A good coffee scale is the key to great-tasting espresso.
You use it for 3 tasks: dosing your coffee beans, weighing the amount of espresso, and timing your extraction. By using this as a basis to dial in your grinder, you find the right ratio for the best-tasting espresso!
Not every scale is the same, read on to find out what to look for when searching for the best coffee scale for your coffee setup.
Best coffee scale: What to look for
Coffee scales come in all shapes, sizes and price ranges. This can make it tricky to know which coffee scale is best for you, and what to look for to tell the best from the mediocre ones.
What should you look for?
Size
People often forget this, but it happens regularly that someone buys the wrong size. Pay attention to two things.
Do you have enough room under your portafilter for your cup and the new scale? If you already use larger cups, an espresso shot glass can be a practical solution.
Do you want to weigh directly with your portafilter or do you use a dosing cup or dosing tray? For your portafilter, a wider and/or deeper scale is a good idea.
Response time
Basic scales do this just fine, but there can be differences. More expensive models often have a faster response time, allowing you to weigh and time even more precisely.
Different modes
A basic scale has one mode: manual. Many more expensive models have multiple modes, including an automatic timer.
I personally use the manual mode for espresso. The extraction starts the moment water touches the coffee, so I prefer to start the timer myself when I turn on the machine. The automatic timer, which starts when the first drop hits your cup, can make the brewing process easier. It also makes the scale more versatile, as an automatic timer is really great for filter coffee.
Calibration
Almost nobody pays attention to this, but it is a good feature to look out for. A scale can drift slightly over time. If you can calibrate it, you can reset it yourself back to as accurate as possible.
Sound
Some scales beep with every button press. That is fine, but not every scale lets you turn this off. If you think “that is going to drive me crazy”, look for a model where you can disable the sound.
Charging
Always choose USB-C. Batteries run out at the worst possible moment, and you only find out when it is too late.
View our complete range of high-quality coffee scales here. All with timer, LCD display and splash-resistant design.
About our best coffee scale
We are super proud of our advanced mini barista scale with timer. In our eyes, it is an absolute favourite and our best coffee scale. But of course, it helps that we designed it ourselves 😉.
This scale has an automatic tare and timer function and a handy size (100x95mm). That means it fits in your pocket, while still being large enough for 2 cups or your portafilter.
And we are not the only ones who are convinced. In the independent test by Finer Brew, our mini scale was named best buy.
Besides our mini coffee scale, we also have two other barista scales we are really proud of: our basic coffee scale and our advanced coffee scale.
Why a coffee scale is a gamechanger
When you start out with your own espresso machine, a grinder and a coffee scale are indispensable.
When I started out, I just winged it. I assumed my grinder delivered the same result every morning, makes sense, right? But that is not how it works. Heat, the freshness of your beans, even humidity: it all affects your grind. Without weighing, you only notice when your espresso disappoints, and by then you still do not know why.
A scale gives you control. You know exactly how much coffee is in your portafilter, and you time how long your espresso takes. It might sound excessive, but it is exactly what you need to make consistently great coffee.
We always recommend starting with the same base recipe: 18 grams in, 36 grams out in 25-30 seconds. That gives you a stable foundation. And once you have that foundation, you can start experimenting with ratios based on what you enjoy.
Read more here about the importance of weighing coffee and why a coffee scale with timer is such a helpful tool for your best espresso at home.
