Black Mirror, Acaia, Brewista, Felicita… For baristas, these names are synonymous with quality. Do we need scales? In short, no. One of my favourite aspects of coffee is that you get to choose your journey – you, dear friend, can decide on how deep you’d like to go down the rabbit hole.
For the casual home barista, a scale is a nice-to-have. For the next aspiring South African barista champ, using a scale (and a high-quality option at that) is vital.
The arguments for and against scales are often two sides of the same coin. My experience of working in service, as well as my tenure as a barista trainer lead me to think that the difference comes in when we look at scales as help vs hindrance. Can you pull a shot that is just as good without a scale? Is your extraction better? Are your customers waiting longer? Are you brewing more consistently? Are you wasting less coffee at home?
I like to split professional baristas and home enthusiasts into two distinct subgroups: the BSGs (before scale generation) and PSGs (post scale generation).
The BSGs are often OG baristas who entered the commercial scene before scales were commonplace, dialled in their espresso with sight and taste alone, and could give any barista in today’s cafes a run for their money.
This current generation of baristas (PSGs) are incredibly technical and precise, with far more emphasis placed on brewing ratios and recipes, experimentation and theoretical knowledge.
In a commercial setting, one is not necessarily better than the other. However, if we’re speaking about specialty coffee spaces, you’d be hard pressed to find a café that doesn’t use scales at all. Specialty customers also hold baristas to a far higher standard than ever before, with home enthusiasts having boundless access to coffee knowledge that was formerly gatekept by the professionals.
I brew with a scale at home because it allows for repetition and consistency. For me, that’s the difference between a good cup of coffee and a great cup of coffee. Now, why all this talk about scales?
Please allow me to introduce the Acaia Lunar Home x La Marzocco scale. This new version of the Acaia Lunar pairs with the first generation Linea Mini as well as the Linea Mini R, turning your semi-automatic configuration into a brew-by-weight configuration. This means that you can use the La Marzocco Home application on your phone to communicate between your machine and the scale. Set your desired espresso output via the app, pop your portafilter into the machine, start the shot, and voila. The scale does the rest. The machine will stop the shot by itself slightly ahead of the desired output to account for any residual drips of espresso, and becomes more and more accurate as you use it and perfect your recipe.
The new Mini R can be purchased with a custom drip tray that has an inlay for the scale – no more cups pushing up against the spouts of your portafilter and giving incorrect readings. If you already own a Linea Mini R or a first generation Mini (containing an IoT Board) with a standard drip tray, never fear, your friends from La Marzocco are here! There is a retrofit drip tray that can be ordered online along with your scale.
*Please note that it is not possible to pair a standard Acaia Lunar to your machine, or to pair the La Marzocco Home x Acaia scale to any models other than Linea Minis.
What do you think about using scales at home?
