What is the difference between a commercial coffee scale and a non-commercial scale?

As your coffee hobby progresses, you may hear people say things like, "Let's use a drip scale." A drip scale is a scale that has a function that displays weight and time at the same time.

The most well-known commercial scale is made by ACAIA, and we plan to carry it in our NUMA category in the future. The price range is quite high, at 20,000 to 30,000 yen. However, it is overwhelmingly popular in cafes, and it seems that ACAIA is often used when operating a few scales, while HARIO's V60 scale is often used when operating a larger number of scales.

However, if you are just doing it as a hobby, you can do the same thing with a kitchen scale and a handheld timer. So what is the difference between a commercial scale and one for measuring the weight?

ACAIA's top-of-the-line scales can display the flow. Normally, when making a drip coffee, you determine the amount of hot water to pour in a specific amount of time, such as pouring in x cc in x seconds, to achieve a certain degree of reproducibility. The flow display is an even more advanced function that shows on the screen whether the speed at which you pour the hot water is fast or slow.

By using this, when dripping coffee according to a set recipe, anyone can make the same coffee by pouring hot water at the speed indicated by the flow display. There are also many other functions that make work more efficient, such as automatic TARE (you can set the tare weight in advance) and automatic timer start.

I know I'm planning to sell it, but if you're OK with just a few cups of good coffee a day, a kitchen scale and a timer will do the trick. The scale we're currently using for our tastings is a Nitori coffee scale . It's 2,990 yen. I happened to find it on the sales floor and bought it. It's fairly easy to use, but the only thing I regret is that it can't be calibrated. The difference in gravity due to region and altitude can be completely ignored for the amount of mass you put in coffee, but it's a pain not to be able to correct it when the value goes wrong. Well, I guess I can just buy a new one.

Nitori scales are responsive and don't have the problem of switches breaking, which is a common problem with scales, because they use a capacitive switch, so they may be more durable. Yes, most kitchen scales use a type of switch called a tact switch, and most breakdowns occur with this switch.

So, I recommend starting by checking the amount of water you add to your coffee using a kitchen scale, and then upgrading to a coffee scale when you want to be more particular.