A three-time U.S. National Brewers Cup finalist explains how a $200 scale helps his coffee remain consistent at his roaster’s pop-ups, and who may want to invest in one.
A scale isn’t the first thing most people think of when talking about coffee, but for competitive baristas like Sompetch “Pack” Katisomsakul, founder of Massachusetts-based specialty coffee roasting company Newbery Street Coffee, it’s an essential part of the brewing process.
Just like bakers who need to make sure their breads and pastries are made with an exact amount of ingredients, baristas use a scale to make sure they’re using the right amount of coffee beans and water to replicate the same taste throughout hundreds of cups of coffee.
“I love the scale. I don't think people focus on this a lot, but to me, scale is so important to brew coffee because I like being precise,” Katisomsakul says. “Like it needs to be exact, and that's what I love.”
There is no shortage of coffee scales on the market, but Katisomsakul’s choice is one he says can be a controversial choice among coffee enthusiasts: the Fellow Tally Pro Precision Scale.
“That's one of the best scales I ever had in my life,” he says.
One of the reasons he picked the Fellow Tally over other options is because of its simplicity. Other brands have a tendency to overcomplicate their scales with different functions and capabilities.
“It's so simple, they don't need to have anything complicated. Like when you press start, that's it,” he says. Other products, he says, can feel more like an Apple product.
“With other products, it’s like how do you close this, how do you change this function?” he continues. “With this one, you just press start and it’s only a few functions that work really well. And I think they did a good job because it’s suitable for many people in the industry.”
As Katisomsakul pointed out, there are some who work in coffee who turn their nose up at this scale, largely due to its price: $200 just for the scale.
“So that's why a lot of people dislike it, I guess, because of the price,” Katisomsakul says.
For him, the price isn’t a detractor.
“But to me, I would pay for this price just to make sure that I get the consistency in brewing,” he says.
While Katisomsakul says you could make a pourover with a typical kitchen scale, which goes for a fraction of the price, you won’t get the same responsiveness. A coffee scale will immediately register one gram of water the second it’s poured into a cup on the scale, whereas a kitchen scale will have to buffer before giving you a reading, which in turn could provide an inaccurate measurement.
“It needs to take some time for them to respond to the weight,” Katisomsakul says. “For me, because I have a shop too and I do a pop-up all the time, my staff can replicate my flavor [with a coffee scale] because I can detect it and watch them if they do it right or not by seeing it in front of them in just a second.”
He admits a scale at this price point isn’t a necessity for most coffee drinkers. If you’re trying to perfect an espresso or pourover recipe, or you’re someone who just really enjoys the coffee-making process, then Katisomsakul says it could be a worthwhile investment.
“If that's so then you may invest in it,” he says. “It’s such a great product.”
