Photograph: Pete Cottell

The milk frother surpassed expectations as well. The unit has only one boiler, which means you can’t froth your milk while you pull a shot, but the ability to do all of this in your kitchen makes up for the extra minute it takes for the steam wand to warm up when you turn the dial on the right side of the machine from “Off” to “Steam Ready.” Once the white light on the dial stops flashing, you’re ready to start steaming your milk.

There’s a six-second delay between the turn of the knob to the steam setting and the onset of the actual steam, and it took an average of 55 seconds to raise 6 ounces of whole milk from 45 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit with some light frothing action. My latte-art skills are rusty since leaving the coffee world behind in 2022, but the texture of the frothed milk was perfectly malleable and up to snuff for a basic leaf or rosetta pattern.

No BS

A deeper dive into the settings menu on the Casabrews reveals very few adjustable parameters besides the aforementioned grind time for each shot type, as well as the output temperature for the hot water, which uses a vague three-point “Hotter” and “Cooler” scale. A flush feature quickly pumps out whatever liquid remains stored in the grouphead and the steam wand, and a descale cycle that’s recommended on a monthly basis to keep the unit gunk-free.

I never considered myself a consummate professional in the bustling coffee industry of the Pacific Northwest, but I knew enough about the craft to make a quality, no-frills product with as little nonsense as possible. The Casabrews 5700PRO aligns perfectly with my allergy to bullshit, but it’s hard to ignore the preponderance of bells and whistles offered by comparable machines from more well-known brands within this price range.

Ninja, for example, recently entered the space with the $500 ES601 unit. It includes handy storage orifices for its accessories, as well as all sorts of visual hand-holding for people who know nothing about the science behind extraction but love it when their appliances sing a little ditty when the thing they’re making is ready.

I would much rather spend a few weeks learning the ins and outs of a well-made machine that does the thing it’s supposed to do and little else. I may one day decide that I need (Tim Allen voice) more power in my espresso machine, but until then I’ll enjoy pulling shots in my kitchen—with or without pants—thanks to the Casabrews 5700PRO.