If you ever wanted to own a high power blender, but you just couldn’t justify the high cost of Vitamix blenders, then let me introduce you to Greenis blenders which have launched in the UK recently.
These high power blenders are well worth considering instead of Vitamix since they are incredibly tough, sturdy and have the power and performance that can compete with Vitamix. What’s more, they are much cheaper than Vitamix but their affordability doesn’t mean that the quality suffers, not at all.
They are made to last and you shouldn’t worry that they will break any time soon. So if you are interested to know more about this alternative to Vitamix, continue reading and find out more about the Greenis brand and their Altitude Power Blender 8880 which I had the opportunity to test (Greenis kindly gifted this blender to me so that I can write this review).
About Greenis blenders
Greenis blenders that are intended for home use all have powerful 3.7 HP motors and are perfectly suited for the high-end home user who likes to do some advanced blending and wants more-than-average results.
These blenders are already popular in the US and other international markets so are not totally new on the market.
Greenis also offers commercial blenders which are highly efficient (rated at 90% efficiency) but I am not going to talk about these in this review.
All Greenis blenders have certain common features and properties:
- feature Italian design
- come with the world’s thickest walled, super-tough BPA free jugs. Watch a 2-ton car run over one, twice
- are quiet – 75-80db, depending on the model
- offer a choice of leading-technology capacitive touch screen – or classic electronic soft-touch button – interfaces, combining automatic and manual controls
- have advanced electronic safety protection
Their retail prices significantly undercut Vitamix, Blendtec and Bianco du Puro which makes them much more affordable and a great alternative to popular power blenders on the market today.
Greenis Blender 8880 Review
Once I received the blender in the post, here were my initial thoughts:
Unboxing
The blender’s parts are well protected inside of the box with enough cushioning from polystyrene foam. When I take the jug out I am surprised at how heavy it feels. At least 1 kg, probably much more. The current food processor that I own has a jug much much lighter than that.
The weight doesn’t really bother me though, it’s for a reason, I believe. The jug from Greenis blender feels unbelievably sturdy and the thickness of it is impressive. This is definitely made to last and if you drop it by accident you shouldn’t worry about breaking it, that’s my conclusion.
After taking all the parts out of the box, there is one part which I am really intrigued by. It’s like a long, thick stick that I can hold it like a sword. I unscrew the bottom bit and I learn that it’s actually hollow! What on earth am I supposed to do with it? I do a quick search online and learn this is a tamper stick which is used when blending to make your mixtures smoother and to get rid of air pockets.
The blender comes with a detachable power cord which I really like as this will make storing and cleaning easier.
The motor base also feels quite heavy but I guess it must be as it’s a high power blender?
What I also notice after taking Greenis blender out of the box is its unusual blade which looks like it’s been strangely bent on one side. But I quickly learn that this has been done on purpose – it’s been designed in this way to create the maximum blending vortex.
When assembling the blender, I find it a bit strange that there is no click or anything like that when putting the jar on top of the motor base. You don’t even have to screw it on, you just put it on and there is no indication that it’s been done correctly.
It feels a little bit wobbly like it’s not properly in place but I am reassured by the founder that it’s totally secure and its loose fit doesn’t affect its performance or safety. I learn that all the jugs have magnets on the base and they securely attach via the central drive socket. I am also told that the machine only works when the magnets are in place as a safety mechanism so basically there is no need for any concerns.
Main features and functions
- High power and high-speed motor – 1400W | 30,000RPM
- A blade with a unique shape made of high-quality stainless steel
- A touchscreen panel with LCD display
- An easy to use speed control dial with 15 speed variables
- A choice of 6 pre-set programmes: Smoothies, Juice, Hot Drinks, Sauce, Grind (to crush ice cubes), Pulse
- An option to create your own programmes using a DIY button
- Extremely durable BPA-free jar made from Tritan material
- The lid comes with a handy measuring cup
Greenis blender vs Vitamix
Vitamix blender is one of the most popular blenders on the market today and it has been the first choice among professional chefs and heavy-duty users for a long time. But if you want a high-performance blender, Vitamix is not the only option. Greenis blender is also worth considering since it’s still very powerful, extremely tough but much more affordable.
There are many Vitamix blender models and I decided to compare the one that seems to be the most similar to Greenis blender (the one that is intended for home use and comes with presets).
Here is how they compare side by side:
| Features & Specs | Greenis 8880 | Vitamix A3500 |
|---|---|---|
| Rated power | 1,400 W | 1,380 W |
| HP | 3.7 - Peak | 2.2 - Peak |
| Jar capacity | 2 litres | 1. 8 litres (64 oz) |
| Jar material | BPA-free Tritan jar | BPA-free plastic |
| Preset programs | 6 | 5 |
| Pulse feature | ||
| Speed dial | 1-15 speeds | 1-10 speeds |
| Digital timer? | ||
| Optional accessories? (cups of different sizes, for example) |
As you can see from the table above, the Greenis blender is definitely comparable to Vitamix and in some ways, it’s even better than Vitamix blender but that really depends on what features and specs are more important to you.
What can you make with Greenis blender?
Greenis blender is not only intended for making smoothies, but you can also do so many other different things with it. Here are some of the things you can do:
- Grind nuts and make nut butter
- Make hazelnut & chocolate spread (Nutella)
- Crush ice and make margaritas
- Grind coffee beans and spices such as cardamom and cinnamon
- Make hot soups and juices
- Make nut and seed milks such as almond milk, hazelnut milk and pumpkin seed milk
- And much more!
What’s like using Greenis blender?
To find out whether Greenis blender is any good and what’s like using it, I decided to experiment with it and try a variety of recipes. So here is my experience when using it:
Making homemade Nutella with Greenis blender
The first thing I made with this blender was a homemade Nutella (a healthy version, of course). I was a bit unsure what program to use to blend the hazelnuts so I decided to simply start the blender and see how that goes.
Initially, I didn’t know what to do to start the blender as there were quite a few buttons but I quickly figured it out and it was very easy – I just needed to rotate the speed dial clockwise and the blender starts to work (after pressing the ON button, of course).
The blending starts on the lowest speed (1) and as you turn the dial clockwise, the speed increases and so does the noise! At first, I thought it was a really quiet blender but not until I tried higher speeds (10-15). At some point, it gets quite loud and scary but not as loud as my old food processor which I guess it’s a bonus. I don’t know whether all high-powered blenders are quite loud at high speeds as I haven’t tried others before but I imagine that they can’t be that quiet when working on full power.
Anyway, to make a homemade Nutella, I was following Deliciously Ella recipe and she stated in the recipe that it would take around 10 minutes before hazelnuts turn into a butter. I checked some other recipes online and they also mentioned around the same timing.
Surprisingly, Greenis blender didn’t take 10 minutes to turn hazelnuts into butter. It was more like 2-3 minutes (or even less) which I was really amazed by. I started with the lowest speed which I slowly increased over time until I could clearly see hazelnut butter with no bits in it. I then added raw cacao powder and maple syrup, as per Ella’s recipe and continued to blend. This is when things didn’t really go as expected.
I am blending and blending, trying different speeds but instead of getting smoother and consistent texture, there is a liquid in the blend which appears as oil and it’s separated from the rest of the mixture. I cannot get to mix everything together! This, of course, was not a blender’s fault, more something that I’ve done wrong myself but I’ve figured it out at the end.
At some point, I decided to add some almond milk to see whether that would make any difference to the consistency and yes, it did! As soon as I’ve added almond milk, voila, everything fell into place. The mixture came all together resulting in a smooth texture which was totally out of this world. There were no bits in it, totally smooth, totally yummy. Amazing results! Now I know for the next time that I need to add some liquid such as almond milk or water pretty soon in the process not later on, otherwise, the mixture just doesn’t come together. Well done Greenis blender, I am so impressed!
Just to mention that while blending, I’ve noticed the mixture gets quite warm and when I touched the blender’s jug I could feel the heat. Clearly, when blending harder ingredients, the machine gets hot due to all the friction and that heat transfers into the mixture. I’ve learnt that this is quite normal and many recipes that I found online mention this. People even suggest leaving the machine to cool down a little bit if it’s getting too hot and I did actually do that but it wasn’t extremely hot. Luckily, the Greenis blender will switch itself off automatically if the temperature gets too high. This is to protect it from burning out, so you shouldn’t worry that you will damage it during more demanding blending.
Making a hummus
Hummus is not normally made in a blender but it can be so I thought to give it a try to see how it turns out. It was all an experiment.
I put all the ingredients in the jug including some liquids such as olive oil and water and then decided to use the program “Sauce” to see what happens. It didn’t turn out so well actually. The Sauce program lasts for about a minute but that wasn’t long enough to make the hummus blend together properly. It still needed more blending time after the program finished. So I just dialled the knob and slowly increased the speed to make the hummus smoother.
This time I was not blending the nuts so I thought the blender will quite easily blend the chickpeas with no issues and it did, after some additional blending but I had to scrape the bits down to help it finish the task. But what I’ve noticed is that when I left the blender do its job, it moved a little bit, it kind of nudged from one side to another. So I decided to keep my hand on the blender to prevent any undesirable movements (just in case). To be honest, the same thing happens with the other blender I have at home (much cheaper one) but I thought that maybe with a more expensive blender, this wouldn’t happen but it does, unfortunately.
Anyway, the end results were not bad. The hummus came out unbelievably smooth, much smoother than when I make it in a food processor. The problem was that it also came out warm! It seems that the blender got heated up a bit when making hummus although it was probably just a few minutes of blending. And this heat transferred into hummus. I didn’t like that at all so although the hummus was really smooth I am not making it in the blender again. Not to mention that getting it out of the blender is not as easy as when you are using a food processor. Anyway, a lesson learnt! It was just an experiment and these were the results!
Making a nut milk
Making nut milk in a high power blender is really easy and once you realise that you will never buy supermarket nut milk ever again.
I decided to make Almond-Coconut Milk following a recipe from the book Whole Food Cooking Every Day. It was really easy and the results were amazing. I managed to make the most delicious almond milk I’ve ever tasted in my life.
Almonds needed to be soaked overnight and the next day I just added them to the blender together with unsweetened shredded dried coconut and water and started to blend.
The recipe stated to blend until smooth and I wasn’t sure for how long so I just experimented. I first let the blender run for about 1 min and a half, slowly increasing the speed. I then tried the blend to see whether it’s smooth enough. It didn’t seem to be so I blended it for another minute and a half. After that it was perfect so I just drained the liquid through a thin kitchen towel and squeezed the milk into a bowl.
.
In addition to the ingredients used, I’ve also added vanilla stevia drops to add a little bit of sweetness and more flavour without adding extra calories. Then it was the taste test. Omg, this was such delicious nut milk, so much flavour and nothing like you buy in a supermarket. I was unbelievably happy with the results and the blender did a great job when making this milk. No doubt I will make this again and again as it’s so good.
Making a nut butter
With the Greenis blender, I’ve also made almond butter at home and it was my first time making a nut butter so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But it was so easy and the blender did a marvellous job, I was really happy with the results!
To make almond butter, all you need is almonds and some salt (if you like) and while some recipes ask you to use some oil as well (to make the blending easier), I didn’t like that idea so I skipped it.
The first step before blending was to roast almonds in the oven for about 10minutes. This gives nuts more flavour and also makes them easier to blend especially if you are not using any oils.
I left nuts to cool down a little bit once they came out of the oven and then added them to the blender.
I started blending on the lowest speed, slowly increasing it. The nuts started to turn into butter after around one minute or so. It was unbelievably fast! Totally impressive! Many recipes online state that it could take up to 10 minutes to make almond butter in a food processor. But using the Greenis blender is so much faster, I was really impressed.
I used the tamper stick to help me scrape the mixture down the sides so that it got smoother and more evenly blended. I tasted it after a few minutes to see how smooth it was and decided to blend it for a little bit longer. Almond butter was ready in less than 5 minutes and yes, it was a bit warm as expected but not hot.
I was really happy with the results as my homemade almond butter was pretty much the same consistency as the almond butter I would buy in a supermarket. It was slightly runny as it was warm but as it cooled down it also got thicker and just perfect. The blender did an amazing job and if you are a fan of nut butters, I cannot recommend this blender highly enough.
Cleaning
I really like that you can clean the blender by simply putting some water in, a few slices of lemon and then choose the “Sauce” program. This works really well, making cleaning much faster. Blend on the same program twice and you will get a quite clean blender on the inside, but maybe you will have to wipe a few spots on top which were not reached by liquid during blending.
While the blender’s jug is reasonably easy to clean by using a pre-set programme, you still need to clean the lid separately. I found it a bit tricky to clean this part though as it’s not easy to scrub inside due to the depth of the lid.
Greenis blender – The final verdict
All in all, I’ve been really happy with the performance of the Greenis blender that I’ve tested (8880 model). It totally exceeded my expectations when making nut butters and did a great job when making almond milk. I am really amazed at how fast and how well it will blend something although you should keep in mind that it can get quite loud when reaching the top speed of 15. But on the lowest settings (speed less than 10), I found this blender reasonably quiet.
When blending harder ingredients at high speeds, the blender will nudge a little bit so you should keep an eye on it to make sure you don’t knock it off the counter by accident. But at lower speeds, it handles harder/tougher ingredients quite well. However, it always helps to add a bit of oil or liquid to make blending easier.
I am yet to experiment with other recipes (hot soups, smoothies, etc.) and also, I haven’t tried all the functions and programs yet. There is so much more I can do with this blender and I know I definitely haven’t used it to its full potential. My initial experience though is certainly positive (apart from a few downsides I’ve already mentioned) and if you are interested in buying a high power blender that is a much cheaper alternative to Vitamix, Greenis blender is definitely worth considering.
