Anyone who brews pour-over coffee knows that a scale is needed to make sure you get the right amount of coffee, water, and coffee-to-water ratio. Any old scale can help you weigh things, but this $150 scale from Acaia — called the Pearl — is what professionals look for when they want to perfect their cup.
Still, $150 is a lot for a scale. So… is it worth it? We tested one to find out.
At a Glance: Acaia Pearl Scale
Units of measure: Grams/ounces
Maximum capacity: 2000 grams / 70.55 ounces
Battery: 3.7V 1100mAh lithium-ion rechargeable
Battery life: 30 to 40 hours
What’s Good About the Acaia Pearl Coffee Scale
Impressive precision
The most important thing about a scale – especially one for coffee where every gram counts – is its accuracy. The Acaia Pearl is accurate to tenths of a gram, where other scales may not be that tiny with their readings.
Another great thing about the Pearl is how quickly it registers weights – its response time is one of the fastest on the market, especially compared to lower-end coffee scales. Plus, the weights stabilize faster, so you don’t have to take that half a second to make sure the scale is actually displaying the correct weight.
A coffee scale for coffee lovers
Almost everything about this coffee scale is designed to help you improve your coffee making skills. The screen has a real-time flow indicator, which lets you know if you are pouring water too quickly or too slowly. The display even features marks that act as thresholds for so-called proper flow rates, which baristas use to help gauge how well their final cup of coffee was extracted.
The Pearl also features a bunch of modes that help you improve your skills as a barista. Dual display mode – the most common setting for all coffee scales – lets you see the weight and a timer. But when you activate the Pearl’s other features, you can also access the auto-start timer mode, which records when you start pouring water and automatically activates the timer. In Drink Mode, the Pearl guides you through the pouring process, from placing the cup or carafe on the scale to removing the filter at the end of the brew.
And for those who love their apps, the Pearl uses Bluetooth to connect a smartphone companion app, which lets you store brew recipes, update firmware and use other coffee-nerd features.
Acaia
The Pearl is refillable
It’s a minor point, but the fact that the Pearl scale is rechargeable is probably one of my favorite things about it. I previously used the Hario coffee scale, which runs on AAA batteries, and I always hated having to replace those things, especially when replacing batteries became an extra step between waking up and drinking coffee.
The Pearl charges via USB Type-C, so although a charger is included with the Pearl, you can also use your phone charger. With 30 to 40 hours of juice, the coffee scale only needs to be recharged every few months, the brand claims. Plus, the scale comes charged right out of the box.
What’s Not Ideal About the Acaia Pearl Scale
This exorbitant price
It’s hard to ignore the Pearl’s $150 price tag, especially when you can get a decent coffee scale for much, much less. This thing is a investment, for those who take their coffee seriously. If you’re just trying to make coffee in the morning so you can get on with the rest of the day, that sounds like a huge waste of money.
However, many home coffee lovers love experimenting with coffee brewing and various beans. If you’re one of them, the Pearl will help take your coffee-brewing techniques to the next level.
Acaia
Difficult to use interface
The Pearl has only two buttons: a power button and a tare button. It keeps things sleek and minimalist, but those two buttons are all you need to control the scale. Navigating the Pearl’s settings requires a number of key press combinations – long and short – and remembering what to press and how long to press makes using the Pearl boring.
Out of the box, the Pearl only has two of its ready-to-use modes: weigh only and dual display for weight and time. For some reason, Acaia requires you to go into settings – again, a hard-to-find thing – to enable (or disable) the various modes. I had to go to settings to enable auto start mode and drinks mode. This begs the question: why didn’t Acaia just enable all these modes to begin with?
You cannot resume the timer
One of my biggest complaints for the Pearl is the timer. Yes, it counts perfectly, but once you pause the timer, there’s no way to resume it – the timer resets to zero. It does not mean anything. Because it’s a touch button, it’s easy to accidentally pause the timer, and since you can’t wind up the count, you can screw up your whole coffee-brewing recipe when you forget how long. it stays on your brew.
Tyler Chin
Acaia Pearl Scale: the verdict
I’ve been making pour-over coffee for almost a decade now, and the Pearl has always been one of my dream additions to my pour-over kit. It’s really beautiful, and it’s incredibly accurate… but it’s also very expensive.
Unless you’re trying to compete in a barista competition, this scale looks like a luxury purchase you could do without. A coffee lover would surely appreciate the Pearl as a gift, but it’s hard to justify the price when a $50 coffee scale might do the trick.
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