Want to make better coffee? Here's one, simple tip

The COVID-19 lockdown that we're experiencing right is having a massive impact on everyone's lives. Our routines are out the window, the things we hold dear to our hearts are on hold, our lives are changed forever.

During this time, it may be the little things that are keeping us going. Like our regular cup of coffee.

Since we can't go visit our local expert barista, more and more people are getting into brewing coffee at home - which is excellent. Exploring the world of coffee in the comfort of your own home, when you now have time to really put a bit of effort into it, is a great thing. And brewing a filter coffee, like a Chemex, can be a meditative experience and incredibly cathartic.

Brewing coffee at home can be hard though and you might be feeling like it's time to give up on it. DON'T! There is one thing that everyone can do that will yield instant results, and much better coffee.

This one thing will take your coffee game from zero to hero.

This one thing doesn't take much effort, and doesn't have to cost much money.

This one thing will help you enjoy better coffee.

It's not a new brew method. Not a fancy new toy. It isn't a brand new coffee. Nor is it kidnapping your local barista and forcing them to live in your cupboard for the during of COVID-19.

No. The one thing you can do to make better coffee is...

Use scales.

It's that simple.

Use scales.

Weigh your coffee. Weigh your water. Drink better coffee.

No one thinks twice about grabbing scales when they're baking scones, bread, a sourdough starter or meth. Everyone can agree you get better results if you're being precise and using weight measurements instead of volume measurements. Most of us have tasted scones or cakes where there's too much salt, or worse, too much baking soda. You can taste it and it ruins it. One person's pinch is another person's scoop. But you can avoid the scorn of your mother-in-law if you simply weigh it all out.

The same is true for coffee. True story.

Coffee brewing generally follows a simple recipe. For filter coffee, you use approx 60 grams of coffee for 1000g of water. For espresso, you shoot for a 2:1 recipe of coffee out to coffee in. All of these things means you need scales.

Even the humble and much maligned French Press or plunger can be taken to the next level of an incredible coffee experience if you follow the recipe and use scales.

Once you start using scales, you won't look back.

Which scales are the best?

Which scales should you use for coffee? Well, there's a bunch of fancy scales that link to your phone, some that are super fast, or are crowd-funded so they have street cred blah blah blah. But the best scales you should use, are the ones you have available. Easy.

For some reason, coffee scales are expensive. The basic Hario brew scales are $100 NZD (I have a set of these which I bought when I was in peak coffee wankery). The Acaia Coffee scales retail for $320 and they look super cool - but cool looking gear doesn't make better tasting coffee. Sorry everyone.

The good news is you don't need to spend anywhere near that much.

To prove that point, I purchased some 'coffee scales' from Aliexpress for 20 New Zealand dollarydoos. I ordered these during lockdown and they arrived the other day (essential services much!). They look identical to these $80 NZD scales available from a New Zealand based store... [I can't verify if they are the same scales - but they look suspiciously identical - though, they are JUST scales, so not that hard to copy.]

I had low expectations to be honest. They're only $20 so they must be pretty inferior compared to my $100 purpose built scales, co-designed by the king of all things specialty coffee (read coffee wankery) James Hoffman (who I actually love), right?! RIGHT?!

Wrong.

I was wrong.

Everything consumerism and marketing had taught me over the years has just been blown out of the water.

Cheaper is good.

Head-to-head, the 'Coffee Scale' brand of coffee scales were as good, if not better than my Hario scale. In a weigh off, they were as accurate as each other, but the cheaper scales were more responsive (quicker to register changes in weight). They both have timers to measure how fast your coffee is brewing, but the 'cheaper, dumber' scales had a feature where it beeped every minute - which was awesome.

The cheaper scales even had the option of using different units for measurement, and an awesome green back light. I love green. My Hario scales don't even have green on them. What's the point.

The great thing about a $20 set of scales is that you won't feel like you need to care too much for them. That means you can take them camping, tramping, to work (whenever we get back there) - basically anywhere that you're making coffee, cheap scales can go with you. If you break em, smash em or drown em, you wont' mind so much. This means you can have amazing coffee everywhere - there is no excuse.

Here I am brewing a post-kayak Chemex by the river, brewed with scales so it didn't suck - cos there's nothing worse than having crap coffee after bombing some mighty whitewater.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G13msQ1E5hw

Cheaper scales for the win.

There you have it. To improve your coffee experience no end, dig around your kitchen and pull out those kitchen scales, or jump online to find some cheap-yet-reliable digital scales ($15 from The Warehouse - currently delivering) or go all out and spend up large to make yourself feel better about being locked up.

What ever you do, do yourself a favour by starting to use scales.

Now that you know scales are the secret, you need to know what brew methods are the ones to smash out at home! In the next blog, we'll cover the top five brew methods for excellent lockdown home coffee.

Until then - stay home, stay safe, be kind.