In the wake of the Christmas coma-inducing materialism, we thought it would be good to break into the New Year with a product review. I’ve noticed that lugging the myriad of coffee apparatuses I own to work raises quite a few eyebrows. Generally my coworkers find it rather customary for brewing until they see my scale. Introduce a scale into your brew ensemble and you might as well have rolled up with Jesse Pinkman and a 5000mL round bottom boiling flask. Regardless, if you’re looking for God in a cup, you’ll need a good scale. Home coffee brewers are similar to aspiring home chefs. When you’re in the kitchen, weight wins, as New York Times writer Oliver Strand recently defends in his review of the V60 Drip Scale from Hario (just before the ‘Ristretto’ blog series was discontinued). Admittedly I haven’t used Mr. Strand’s recommendation, but one scale I can fully endorse is the American Weigh SC-2KG Digital Pocket Scale. It’s worthy of the awkward stares and hurled insults. Let he who is without scale cast the first stone.
The Pros
Portability
Dubbed a “pocket scale”, I can attest that the 4.8in by 5.3in size will fit into most pockets, except maybe not my wife’s skinny jeans. But if you’re doing mostly home brewing, you’ll appreciate how this will save counter space. A Chemex easily sits on it, and it fits conveniently on most espresso machine drip trays. Here is how some popular manual brew methods look atop the SC-2kg:
Price
While you should always check out price point on scales nearby to support your local coffee shop, the American Weigh SC-2kg is ridiculously cheap on amazon.com. It’s hard to beat the Amazon price tag of just under $19.00 USD. However, if it is in your means, forking out the extra cash to acquire it locally is definitely endorsed. The adapter version, the SC-2kgA, is nearly double the cost, but it may entice those of you who hate running out of batteries (note: the screen displays “Lo” when it’s running out of juice).
Jesse Harriott, guest blogger for the Coffee Compass, roaster, 2012 competition coordinator at Coffee Fest Seattle for the Americas Best Coffee House Competition, and shop operations manager at Sunergos Coffee in Louisville, KY had this to say about the SC-2kgA in the latest edition of Barista Magazine:
The AWS SC-2KGA is a very versatile scale that we use every day in our shops. Whether we’re brewing a Chemex for fiends to share, weighing coffee doses in a portafilter, brewing by the cup, or checking espresso yields, this scale does it all. It has a 2,000-gram capacity in one tenth of a gram or one thousandth of an ounce readability, never turns off while brewing, tares efficiently, responds quickly to weight change has a small footprint (4 inches by 4 inches), comes with an AC adapter, or takes two AAA batteries (no more button cell battery hunts). It’s also very affordable. I only wish it were waterproof.
Well said, sir.
Precision
The scale weighs your weighables to a tenth of a gram and can support up to 2000g. The weight constraint shouldn’t be a problem, even if you’re touting a full 1L brew with a Chemex. However, if you’re to looking to weigh individual coffee beans, you might be disappointed.
The Cons
Durability
As Jesse mentions, it’s not waterproof. I’ve had the scale for several months now and the left most section of the screen (the thousandth digit of the grams) started blanking out. However, the number is still discernable and local shops using these scales under heavy use haven’t experienced this same issue. While it may not be the norm, it’s something to consider if you plan on brewing inverted aeropresses at 20,000 ft.
Responsiveness
The scale is quick, but not quickest. I’ve been more impressed with the Jennings CJ4000 in this category, but you’re also getting to a tenth of gram accuracy. It’s impressive for a pocket scale, but we still consistently over shoot our brews by 1-2 grams if we’re not careful.
Let us know your thoughts on the SC-2kg or if you have a favorite scale you couldn’t brew without!
The SC-2kg is my favorite scale of all time.
It is the only scale I know of that I can use to tare out a portafilter to weigh my dose and then throw on the drip tray to weigh the shot. Everything else is either too small for one or too big for the other. Keeping it in the bottom plastic tray while you’re weighing a shot insulates it from trip tray moisture and the size of the weighing platform catches any espresso drip so you can wipe them up before they sneak into any cracks, making it more durable that other pocket scales I’ve used. Small enough for espresso and big enough for a Chemex makes it a versatile, one-size-fits-all solution and at half the price of the next usable option, you might as well buy two in case one breaks.
Great review, Darren. Thanks!
Thanks! Nice use of the plastic tray… I’ll have to steal that move since I weigh shots on the slayer every monday with Kenny using the SC-2kg.
Thanks for appreciation , We are glad to see these comments, We are the exclusive manufacturer of this product.
“Let he who is without scale cast the first stone” HAHA!
I’m this close to buying this thing, cept my portafilter isn’t bottomless and I’m pretty sure a 4×4″ surface still wouldn’t be able to weigh the whole thing…
From a weight standpoint, a typical naked portafilter on a La Marzocco doesn’t typically read more than 450g. If you account for the < 40g dose of espresso, you can still weigh your dose without hitting the 2kg weight limit. Spouted portafilters do situate good on an sc-2kg (from what I remember) if you're worried about it hanging off the edge. Hope this helps!
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