever. The juicer attachment takes up much more space, because it has a bin to catch the pulp from fruit and vegetables at the back of the machine. The juicer attachment is also attached to the top of the base using the lever, and it’s designed to release juice into the blender pitcher through the circular pouring spout. The base of the Breville The 3x Bluicer has preset modes for both blending and juicing. It has a smart display with an ‘On’ button that can also be pressed to pause when mid-cycle. The modes feature blending settings for self-cleaning, ice crush, smoothies, and frozen drinks. Each one lasts 60 seconds, and the monitor shows a countdown while the cycle is running. It’s a little different for the juicing modes. While there are no explicit presets, you can get the rough idea of which mode to use depending on what fruit or veg you’re juicing using the image above the numbers, from 1 to 5. There is also a handy chart that helps you identify which settings to use when jucing, with a breakdown of the different fruit and vegetables that you can use with each setting. Generally speaking though, 1 is the best setting for soft ingredients, and 5 is best for hard items such as carrots. The base of the Breville The 3x Bluicer is pretty hefty, but it’s easy to slot on the juicer and blender attachments and remove them by lifting the lever away. I would suggest leaving the Bluicer on your kitchen counter (after all, it’s a good-looking machine) and storing either the blender or juicer attachments, whichever you would use less, in a cupboard.
Blending in the Breville The 3x Bluicer
I used the Breville The 3x Bluicer to make smoothies and smoothie bowls, as well as to crush ice. The blending pitcher has a non-removable blade at the base which connects to the base and leaves a bit of a visible gap, which allows you to see the mechanism spin as it blends. I found that the Breville The 3x Bluicer had absolutely no trouble making smoothies using fresh fruit, milk, and honey. By the time the 60-second timer had finished, I had a very smooth drink that was ready to pour. Smoothie bowls are always a challenge for a multi-serve blender. Typically they are easier in portable blenders with personal-sized serving cups. However, I was able to make a smoothie bowl in the Breville The 3x Bluicer without too much trouble. I set it on the ice crush mode which did a good job of working through my chunks of frozen mango, pineapple and papaya. Then I went in and stirred the remaining chunks around the base of the blender and left it to blend on smoothie mode for another minute. By the end I had a very smooth and thick smoothie bowl, and I was impressed by how little liquid I needed to achieve an evenly blended consistency. I did feel the lack of a regular pulse setting when using the Breville The 3x Bluicer. Most blenders have a simple pulse mode that allows you to take control while your ingredients are blending, but the Bluicer uses only the preset modes.
Juicing in the Breville The 3x Bluicer
The Bluicer is a centrifugal juicer, so it’s not a rival for the best cold press juicers. I found it quite similar to the Nutribullet Juicer in how it works, because you insert your fruit into a top chute and then press it down into a chamber where your waste is expelled and the juice exits out of the side of the juicer. In this case, into the blending pitcher. You don’t need to do any food prep before using the Breville The 3x Bluicer, which is impressive. The chute is more than large enough to insert apples whole, and then it’s just a case of pressing down with the pusher insert. I made an apple and lime juice, which is a really delicious combo that tests the softest and hardest juicing settings. I found that it took a while for the juicer to break through the skin of the apple, but once it did, it expelled a lot of juice very quickly and the pulp went straight into the waste bin. The lime required a lot less pressing down into the juicing chamber, and I was left with a somewhat foamy drink. Despite that surface-level foam, the juice was some of the best I’ve ever made in a juicer. I gave the pulp a stir and a lot of the bubbles disappeared. I was able to pour out the liquids and leave the froth inside the pitcher if I didn’t want to drink it. I was seriously wowed by the pulp (or lack thereof) with this juicer. One of the most common complaints with centrifugal juicers is that they leave a lot of damp pulp, which suggests that the juicer didn’t manage to extract much juice from the fruit or vegetables. The Breville The 3x Bluicer left a relatively small amount of very dry pulp, and it was easy to scoop this out and remove it using the cleaning brush. I was confident that there was no moisture left behind when I made the juice, which meant there was also less waste.
Cleaning the Breville The 3x Bluicer
Cleaning a blender or juicer is a much-maligned task, but the Breville The 3x Bluicer actually makes it pretty easy. With the blending mode, there is a very capable self-clean setting that means you can just add some water and a bit of dish soap in, and press self-clean. This 60-second cleaning mode reaches almost every area of the blending pitcher, but I did have to go under the lid and around the rim to remove a few leftover bits of smoothie. The juicer is also easy to clean. It comes with a brush that helps to scrub away the pulp and fibers from the filter, and it’s easy to rinse off the bin and attachments.
Should you buy the Breville The 3x Bluicer?
The Breville The 3x Bluicer costs $299.99, so it is by no means a small investment. In fact, it costs around the same as a high-quality blender and a high-quality juicer if you were to buy them separately. The question is, is it good enough to replace both? I was more wowed by the juicer than the blender, which isn’t to say it was bad at blending, but is more of a testament to the quality of the juicer. I definitely think the Breville The 3x Bluicer is a worthy product for any kitchen. Everything about the design feels thoughtful and considered, and it’s also very high quality from the tactile base to the durable pitcher and juicer mechanisms. If you lack storage space you may grow tired of the different attachments. Especially the juicer, which is the bulkier of the two.
About this review, and our reviewer
Millie Fender is our Editor for all things small appliances at Homes & Gardens She spends a lot of time testing everything from toasters to air fryers in her own apartment, and recommending the very best ones to readers. All our reviews are tested from home, and the Breville The 3x Bluicer is no exception. Millie put it to the test for a number of days to make morning smoothies and soup for lunch, before sending it back to Sage UK, who kindly lent it to her for the purposes of this review. Sage is the UK operating name for Breville, so if you’re shopping in the UK, you’ll find the Sage The 3x Bluicer direct from the Sage website.
