Digital Scales

A digital scale is a huge advantage for dialing in a good brew and for reproducing it consistently. Coffee recipes are often a very confusing mixture of “ounces,” or worse “cups,” and “scoops” of ground coffee. Skip all of that! The thing to pay attention to is the ratio of water to coffee. This can be written one of two ways:

  1. 15:1, 16:1, etc. (water:coffee) I prefer this method as it lets me work with how many grams of coffee I will use first and then figure out how much water to use. For example, if I make a pourover for myself and use 20g of beans, I like a 15:1 ratio, so I will use 300g/ml of water.

  2. Some people prefer to talk in terms of grams per liter of water. For example, a common ratio for brewing is 60g per liter of water. Proponents say that coffee for two is usually half of that, and for one is half of that, so it’s easy to find, 30g/500ml and 15g/250ml from there and adjust to personal taste. I think this method is also great if, say, you run a coffee shop and are making 5 or 10 liter batches.

Both methods get you to the same place, so find what works for you. For the record, 15:1 to 18:1 is the general range for drip coffee. That translates to 66.6g/liter to 55.5g/liter. 60g/liter is the same as 16.6:1.

A good digital scale will measure to .1 gram, which is more accurate than you need for drip coffee, but will help you get close enough. It will also be fast, have a decent battery life and a good visible display, and possibly be a little waterproof.

Digital Scale Recommendations:

1. Kitchen Tour - This is a solid digital scale that is easy to use and has lasted me over a year with no complaints. It measure to the .1 gram which is more than adequate for drip coffee. One thing I have learned is that when the display starts to dim, the measurements will fluctuate a bit, and it is time to replace the batteries.

2. Timemore - This scale has a few coffee-friendly features, such as a built in timer (useful for manual brewing such as French press, Aeropress, and Pourover), precise, quick measurements, and a rechargable battery that means less battery waste.