Guy at my local shop told me to ditch my scale and I'm glad I didn't

There's this retired barista who hangs out at Bean & Brew on Saturdays and he kept telling me to just eyeball my doses because scales slow you down. I tried it for a week and my morning cups went from pretty good to just okay. I went back to my $20 AWS scale and my first cup after was way better. Has anyone else had someone give them advice that sounded good but just didn't work out?

2 comments

2 Comments

danieljenkins10d ago

Oh man, I gotta disagree with you here. Old school guys who've been pulling shots for decades can nail the dose by feel way better than any scale. You probably just needed more practice.

adamcoleman7d ago

Wait, @danieljenkins, how long did it take those old school guys to get that good at eyeballing it though? I mean, maybe it works for someone who's been doing it every day for 20 years but for a normal person making coffee at home it seems like a scale is just a solid safety net. Did you ever try going without a scale yourself, or is this more just something you've heard from other people? Cause I feel like there's a big difference between watching a pro do it and actually being able to do it reliable yourself, you know?