I don't think I'll ever test a better blender than the Braun TriForce Power Blender (and it's one of the most affordable I've tried)

If you’re not familiar with Braun already, today is your lucky day. The brand makes reasonably priced, quality kitchen appliances. Their newest TriForce blender promises results that are 60% finer and four times faster than any other blender that they make.

Within a morning of using the Braun, it has safely secured a spot in our competitive buying guide for the best blenders. It boasts all the functions of a Vitamix, with the considered designs of a Ninja, and the speed and convenience of a NutriBullet. The best part is, it’s cheaper than all of them.

Before I tell you all about the testing process that the Braun TriForce powered through, I should let you know about one thing: it's loud. There's blender noise and then there's the Braun blender's noise. However, given that it’s speedy and incredible value, I’d be tempted to snatch up the saving and throw some earguards in my shopping basket too. You won’t regret it.

Specifications

Unboxing

The Braun TriForce comes neatly packaged in a big, cardboard box with some soft plastic around it. Whilst the cardboard is easy to recycle, you might need to put some more thought into how you dispose of your soft plastics. It's doable though.

Once I’d peeled back all of the packaging, there was very little to assemble. The slick base sits smartly on the countertop and Braun TriForce provides a 68 oz pitcher with a tamper and a secure lid. Whilst it’s nice to have extra blending cups and cleaning brushes, there was actually something quite nice about how simple this made setting everything up.

Who would it suit?

The Braun TriForce boasts incredible capacity, so it’s perfect for large homes looking to batch-blend big servings of smoothies and soups. If you’ll only make single servings, you won’t struggle with any residue or leftover food in the bottom of your blender, but you certainly won’t be making the most of the Braun’s capacity. 

The sheer convenience and versatility of the Braun TriForce only takes it closer to securing its spot as the sponsor of busy homes. It can make hot soup in five minutes, a silky smoothie in two minutes, and ice cones in thirty seconds. The only catch is the noise that you’ll have to endure whilst this is working. If you live in an apartment, have a baby nearby, or have some particularly fussy neighbors, it might be worth looking for a quiet blender.

What is it like to use?

I didn’t even need the instruction manual to use this. It was a matter of plugging the machine in, the dial lit up, and I could read the different functions, which are: soup, chop, ice crush, frozen dessert, and spread. There are manual controls too, but the presets are actually really helpful and give you a degree of control too: there are three different smoothness settings: coarse, medium, and smooth. 

Test 1: smoothie

The first test we put all of our blenders through is on smoothies. We add oats, frozen berries, spinach, and almond milk to our drinks to start with. This gives a good test of how well the blender blades can handle big, seedy berries and tough greens and skins. 

I used the smoothie preset but manually stopped it after just one minute (the screen counts down how long you’ll need and will automatically stop when it thinks it’s finished). The smoothie didn’t need any more than one minute and I didn’t want to make a decibel more noise than I had to. 

I’ve tested blenders that are ten times the price and I can put my hand on my heart and say that this is the blender that puts smooth in smoothie. It was the silkiest that I’ve ever made. It was better than any smoothie bar, store-bought, or super techy blender’s results. There was not a grain or seed in sight. It was incredible. 

Even when I added a scoop of protein powder in and ran the whole process through again, I achieved the same incredible results. Normally, we get some graininess or even lumps when we add protein powder to smoothies, especially when we've already blended everything else beforehand. To say that this is great is an understatement.

Test 2: hummus

Given the success of the smoothie, I had high hopes for my hummus. I tipped a tin of chickpeas, a spoonful of tahini, a teaspoon of cumin, and a squeeze of lemon into my blending jug. 

I used the spread preset, opting for the smoothest setting. Again, in 45 seconds, I could see that the Braun TriForce had already made a really silky dip. I’m not sure that the pictures do it justice, because this was a hummus like no other. The tough chickpea skins had been totally pulverized. 

Test 3: soup

I wasn’t sure whether my soup would be made hot in the Braun TriForce, especially since the whole pitcher is dishwasher safe. However, the guidance said that I didn’t have to cook my vegetables beforehand, so I placed two halves of an onion, some garlic cloves, a stock cube, raw carrot, and cilantro into the pitcher. I set this onto the smooth soup setting and was surprised when the dial read seven minutes. That’s unbelievably speedy, especially for hot soup.

True to its form, the Braun was ready even before the preset timer was up. Within four minutes I had a piping hot, super smooth carrot soup. If I hadn’t already fallen in love with the Braun, this clinched it. I’ve never tested a blender at this price point which boasts so much power and versatility. I’m in love.

Test 4: ice

I held my breath for this test because ice is where every great blender fails. Of all the blenders that I've tested, the Vitamix A3500 is the only blender that's done a thorough job of blending ice and it's ten times the price of the Braun TriForce. However, as promised, ice was no match for the Braun's power.

I put a handful of ice cubes and a splash of water into the base of the blender and selected the ice setting. Again, 23 seconds before the one-minute preset had finished, I had perfectly misted ice. Again, this made a serious amount of noise but the powdery, snow-like ice that the Braun made as a result was worth every second. 

I had a dig through all of the powder and there wasn’t a shard in sight, if you plan on making snow cones or you’re making some frozen cocktails, you’ve just found your perfect kitchen assistant.

Cleaning, storage, and maintenance

This is rarely the exciting part of any blender test, but I had read that the pitcher is dishwasher safe. Most soup-making blenders can’t be submerged in water, let alone thrown in the dishwasher. If you’ve let your smoothie dry on the edges of your pitcher, you could run it with some water and dish soap on the soup setting. However, my clean-up was even easier. Everything I made in the Braun was met with such enthusiasm from the other testers that there wasn’t an ice crystal, spoonful of hummus, or drop of soup left behind. In short, cleaning the Braun is easy.

The storage, however, is a little less easy, since this is quite a bulky blender. Personally, I like the style of it. The slick base is modern and attractive, but if you need to keep this in a cupboard, you’ll need to remove a shelf or store the pitcher beside the base, rather than mounted on it. I planned on doing this, but during the week of testing, this was so popular that it became a permanent feature on the countertop. That’s in spite of the noise too.

How does it rate online?

The Braun TriForce seems to be a bit of a secret online: there aren't many reviews for it, which is crazy to me. I'm ready to end the secrecy because this is brilliant and the few reviews that exist are a testament to how good the Braun is.

People generally loved the angular elegant design and modern display. They all agree that it gives this a cutting-edge feel, comparable to a Vitamix blender. In fact, Vitamix seems to be the name on everyone's lips: this is evocative of the brand's iconic A3500 blender (available at QVC), just a lot cheaper.

People loved the range of pre-sets and the degree of control that you get within the presets (a smooth, medium, and coarse option). Everyone found that this worked in under a minute on almost all settings. I found a couple of reviewers who still wanted their soup heated up to a higher temperature. However, I had to let mine cool before I could test it, so I wondered whether they stopped the soup function too early.

Overall, everyone was happy with the value and performance of the blender. As expected, the noise levels came up in a few reviews. However, I thought more people would mention it, but it seemed to only be a few people who, like me, thought that this was almost excessively noisy.

How does it compare?

My favorite blender up until the Braun TriForce was the Ninja Hot and Cold. This boasts an impressive range of functions, covering sauces, jellies, and more. It's smaller and heavier than the Braun, but that's probably because the pitcher is crafted from glass.

The Braun is also a lot quicker. It takes the Ninja half an hour to make a smooth soup, whereas the Braun needed less than seven minutes, The biggest drawback with the Ninja is that you have to be really careful when washing it. The bottom of the blender categorically can't get wet, which means that you'll be on edge the whole time that you have it near to the sink.

The real test for the Braun TriForce is how it stands up against the Vitamix A3500. Results-wise, the two were almost identical. If anything, I think the Braun was better and quicker at misting ice and making soup. The only downsides of the Braun is how much louder it is and that the pitcher is plastic, not glass. This makes it feel slightly less durable, although Braun's website is reassuring, saying that the pitcher is crafted from Tritan, which has established a stellar reputation for itself. 

If you're money-conscious, the Braun is a great bet. If you want capacity and speed, the Braun is also great too. However, if you want an ultra-premium Vitamix and you like the brand name, you won't feel disappointed with the Vitamix.

Should you buy it?

There’s never been an easier product recommendation to make than the Braun. It’s versatile, powerful, and incredible value. I’m still trying to run the numbers on it, especially since comparable blenders are so much more expensive and absolutely objectively worse. The only thing I’d recommend is that you buy some earguards for how noisy it is, but you can afford them with the Braun TriForce's price tag.

How we test

We have a meticulous and rigorous process for how we test blenders. This starts with a simple smoothie. We use frozen berries and spinach, in our smoothie mix, because they test how well a blender can power through tough skins and seeds. Once it's done that, we add protein powder to see whether the smoothie goes lumpy.

We also test how well the blender can make hummus. There's a lower liquid content in dips, so blenders often struggle to make a super smooth dip. We make hummus because chickpea skins can be tough to blend really finely.

The last test we put blenders through is on ice. Most blenders struggle to get ice into a misted, fine snow-like texture. If it's suitable for snow cones and iced cocktails, it's a success.

We'll also test any special functions, such as soups and sauces if a blender has them. We make notes on other parts of the process too, including cleaning, unboxing, and maintenance. Our team also compares the blender to all of the others that we've tested, so we can let you know where it sits in the market.