We recently upped our coffee game. Last year it was a precise Oxo drip coffee maker. This year we added a refurb’d Baratza Encore to grind the beans. Most recently I found a simple inexpensive scale to weigh the grounds … https://www.amazon.com/Gourmia-GKS9130-Folding-Electronic-Function/dp/B01M2CT9QK/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1513868012&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=gourmia+scale&psc=1 . This little scale has simple functions and it stores super easy in a drawer with other utensils. Hope it lasts for the $11 I spent. So finally we can easily grind, weigh, and brew very good coffee.
I bought a digital food scale probably 10 years ago. I use it constantly. Wouldn’t cook without one.
Inexpensive, accurate digital scales that weigh in increments of 1 gram have been available for over 20 years. Unfortunately most American recipes still use volume measurements for everything.
Re the Baratza Encore. It is a decent grinder for drip and press coffee, but when grinding dark roasts it is prone to clogging up with fine grounds. When this happens it can no longer grind beans, period. There are pdfs and videos on the Baratza website showing how to clean the thing and get it working again.
I used to have a Baratza until the circuit board burned out. Got a Rancilio Rocky after that which was a solid upgrade.
You can get a digital scale accurate to 0.1g at EBay for about 5$. Use the one you bought to measure the water.
Before purchasing I took a look through the online tutorials and it was clearly one of the easiest to take apart and clean with parts readily available if needed. The refurb’d model dropped the price below $100 so it was a good buy. Primarily used for drip coffee but there is the rare occasional French press made coffee.