Do You Need an Espresso Scale With a Timer?
Summary
You need a scale more than you need the timer. Weighing the coffee going in and the espresso coming out is what makes one shot repeatable the next day, and a phone stopwatch can cover the time. A timer built into the scale earns its keep because it puts both numbers on one display while your hands are busy, and on some scales it starts by itself.
Weight first
An espresso recipe is two weights and a time: grams of ground coffee in the basket, grams of espresso in the cup, and how long the shot took. The weights are the part you can't estimate by eye. Breville designs the Bambino's basket around an 18 g dose, and Baratza's suggested starting grind for the Encore ESP assumes that same 18 g. Without a scale, you don't know whether you're at 16 g or 20 g, and every grind change after that is a guess.
The shot buttons on a machine don't replace this. A volumetric button stops the pump after a set amount of water, but it doesn't tell you how many grams of espresso ended up in the cup.
What a built-in timer adds
With the shot running, you're holding a cup or watching the stream, and starting a separate stopwatch at the right moment is one more thing to do. A scale with its own timer shows weight and time side by side.
Some scales go further and start the timer for you. Acaia's Lunar ($250) has six modes, and the difference between two of them shows why "shot time" isn't one fixed number:
| Lunar mode | When the timer starts | When it stops |
|---|---|---|
| Mode 3, Timer Starts with Flow | When espresso starts dripping into the cup | When the flow stops |
| Mode 5, Auto-Tare Auto-Start Timer | As soon as the cup is set down and the reading settles | When the flow stops or the cup is removed |
Acaia says mode 5 is for measuring "the total time of a shot including the pre-infusion time." On a machine like the Bambino, which starts with a low-pressure pre-infusion, the two modes will show different times for the same shot. A recipe that says 30 seconds means little unless you know which clock it used.
Size and reading
The Lunar reads to 0.1 g in normal use (0.01 g in a high-resolution mode) and measures 105 x 105 x 15 mm. Whatever scale you use, the shape that matters is the one under your group head: the scale plus a cup has to fit between the drip tray and the spout, and a larger kitchen scale can overhang the tray.
Acaia builds the Lunar from "water-resistant anodized aluminum" and says its two-year warranty covers water damage.
Shopping for one? Shop espresso tools and accessories →
Sources
- Acaia — Lunar
- Acaia — Lunar 2021 User Manual
- Breville — the Bambino®
- Baratza — Encore ESP Operations Manual (v1.0, January 2023)
We have not tested these products. Specs, prices, stock and terms are as published on these pages on the date above and can change; check the manufacturer or retailer before you buy.