TeaChat

After reading the grams/teaspoon thread and with the gyokuro OTTI upcoming, I think it is about time that I consider investing in a tea scale. I've always gone by the teaspoon is ~2 grams rule, but I'd hate to be missing a tea's full potential or wasting excess leaf due to inaccuracies. Any shared recommendations/experiences would be much appreciated!

Inexpensive but very useful digital scales are easy to find online. Look for one with 0.1g accuracy, and size and weight capacity to hold your favorite tea-weighing vessel (Cha he or a small bowl). Jewelry scales are usually just right. IME specific brand is less important than tare capacity & fit in your tea drawer/cabinet/shelf. I haven't paid over $12.

Also some detect and display changes in weight quicker than others. Some react in real time, some take half a second or so. You'll want the real time one.

If you don't care about the slow up-dating, there are nice digital scales for about $8 shipped on ebay. Just check that batteries are included...

I don't know much about "nicer" scales.

Search is your friend:

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... ay#p212472

Stentor wrote:Also some detect and display changes in weight quicker than others. Some react in real time, some take half a second or so. You'll want the real time one.

This is something very few people consider when buying and recommending cheap digital scales. After trying a fairly large selection of eBay specials, I can't emphasize enough how much of a difference it makes to use a scale that responds and updates quickly, giving an accurate and certain final reading with no lag.

The My Weigh Triton T2 costs just over $15 and is by far the nicest inexpensive digital pocket scale I've ever used.

May I suggest: http://tinyurl.com/bkkae7l

I have this one: http://tinyurl.com/bypcako

Bob_McBob wrote:

Stentor wrote:Also some detect and display changes in weight quicker than others. Some react in real time, some take half a second or so. You'll want the real time one.

This is something very few people consider when buying and recommending cheap digital scales. After trying a fairly large selection of eBay specials, I can't emphasize enough how much of a difference it makes to use a scale that responds and updates quickly, giving an accurate and certain final reading with no lag.

The My Weigh Triton T2 costs just over $15 and is by far the nicest inexpensive digital pocket scale I've ever used.

I never considered this factor. Weigh ... errr way back when when I finally saw a digital scale, I just bought it w/o hesitation since I had wanted one for tea for quite some time (plus I like measure gadgets ). I guess I lucked out as it is still perfect and must be real time since I never had any lag. But now, they are everywhere and uber cheap.

But then again, I never noticed "real time" being in specs for scales. I look periodically since the one I have is quite old now and is used everyday and often hard use (OTTI/NOTTI).

But yeah, lag times would really suck with a scale ... same with digital thermometers, although they all seem to have some lag ... but some are realllly slow.

I just checked and to my surprise, the same model I'm using now is still available on Amazon for $6.29. It has little to no lag.

Thanks for the replies! I'm glad I asked because the response time was something that hadn't crossed my mind.

Bob_McBob wrote:The My Weigh Triton T2 costs just over $15 and is by far the nicest inexpensive digital pocket scale I've ever used.

I'm leaning toward this scale.

debunix wrote:I just checked and to my surprise, the same model I'm using now is still available on Amazon for $6.29. It has little to no lag.

This has complicated my decision. That's $10 that could be going to tea!

Also, will I need a calibration weight as well?

Running for Tea wrote:Also, will I need a calibration weight as well?

In 8 years, I have never had to recalibrate. I place a new dime on the scale to test every so often.

I did not buy a calibration weight.

Running for Tea wrote:Also, will I need a calibration weight as well?

Some scales ship with one.

I recently got a new scale and thermometer on amazon and can recommend them both. They respond quickly and are accurate.

AWS-1KG Digital Scale 1000x 0.1g
Taylor Digital Thermometer -40 to 446F /-40 to 230C I thought I'd add that prior to getting these devises my temperature guesstimates were 20 degrees lower than actual (so I was steeping cooler) and I've experienced that no two teas weight the same per teaspoon. I now consider these a basic investment, especially if posting reviews and or purchasing higher priced teas.

AWS is a good company for an affordable scale I own two and the both work perfectly for tea. I prefer mine with the .01g accuracy (my $.02)