Why it is proprietary
The Robot's basket doubles as the brewing chamber under the piston, with dimensions and rim shape matched to the arms and seal geometry. Cafelat designed it as a high-quality basket in its own right; owners generally regard it as excellent rather than as a limitation to mod around.
What Cafelat sells
- Replacement standard baskets and the pressurized version for pre-ground coffee
- The piston seal, the other consumable worth keeping on hand; it is a simple press-fit replacement
- Spares ship from Cafelat's store and a small set of specialty retailers
Practical note
The basket is stainless and essentially a lifetime part unless dropped or dented; most "replacement" purchases are second baskets for back-to-back shots. The seal, by contrast, is rubber and does age; a spare seal is the sensible thing to keep in the drawer.
A sensible ordering strategy
Because spares come mostly from Cafelat's own store and shipping time varies a lot by region, Robot owners converge on batching: when you order anything, add a piston seal, and if you pull back-to-back shots for two people, add the second basket in the same order. The pressurized and standard baskets look similar in listings; check the product name carefully, since the pressurized version is meant for pre-ground coffee and will frustrate anyone expecting normal unpressurized behavior. A small set of specialty retailers also stocks Robot parts regionally; if one operates in your country, it usually beats direct shipping on speed. None of this is urgent on day one; the machine ships with everything it needs.
Care notes for a basket that is also the brew chamber
The Robot's basket does double duty as the chamber the piston seal sweeps, which changes the care picture slightly. The inside wall matters: scratches from metal spoons or aggressive scraping give the seal an uneven surface to ride, so owners stick to rinsing and soft cloths. Preheating with hot water before the shot is standard Robot practice, and the basket handles it indefinitely; stainless does not care. The real hazard is a drop onto a hard floor: a dented rim or wall can change how the seal seats, and that is the one failure mode owners actually report. Stored dry and handled normally, the community's experience is that the basket simply does not wear out.