Evening Latte

For the seven years I’ve been making espresso at home, I’ve been using regular kitchen scales that rounded to the full gram. After I used them for a while, I think I got a feel for what was a “heavy” and “light” 19/20g. It didn’t even occur to me that there were probably coffee-specific scales that could get more precise.

I became aware of that fact about three weeks ago and looked around at various types/models before getting the Maestri House Mini Coffee Scale. The reasons:

• Precise to 0.1g
• Rechargeable (USB-C)
• Small footprint
• Seamless/flat top (no crevices for dust or grinds to get into)
• Low battery indicator

Others might like the built-in timer for pour over and quick switch to fluid ounces, but those aren’t factors for me.

My primary use is measuring whole beans for espresso shots. Since I only pull two a day, I keep my beans in their bags, measure out what I need for each shot, feed the batch into the hopper, and grind until the hopper is empty. I keep a small glass vessel on the scale to hold the beans. Like most digital scales, it automatically zeroes when it powers on, and I can manually zero by holding the power button for a short time.

I’m not a true espresso obsessive/connoisseur, but I do enjoy dialing in each bag of beans, and I feel like this scale has made that easier for the last couple. I keep my pull time in the 27-30s range and mostly adjust bean mass and grind settings to get my preferred 55-60g output. Being able to control beans down to 0.1g obviously increases the precision for one of those two factors, and I feel like that has resulted in more consistent output.

Measuring that output is also significantly easier. Because my previous scales were too large to sit evenly on the grate of my espresso machine, I zeroed them with my empty cup, pulled the shot, then put the cup with shot back on the scale to find the delta. Now I can simply put the scale under the mug and see the output in near-real time.

This means that if a bag is different enough that I need to adjust my pull time, I can get everything else set, then watch the the scale to set my programmed time based on the output target.

There are much more expensive coffee-specific scales out there, but I can’t currently justify spending $150-250 on a scale for home use when this $40 one measures to 0.1g, has a seamless top, fits under my portafilter, and frankly looks better/more minimalist on my counter than most of those. If it breaks, I guess I’ll look for an upgrade, but the quality and performance seems solid after three weeks.