Early this week, Tea Leaves’ industrious panel of dedicated tasters converged on Mad Mex in Oakland to try a variety of wonderful tequilas. I’ll be writing about that in detail, in the next few weeks.
In addition to discovering some new favorite tequilas, I got a peek at the best hand-held lime juicer I’ve ever seen. Half of a lemon or lime goes in, you give it a quick squeeze, and the juice just flies out in under a second. “I have to get one of those,” I said. “You like it?” said our host. “Williams-Sonoma. About $15.”
Now I own one. It’s heavy enamel-coated aluminum, is easy to clean, and works like a charm. I am in love. I thought my previous lime juicer was convenient, but I now see that I was a deluded fool.
You might ask “What’s the big deal? How good can a lime juicer possibly be?”
Worth. Every. Penny.
(In answer to some questions I’ve received: that’s half a key lime being juiced, the reason you should care is that this makes making mixed drinks with fresh lime juice infinitely easier, and they also sell a larger juicer “for lemons,” although this one worked just fine on the small lemons I tend to prefer).
Right form factor, wrong manufacturer.
I found the Williams-Sonoma products to be overpriced and underbuilt. I still have a big-ass orange enameled version for squeezing oranges and big lemons, but only because I haven’t found the real thing in that size.
At Tommy’s, they use that style of squeezer, but made like a tank. Literally, the guys behind the bar will squeeze through hundreds of limes a night with the same tool.
They are available for about $10 and they are heavy-frickin’-duty. No play. All squeeze motion.
Now, If I could just find a good source for bulk thin skinned limes around here….
You didn’t mention one of the best features of this kind of juicer: it gets just the right amount of oil out of the skin, too, so you have a bit of lime zest flavour in your drink along with the juice. Yum!
Weird to see a black juicer in your video; I’m used to them being lemony yellow.
It’s actually dark green, but I lit the shot poorly.
bbum: It’s 15 bucks, get over it.
$15 for a poorly made version of something that I can get a proven, professionally quality, version for $10?
No, I’m not getting over it. I’m simply not going to get it. I don’t have time to put up with crappy tools.
Still, to be fair, the WS version works well enough for casual use.
bbum, you left out an important fact: Where can we buy these cheap, built-like-a-tank squeezers?