Our favorite scales and why they’re important.

It’s sort of a given that delicious coffee beans should result in delicious coffee when it is poured into your cup. Sometimes, however, it can be frustrating to find that while the coffee on Monday was absolutely delicious, it’s nearly undrinkable on Thursday. WHY??

There’s a simple technique that can save a lot of frustration, and that is weighing and dosing your coffee. This seems like a small detail, but it can have a huge impact on your overall experience. Weighing out your coffee can turn a good coffee into an exceptional one if you take the time to dial in and measure to get the coffee dose you want, every time.

A reliable scale can be found for typically under $50, including a few golden standard items that many cafes around the world use every day.

Here’s our favorite way to use a scale with the Ratio Eight. Once you do it a few times, it will become second nature!

1. Take the grinder hopper off of the Baratza Virtuoso and place it on the scale.

2. Tare the scale to zero it out.

3. Pour in your bean dose. We recommend 70 grams/14 tablespoons of coarsely ground coffee (it should be like raw sugar) for a full carafe or 35 to 42 grams/8 tablespoons for a half carafe.

4. Pour from the hopper lid into the empty grinder hopper, making sure there aren’t leftover beans from before.

5. Grind the entire dose, then pour the grinds into the Ratio Kone or Chemex filter in the Ratio Carafe or Thermal Carafe

6. Press Start, and let the delicious coffee commence!

Jake enjoys a fresh cup at Ratio HQ.

Here are three of our favorite scales to add consistency to your morning ritual:

The Workhorse: CJ-4000 Scale

A simple, sturdy workhorse with accuracy that lasts. This comes with a neutral backlit LED display. The accuracy is within a tenth of a gram, and with a 20 year manufacturer’s warranty, you can rely on this scale to provide great results with your weighing routine for many years to come. ($29 from Prima Coffee)

The Pour Over Companion: Hario V60 Drip Scale

The Hario Drip (V60) Scale is a pour-over enthusiast’s best friend. It has a sleek profile that lends well to any coffee countertop. It has a great feature that simultaneously allows it to measure weight & extraction time for proper pour-over process. Whether using for the Ratio or otherwise, it’s an accurate scale that is versatile to multiple brewing methods. ($43.75 from Prima Coffee)

The Modernist: Acaia Pearl Scale

The Acaia Pearl scale is a pretty little thing; straight from your nearest coffee geek tech lover’s dreamscape. With a minimalist design, built in timer, and associated app to track recipes, it’s hard to do better. ($150 from Clive Coffee)