The 5 Best Coffee Scales for Balanced Brews, According to the Pros
Dotdash Meredith and Yahoo Inc. may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.
Our favorite is Acaia Pearl Scale for its sleek profile, speed, and accuracy.
Courtesy of Merchant / Photo Illustration by Marcus Millan for Food & Wine
Going from pre-ground coffee to grinding your own beans is a step in the right direction, but the journey of brewing cafe-quality coffee doesn’t end there. “If you’re in the market to up your coffee game, a scale is an excellent tool,” says Veronica Pearl, Founder and “Chief Glitter Officer” of Glitter Cat Barista and the United States Barista 2018 Champion Runner-Up. “Coffee scales are used to measure the proper coffee-to-water ratio for consistently balanced results.
The best coffee scales have advanced features to help you hone your coffee expertise. Our top pick, the Acaia Pearl Scale, includes Bluetooth connectivity, a built-in timer, a flow-rate indicator, and an enhanced light display with extra-bright settings for outdoor usage. No matter what brewing method you use, a coffee scale is a worthy addition to your coffee setup. Ahead, you can see which models recommend and why, plus the experts share how to use them.
Acaia Pearl
Best Overall
Pros: This coffee scale is suitable for beginners and experts and provides accurate results along with helpful features.
Cons: It’s much more expensive than other models on the market.
As our best overall pick, the Acaia Pearl Scale exceeds our expectations. It monitors both weight and time, allowing you to pour at the right speed for a perfect cup, and it also has a modern design, being rechargeable via a USB cord and with Bluetooth syncing capability. We especially love its easy use for all skill levels and its outstanding speed and accuracy.
It has all the bells and whistles experts suggest for those looking to get the most out of their scales. “If you’re upgrading your scale or want something with a few more features, find a scale with a built-in timer and brewing apps,” Pearl says. “Having the timer and weight on the same screen makes for easier, more consistent brewing, yielding repeatable delicious coffees.” This scale offers all those elements. In addition to readings in real-time that can help you improve your pouring technique, it offers a pour-over auto-start option and adjustable light settings to make the numbers readable no matter where or when you use it.
Price at time of publish: $150
Max Weight: 2000 grams
Precision: 0.1 gram
Battery Life: 30-40 hours / USB rechargeable
Size: 6.3 x 6.3 1.3 inches
Measuring Units: Grams, ounces
Coffee Gator Digital Coffee Scale with Timer
Best Value
Pros: It comes with its own loading tray and can be used with an assortment of measuring units, from milliliters to pounds.
Cons: It can take a moment for readings to appear.
Unsure about investing in a scale? This inexpensive-yet-quality scale will make the transition an easy one. Coffee Gator prides itself on being easily usable by home brewers who aren’t baristas, and the features on this scale are all straightforward and easy to understand. It measures precisely while also being able to weigh larger quantities for baking, meaning it’s useful as a food scale in addition to coffee grounds.
Everything you need to get started, from batteries to a loading tray, is included with purchase, and the scale is durable with non-slip, rubberized feet. It’s large enough to hold a pour-over carafe but precise enough to measure a single serving of espresso.
Price at time of publish: $26
Max Weight: 3000 grams
Precision: 0.1 gram
Batteries: Two AAA batteries
Size: 7.48 x 5 x 1.18 inches
Measuring Units: Ounces, pounds, grams, gram milliliters, and milliliters
Hario Black V60 Drip Scale
Best for Pour-Over
Pros: Featuring a non-slip base and water-resistant design, this scale embodies the professional quality of Hario products.
Cons: The buttons require a firm press to turn the machine on and off.
Japanese-based brand Hario makes high-quality coffee equipment suitable for home brewers and professionals alike, and the V60 scale is one of our favorite pieces with its slim design and precision in tenths of grams. Compared to the previous model, this newer version has rubber feet for extra sturdiness, better water resistance, and a faster start-up time.
The built-in timer is crucial for pour-over coffee, and the surface is the perfect size for most carafes. We love the easy-to-read display, with the timer on one side and the weight on the other, but the power button requires more force than you might expect. Overall, it’s a popular choice by baristas for pour-overs, and our top pick if that’s your most frequent brewing method.
Price at time of publish: $57
Max Weight: 2000 grams
Precision: 0.1 gram
Batteries: Two AAA batteries
Size: 7.4 x 4.7 x 1.1 inches
Measuring Units: Grams
RELATED: The 7 Best Pour-Over Coffee Makers of 2023, Tested and Reviewed
Timemore Coffee Scale TES005
Best for Espresso
Pros: Ideal for everyday espresso shots, this scale is consistent, accurate, and compact.
Cons: It only measures in grams, so it’s not suitable for machines where you need to weigh in ounces.
For those who want to nail the perfect shot of espresso over and over again, we recommend this scale. It reads quickly and accurately — down to a tenth of a gram — and its built-in timer helps with calibrating how long the shot has been running. What’s more, it’s small enough to fit under most drip trays.
Whether or not you’re using the timer, there’s no risk of running out the battery thanks to how the device shuts off after set durations of standby time. When off, it looks like a small black box: The display and buttons are hidden and only visible once the unit is turned on. Pearl reminds you to “always remember to zero out (tare) the scale before you start brewing to avoid adding the weight of the coffee to your final water weight,” which this scale makes it simple to do.
Price at time of publish: $48
Max Weight: 2000 grams
Precision: 0.1 gram
Battery: Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion
Size: 5.98 x 5.12 x 1.02 inches
Measuring Units: Grams
OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder With Integrated Scale
Best with Grinder
Pros: This streamlined option gives you a grinder and a coffee scale in one functional design.
Cons: It doesn’t measure as precisely as the other scales on our list.
If your coffee bar is missing both a scale and a grinder, consider adding this two-in-one gadget to your kitchen. Not only do you get double the functionality, but it also takes up less space on crowded countertops.
The grinder is powered by 40-millimeter stainless steel conical burrs, holds 16 ounces of coffee beans, and offers 38 grind sizes to suit every type of coffee machine. Whether you have an espresso machine or a cold brew maker, it allows you to create super fine and coarse coffee grounds. Once you fill the hopper with whole beans and select the grind size, turn the dial to choose how many cups of coffee you want to brew or the weight in grams you want ground. The only con about this option is that it’s not as accurate as the other scales we recommend, but it’s still within one gram.
Price at time of publish: $300
Max Weight: 125 grams
Precision: 1 gram
Battery: 120 volts
Size: 11.1 inches x 7.3 inches x 16.4 inches
Measuring Units: Grams, cups
Our Favorite
The Acaia Pearl Scale is a high-end choice with numerous features, such as Bluetooth compatibility and real-time readings to hone your pouring skills ever more precisely. The Hario V60 Coffee Scale is a favorite of professional baristas when using the pour-over method.
Factors to Consider
Precision
The whole purpose of a coffee scale is to weigh your grounds for consistent espresso shots and brews, so it’s crucial to get a model that is extremely accurate. In order to get the most out of your scale, it should measure in tenths of grams.
Features
Pearl considers the tare function the most important feature of a coffee scale. She finds timers to be less necessary, as “most of us have timers on our phones we can use for brewing, plus scales with timers tend to be more pricey.” As far as batteries go, you’ll want to choose a scale that has a battery functionality that works with your lifestyle. “I’m terrible at keeping a stash of batteries, so I always go with rechargeable scales,” she says.
Additionally, Pearl prefers scales with sound. “I also like scales that either beep at me when I press a touchscreen button or have actual clickable buttons.”
Size
The size of your coffee scale should accommodate your brewing method. This is particularly important if you’re going to be using it for pour-overs where you’ll want the carafe to fit on the scale and for espresso machines when you might want to put it under the drip tray.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you use a coffee scale?
<p>First, turn it on, place the filter or vessel on the scale, and then press the tare button. Next, calculate your coffee-to-water ratio — Pearl says that “example brew recipes would be 25 grams of coffee and 375 to 400 grams of brewing water.” Zero out the scale again with the coffee in the filter and begin adding water until you have reached your proper coffee-to-water ratio. For speaking in tablespoons, Pearl says that “ about 3 tablespoons of coffee would equal 25 grams of coffee, and you’d need about 1.6 to 1.7 cups of water to brew.”</p>
Do you need a scale for pour-over coffee?
<p>You don’t need a scale for pour-over coffee, but using one will supply more consistent results. If you don’t have a scale, Pearl suggests the following: “You can measure coffee without a scale by using tablespoons; measuring with tablespoons is a little less precise but can still give you consistent brews.” One tablespoon equals about 8 grams of coffee, and 1 cup of water equals about 236 grams.</p>
Can you use a regular kitchen scale for coffee?
<p>According to Pearl, any scale that can measure in grams or ounces (with a couple of decimals) works for making coffee. “For years I used non-coffee branded scales until I could afford a higher-end scale with more bells and whistles. For sourdough bakers out there — those scales work for coffee too!”</p>
Can I measure coffee without a scale?
<p>You can, but the results can be less accurate. “Measuring with tablespoons is affected by the coffee’s roast profile, varietal, processing method, and more,” Pearl says. “Lighter roasted beans tend to be smaller than the same coffee roasted darker because coffee expands as it’s roasted. You might need an extra half tablespoon or so to brew a darker roasted coffee using the recommended ratio above. Other factors that affect mass are variety/cultivar and processing method: Java or Mokka coffee beans are very small and dense, whereas Maragogipe beans tend to be slightly larger but less dense.”</p>
Our Expertise
Contributor Ariane Resnick is a special diet private chef, certified nutritionist, and lifestyle writer with two decades of culinary and literary experience. Her work has been featured in Simply Recipes, The Spruce Eats, Clean Plates, Huffington Post, Verywell, and more. For this article, she conducted market research and consulted with Veronica Pearl, founder and “Chief Glitter Officer” of Glitter Cat Barista, and the United States Barista 2018 Champion Runner-Up.
