I tested the $330 Almond Cow Starter Set, which includes the milk maker and a few accessories, such as a rather cute branded glass milk jug, and a cleaning brush. The process of getting milk from your electric cow is simple: Add water to the vessel (between 5 and 6 cups), put the dry ingredients in the filter cup, twist it onto the bottom of the lid so the blender arm is in the materials, put the lid on, and press the button. The Almond Cow then grinds and mixes everything, a process that takes a few minutes. When it is done, the light on the top turns blue, and the milk is ready. The pulp is kept in the filter cup, which you remove and clean by hand. A collector cup is included, which fits over the filter cup to stop it dripping everywhere. The vessel also has to be rinsed out between uses.

I found the milk the Almond Cow produces was delicious. The high-speed blender with multiple blades meant the almonds were well blended, and little or no grainy plant material was left behind. The milk came out a little frothy, like a pint of albino Guinness. The froth quickly settled, though, and the 5 cups that the Almond Cow produces should be enough for a family breakfast or a day of coffee-making. After using the Almond Cow, there is a lot of cleaning: Clean the filter cup, rinse the top off (the milk gets splashed inside the vessel as it is blended), and clean the vessel itself. It’s no surprise that the starter pack I tested also included a bendy scrubbing brush that helps get the gunky plant pulp out of the filter.

I also found that with chunkier ingredients like almonds, you must push the filter cup up quite hard to ensure it is correctly locked into place when attaching it to the top. That’s because the blender blades sit right at the bottom of the cup, and a nut can get stuck below the blades, keeping the twist lock from engaging properly. If the cup works its way loose during blending, it makes a mess and could damage the blade. The easiest way to avoid this, I found, was to gently shake the cup while attaching it to the top to keep the materials moving. I also found that when you pour the milk out, the top of the Almond Cow has a habit of falling off as you tip the whole thing to get the final milk out of the vessel. There is no locking mechanism that holds the lid in place, only gravity.

Still, the Almond Cow does an effective job. It makes well-blended milk in decent quantities and does it pretty quickly. What it does not do, however, is handle the variety of other types of milk some machines can. You are limited to raw milk like almonds, cashews, and oats. —Richard Baguley