Best Kitchen Scale for Baking and Coffee

The KQ909 has a large stainless platform that weighs up to 11 pounds (5,000 grams) in 1 gram steps and a small one that weighs up to 16 ounces (500 grams) in hundredths of a gram. A two-line backlit display shows both at once, so the flour and the yeast can be weighed side by side.

That second platform is the point. America's Test Kitchen notes that for yeast and salt a few tenths of a gram can change the finished bread, and a general kitchen scale that reads in whole grams cannot measure 3 grams of instant yeast with any confidence. Bread bakers and anyone making pizza dough by weight will use both platforms every time.

It runs on three AAA batteries, included, and turns off after three minutes without a change in weight. Skip it if you never bake bread; the Escali does everything else for less.

The catch. A three minute auto-off can catch a slow baker mid-recipe.

Greater Goods is a St. Louis company, and its coffee scale does the two things pour-over and espresso ask for: it weighs in 0.1 gram steps and it times the brew, counting up or down. A two-color display keeps the weight and the timer readings apart, and the 5.25 inch square platform wears a silicone cover that is heat resistant and dishwasher safe.

It reads in grams, milliliters, ounces, fluid ounces, pounds, and pounds and ounces, and it works for tea and matcha as well as coffee. Three AAA batteries are included, and Greater Goods backs it for five years.

Skip it if you want a rechargeable battery or a flow-rate reading; the Timemore has both. And like any coffee scale, it is not meant for a heavy bowl of dough.

The catch. Battery powered, and a plainer object than the scales above it in price.

Timemore's Black Mirror Basic 2 weighs from 0.1 to 2,000 grams in tenths of a gram, and adds what the cheaper coffee scales lack: a flow-rate reading that shows how fast you are pouring, an auto-timer that starts when water hits the scale, and a 1,600 mAh battery that charges by USB-C. The display hides under a black glass surface until the scale is on, and a silicone pad protects the top and adds grip.

Tom's Guide found its readings matched reference scales in testing, and liked the balance of function and price. It is about 1 inch thick and weighs under a pound, easy to slide into a drawer.

The touch controls are sensitive, which takes some getting used to. Skip it if you only brew once a week; the flow rate matters most to daily pour-over drinkers.

The catch. Touch buttons can register a brushed finger.

Fellow's Tally Pro weighs up to 2,500 grams in 0.1 gram steps on a glass-topped platform about 7 by 6 inches, large enough for most drippers and servers. It has three modes: plain weight, a timer mode, and Brew Assist, where you set a coffee-to-water ratio and the scale shows the target weight to pour to. The dial is metal, the finish matte black, the weigh pan removable.

The battery charges by USB-C and Fellow rates it for 13 hours of continuous weighing, which is a month or two of daily brewing. Reviewers describe it as exceptionally responsive with a handsome display, and Brew Assist as one of the few smart features on a scale that earns its place.

It is a coffee scale priced like a grinder. Skip it unless you brew by weight every day and care about the object on the counter; the Timemore weighs just as finely for a quarter of the price.

The catch. Four times the price of scales that weigh just as precisely.