The Oster BPST02-B Professional Series Blender

You can use any blender for a little while, but investing in a professional quality blender to make shakes or smoothies will pay off in the long run. My requirements for a great blender include a very strong motor, a heavy base, a strong glass jar, and a simple design with a minimum of buttons and small spaces from where spills are difficult to clean. The Oster BPS02-B Professional Series Blender has the perfect “blend” of qualities I’m looking for, with very few shortcomings. It is called the Beehive blender, for the shape of its base.

To crush ice cubes or frozen fruit on a regular basis you need a strong motor with an all-metal drive. A strong motor allows faster spinning, which will give a smoother product. If you need to tilt your blender halfway through the process of making a shake or a smoothie or stop to stir the contents, the motor is probably not strong enough. We had that problem with the handsome Italian blender that preceded our Beehive, so as soon as got our BPS02-B, we used the same mix of soy milk, orange juice and frozen banana in it, for a perfectly smooth shake with no lumps and produced with no outside assistance.

A sturdy base will give the blender the stability to handle its chores without moving on the counter. The Oster BPST02-B base weighs about 5 ½ pounds. It has four big rubber feet that keep it firmly anchored. The black beehive-shaped covering is plastic, and so is the ring that the jar is mounted on. They both have a metal "look", with the beehive base more convincing than the ring.

A glass jar will allow you to process acidic foods like citrus and tomatoes and it makes cleanup very easy. Both plastic and glass jars are usually dishwasher-safe, but a plastic jar can crack if used to crush ice, and it will get etched and scratched over time. A glass jar is more heat-resistant, if you work with soups. We have been using this blender for three years with ice cubes, frozen bananas, strawberries and blueberries. It handles everything with no problem at all. The jar holds 5 cups (1.35 L), and has a well-sealing black rubber top with a transparent part in the middle that can be removed so you can add ingredients while the blades are spinning. The transparent middle doubles as a two-ounce measuring cup.

My first blender had ten or twelve buttons, each for a different action, like “frappe”, “whip” or “chop”. I found that I ended up using just the highest speed. Over time a film of kitchen grease built up in the spaces between the buttons, it was impossible to remove. I must say, that old blender still works. It is an Oster too, so we have done very well with that brand. It has a new career as a laboratory instrument for introductory biology classes. The BPST02-B has just one toggle switch. In the middle is the “off” position. Push it down for pulsing, and up for on. The base is matte black and fingerprint-resistant.

The blade is a removable ice-crushing blade with a grey rubber ring to seal it when mounted in the threaded black plastic jar base.  The seal has worked perfectly with no leaks so far.  We are still using all the original parts after three years.

The “on” setting of this blender is loud. The “pulse” setting (holding the switch down) is much less loud, and is the one I use most often. My husband prefers the “on” setting (switch up, don’t have to hold it). On the other hand, the motor is so strong that it’s not loud for long, and even our two cats will continue eating in the kitchen with the blender running two yards away from them, at least at the “pulse” setting that I favor.

The cord of the blender is two feet and seven inches long, including the plug. This limits where you can place it, on the other hand there is no excessive cordage to roll, fold and dust. Some people have complained that the blender does not handle ice or frozen fruit well. If you put only frozen things in it, they will be partially crushed and hurled to the walls of the jar, where they will stick. Add some liquid to allow the frozen bits to come in contact with the rotating blades. Please check here for a recipe with some more pictures using this blender.

For a blender rated “professional”, the Oster BPS02-B is reasonably priced at about $200. Our experience with it has been completely satisfactory.

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