Generally speaking, brewing coffee using the pour over method is simple. Hot water is added to ground coffee beans, and the beverage is ready to drink after all of the liquid has drained into a carafe. With enough practice, it’s easy to make a good cup of joe by eyeballing your entire brewing process. However, if you’re looking to replicate the cafe experience in the comfort of your home, using a coffee scale is an excellent tool that will help you hone your coffee making skills.
As a good starting point, we suggest a brewing ratio of 1:15 on our retail coffee bags, or approximately 3tbsp of coffee to 12oz of water (23g coffee to 350g water). A measuring spoon is useful, but depending on the type of spoon you have at hand and the variety of coffee you’re measuring, the weight of your coffee can vary plus or minus a few grams. This means your ratio can range from 1:17 to 1:13, making either a delicate cup of coffee or heavy cup of coffee! We put two regular spoons to the test, weighing three different kinds of coffee. Each spoon was full, but not heaping. See the images and captions below to see how they compared.
Spoon 1, Indonesia Bali Kintamani —9.3g
Spoon 1, Rwanda Dukunde Kawa Mblima — 9.3g
Spoon 1, Wind & Sea — 8.3g
Spoon 2, Indonesia Bali Kintamani — 7.2g
Spoon 2, Rwanda Dukunde Kawa Mblima — 7.1g
Spoon 2, Wind & Sea — 6.7g
If you’re estimating the amount of water you pour, your brewing ratios may also vary every time you brew. By using a scale, you’re not only allowing for accuracy of measurements, but you’re also allowing for consistency with every brew. I almost always use a scale, but every once in a while, I like to test myself and see how accurately I can pour without a scale. I almost always underestimate the amount of water I should use and end up with a heavier cup of coffee!
With accuracy and consistency at hand, you’re able to have more control. This allows for the fun part in brewing: experimentation! If you have a coffee that you really enjoy and want to see what if there are other flavors to discover, experimenting with your coffee-to-water ratio is a great place to start. Having a scale at hand will make it a lot easier to measure out your beans and water.
Our choice of scale for brewing coffee at home is the Hario V60 drip scale. While it has a slower response time in comparison to other professional coffee scales, it’s still used in many coffee shops. The scale is reasonably priced, easy to use, can measure weight up to 2000g, has a built in timer, and is lightweight but sturdy.
To purchase a scale, click the following link: Hario V60 Drip Scale