Drip Tray Grid

Description

The grid over a drip tray takes more abuse than any other part of an espresso machine. Cups are set down on it hot, portafilters knock against it, and it spends its whole life in standing water. Ours is sold on its own because the tray underneath usually outlasts it.

It is pressed from a single sheet of stainless steel, 1.5 mm thick, with the slots punched rather than cut and welded. A pressed grid has no seams, and seams are where grounds and milk collect and where a grid starts to rust from the inside. The four feet are folded from the same sheet and stand the grid 12 mm clear of the tray floor, so a cup drains rather than sits in what it spilled.

Lift it out and rinse it daily; once a week, leave it in warm water with a spoon of espresso machine cleaner for ten minutes and rinse it well. It is dishwasher safe. Avoid steel wool, which leaves iron behind on the surface and starts the rust spots it was meant to remove.

Fits our semi-automatic machine and any tray with a 225 by 145 mm opening.