top of page

Why Weigh Your Coffee?


A Pour-Over Coffee Being Weighed during brewing

Depending on where you are on your coffee journey you might have different ideas about how to measure your coffee. Some of you might measure with a scoop (stop that immediately) and others might use a scale to measure your coffee.


If you’ve just gotten into coffee you might have never even thought of weighing coffee. Why would you even weigh coffee, what is this - rocket science!?


If you’ve dived down the coffee rabbit hole you might have dabbled with your first set of kitchen scales. Or, you might have just gone all out and bought professional coffee scales that measure to 0.1g, have a timer, and will even save your brewing recipe! (Yes, that really exists) Today we’re breaking down why it’s essential to weigh your coffee!


Why weigh your coffee

So why even weigh your coffee? For years people would “eyeball” how much coffee to use when brewing. A spoonful per person for brew coffee, and fill up your portafilter for espresso. So what’s wrong with doing it the good ole’ fashion way?


All coffees have a certain flavour potential. Whether it’s a dark roast commercial blend or a single origin light roast Panama Gesha - every single coffee that you brew has a certain flavour potential where the coffee tastes its best, a so-called sweet spot. There’s also a “tolerance zone” where the coffee can be forgiving - if you brew it a bit differently it’s still going to taste good within the tolerance zone.


In general commercial coffee and blends are specially designed to have a wide tolerance zone (but sacrifice the flavour potential) so that people can brew these coffees without any effort and still achieve a consistent flavour profile. But since you’re a subscriber of The Brew Journal I’m going to assume you’re more a fan of single origin and light roast.


Light roast and single-origin coffees have amazing flavour potential - nail the brew and the coffee can taste like biting into a juicy peach.🍑 However, since these coffees are so meticulously handled from picking to processing to roasting - the “tolerance zone” is very small. You can’t “eyeball” a brew of single-origin Ethiopian - the coffee will end up tasting like battery acid (please don’t go licking batteries now).


So in order to make sure we can properly control the brewing process (especially two of the 3 most important variables in coffee - dose and yield) we weigh our coffee. Doing so helps us tweak the coffee and more importantly repeat the recipe once we’ve nailed the brew (Why is it the coffee always seems to run out just when we nailed the perfect recipe 😅)


So what scales do you need?

What kind of scales do you need? Well, most people (myself included) start with a set of kitchen scales! This is more than enough to get started, provided you can weigh to the gram.


If you want to go deeper into coffee brewing you can start to look at specialized scales for coffee brewing. The three most important variables when creating a coffee recipe are dose (how much coffee), yield (how much water), and the total brew time - so we recommend scales with a built-in timer that can also measure to 0,1g.


If you’re an espresso aficionado you might want to invest in a set of scales that fit on the drip tray like the Acaia Lunar or the Timemore Black Mirror Nano. These scales also feature auto-tare functions - where the scale will tare itself (go to 0) and start the timer when you place the cup on them and are waterproof for the inevitable spillage (it happens to the best of us).


If you’re a pour-over lover you might want to look at scales with a bigger base like the Acaia Pearl. There are even scales that allow you to save your brewing recipes and guide you when brewing! 🤯


Here at Brew Journal HQ we always share our brew recipes using grams. That way we know for sure that the recipe can be appropriately replicated and you’ll be able to love the coffee as much as we do!


-P.T.



 

The Brew Journal is a twice-weekly email newsletter that helps you brew better coffee at home in 5 minutes or less. Join our growing community of coffee lovers who are levelling up their coffee game at home - sign up link below 👇

© 2024 by The Brew Journal. Powered and secured by ☕️

bottom of page