Simplify your morning with a one-step coffee scale
Eyeballs are cool: I have two. I also like spoons. But if you want the right amount of coffee for a great espresso or pour-over, an exact scale is a bit of an inconvenient route.
I still remember how to weigh my coffee beans every morning, I placed a small measuring cup on top of a digital scale, then pressed a button on the scale, then waited about a second for the display to appear. display scale. remove before pouring coffee beans into measuring cup. Back in time—I think October 2024—I wouldn’t have considered this a serious inconvenience. That’s just how coffee scales work.
But maybe they don’t have to. Over the past year or so, several coffee brands have come up with the simple idea that measuring cups and weighing scales can be combined into one device. Activate the light bulb above the forehead and the blue bird on the shoulder. Perhaps the most elegant of these is Subscale, new from Singaporean coffee brand Subminimal (also the maker of Our favorite milk frother).
The Subscale is a black-on-black cup that can hold about 60 grams of coffee and has a base that holds a scale accurate to one-tenth of a gram. Since I got it, the device hasn’t left my countertop—and it’s made me enjoy my morning coffee ritual a little more.
Keep it simple
The key to Subscale’s appeal is its enduring simplicity. The world of craft coffee is now filled with new, complex and sometimes confusing conveniences. Once a humble tool, the coffee scale has become the basis for all types of coffee. The Fellow Tally Pro (8/10, WIRED recommended) will do the math for you, creating a table to simulate recommended water weights for ideal mixing ratios. Bluetooth enabled devices Acaia S Pearl will monitor your coffee brew time and water flow rate, while also playing music.
Subscale doesn’t do any of these things.
It’s a cup. It’s a light, minimalist, crisp cup with a feather-sensitive scale at the bottom to measure the exact weight of what’s inside. There’s no Bluetooth, no app, and no specific learning curve. It takes up very little space on my counter and looks great there.
