OXO Good Grips Coffee Scale with Timer Review
Pour like a barista with built-in timer and gram-perfect weighing.
A coffee scale with a built-in timer means you can weigh your beans and clock your pour on one screen instead of juggling a kitchen scale and your phone. The OXO does that job cleanly, and for most home brewers it's enough.
What the OXO coffee scale actually is
This is a kitchen scale built specifically for pour-over and other manual coffee methods. It weighs to 0.1-gram resolution up to about 11 pounds, and it puts a stopwatch right on the display so you can track total brew time without grabbing your phone. The selling point is simple. Bloom, pour, and dose live next to each other on one screen.
The body sits low and wide, which matters more than it sounds. A V60 on a carafe, a Chemex, a French press, all of them fit on the platform without tipping. OXO's textured weighing surface and pull-out drip tray are the kind of details that show this was designed by people who actually drink coffee, not just engineers ticking a spec box.
How it performs day to day
Accuracy is the easy part, and owners broadly agree it nails it. At 0.1g it's precise enough that you can chase a 1:16 ratio and actually hit it. Response time keeps up with a steady pour, so the number isn't lagging three seconds behind your gooseneck. The auto-zero and tare are quick.
The timer is the reason to pick this over a generic scale. It's an integrated stopwatch, not a smart feature. There's no app, no Bluetooth, no automatic start when liquid hits the cup. Some people want the hands-off Acaia experience and will be annoyed by that. Most home brewers will be relieved they don't have to charge or pair anything. It runs on AAA batteries, and battery life is long.
One genuine gripe shows up again and again in owner feedback: the buttons. They sit close together and can feel mushy, and starting the timer or taring with a wet finger mid-pour isn't always as crisp as you'd like. It's not a dealbreaker. It is the thing you'll notice.
Pros and cons
On the plus side: reliable 0.1g accuracy, a low stable platform that fits real brewers, a useful built-in timer, a removable tray for cleaning, and OXO's well-earned reputation for stuff that lasts. It feels like a tool you keep, not one you replace in a year.
On the downside: the buttons are the weak link. The timer is fully manual. And at roughly $50 to $75 it's priced well above a $15 generic scale, so you're paying for the coffee-specific design and the OXO name. If precision timing alone is your goal, that's a lot of money for a stopwatch.
Who should buy it, and who should skip it
Buy it if you do pour-over or other manual methods at home and want one device that handles weight and time without pulling out your phone. It's a strong upgrade from eyeballing scoops, and it's far cheaper than the smart-scale tier. For the average serious-ish home brewer, this is the sensible pick.
Skip it if you brew mostly with an automatic drip machine, since you won't use the timer enough to justify the price. Skip it too if you're a data nerd who wants flow-rate graphs and app logging. That person should save up for an Acaia Pearl or Lunar and stop pretending the OXO is in the same conversation.
The verdict
The OXO Good Grips Coffee Scale with Timer is the dependable, no-drama choice in its price range. It's accurate, it's well built, it fits your gear, and the timer earns its keep. The buttons could be better and there's no smart anything, but neither flaw undermines the core job. For most home coffee setups, it's an easy recommendation.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the OXO coffee scale timer start automatically?
- No. The timer is a manual stopwatch you start and stop with a button. There's no automatic liquid-detection start like you get on smart scales such as the Acaia Lunar. If hands-free timing is a must, this isn't the scale for you.
- How accurate is the OXO Good Grips Coffee Scale?
- It reads to 0.1-gram resolution, which is plenty precise for dialing in coffee ratios like 1:16. Owners consistently report it's accurate and responsive enough to keep up with a steady pour.
- Is it worth it over a cheap kitchen scale?
- If you brew manual coffee, yes. The built-in timer, low stable platform that fits brewers, and OXO build quality justify the extra cost. If you only use a drip machine, a $15 kitchen scale will serve you fine.
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