If you’re like me, it can be difficult to do much thinking before coffee. I get it, but there’s a step you should add to your daily coffee routine: using a coffee scale to weigh your beans and water.
I know, I know. Using a scale to brew coffee? Trust me, it’s worth it.
Measuring beans and water probably isn’t a part of your ideal morning routine, but it’s a step with instant, delicious results. A coffee scale will change the way you brew coffee. Your brew will be tastier, more balanced, and reliably delicious every single morning.
At one point, only uber-pretentious coffee shops were using scales to brew, but things have changed rapidly over the last couple years. Now even mainstream, approachable shops are using scales to brew pour over coffee and espresso. It’s not uncommon to find casual coffee lovers using a scale to brew at home - the benefits are that obvious!
Read: How Manual Coffee Brewing Can Change Your Life
You need to be using a coffee scale to brew your coffee.
Here’s why.
Precision
A gram scale gives you complete control over how much coffee and water you use. This means you’ll never have to guess with scoops again. It means you’ll never wonder if you used the right amount of coffee.
If you want to use 20g of coffee every morning, you can. It’s so easy. You slap those beans on the scale and you’re done. Confidence gained! Precision achieved!
This enables you to brew using the golden coffee to water ratios. These ratios are accepted worldwide as the best way to brew balanced coffee.
And the golden ratios are: 1g of coffee to 15-17g of water.
That means, for every 1g of coffee beans, you use 15-17g (or milliliters) of water to brew. Boom. Easy. Balance!
Read: How To: The Golden Ratios in Coffee Brewing
Without a scale, you have no way of knowing whether you’re in this range or not. You have no way of knowing if your coffee is as balanced as it could be. But with a scale, achieving that balance is simple, painless, and takes no time at all.
If you want your coffee to be as tasty as it can possibly be, use a scale to measure your ingredients. This is one reason coffee shops always seem to serve better coffee - and it’s something you can bring home to elevate your morning mug.
Consistency
Hate it when your coffee isn’t as yummy as it was the day before? Hate not knowing what you did differently to brew a worse cup.
There’s a way you can eliminate those frustrations completely: a scale for coffee brewing.
The precision that a scale offers for your daily brew doesn’t just boost flavor and balance one time. It boosts them every time.
No more guessing at coffee scoops and water usage means no more “off” coffee days. You know exactly how much coffee and water you’re using. You’re confident that it’ll be rich and balanced every day.
Read: 5 Things That Ruin Your Coffee
But what if you don’t need a scales help? What if you’re already consistent?
No offense, but you’re not. Here’s why.
Coffee beans, since they’re an agricultural product and not made in a factory, can vary wildly in size and density. Let me show you how this affects your coffee on a practical level.
One week, two scoops of small beans from Ethiopia weighs 20g. You brew your coffee and love it.
The next week, two scoops of larger Indonesian beans weighs 16g. You brew your coffee and are displeased by an extra bit of bitterness.
Here’s what happened:
- Smaller beans take up less volume because air pockets between the beans are small.
- The bigger beans from Indonesia had larger spaces between, so each scoop actually contained less coffee by weight (from 20 to 16g).
- Since you brewed with the same regular amount of water, the Indonesian grounds were over extracted, producing sad, bitter coffee.
Read: Why You Should Never Grind All Your Coffee At The Same Time
Even when it looks like you’re consistent, it’s extremely hard to tell without a scale. Chances are, you’re not as consistent as you’d like to be.
Your coffee will thank you if you trust a scale to keep things consistent for you.
Bean Conservation
A while back I was talking with a friend about how many 8 ounce cups of coffee we get from a bag of beans. He was confused as to why he was only getting 17 cups from a 12-ounce bag when I was getting 21 cups consistently.
I probed with some questions and discovered how he measures his coffee: “two scoops”.
Since I was using a scale, I knew I was using exactly 16g of beans every single time. When I weighed his “two scoops”, we discovered he was using anywhere between 16 and 19g of coffee each brew.
Read: Why You Should Ditch Your Drip Coffee Pot For A French Press
He was using up to 3g more beans per mug of coffee without knowing it! Over the course of an entire bag of beans, it meant he was potentially losing out on 20% of coffee.
Essentially, he was paying nearly 20% more for the same number of cups of coffee.
Here’s how a scale remedies this:
- You know exactly how much coffee you’re using.
- You know exactly how much water you’re using.
- You can use a balanced ratio every single time (1:16, in my case).
- You never end up using more coffee than necessary.
- You don’t go through coffee bean bags mysteriously quickly.
Brewing coffee with a scale gives you control, consistency, and in the long run can even save you money. Take the hint - get the scale!
What To Look For In A Coffee Scale
There are many gram scales out there that work for coffee brewing. Here are the features I suggest looking for:
- Measurements in grams and ounces
- 1,000-2,000 gram capacity
- Rapid response time
- Measuring platform large enough for a french press or large mug
I suggest you check out the Jennings CJ400, Acaia Pearl, or Hario Scale. These are some of the most popular ones for coffee brewing.
