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The Acaia Pearl Scale, the one that started it all for high end, coffee specific scales with a Kickstarter campaign almost 8 years ago, is getting its second major update and overhaul, and most definitely the scale’s biggest update since it’s initial introduction. You may have noticed the Pearl model listed as out of stock for a while now, and this is the reason why.
The new scale, which Acaia is referring to as the Pearl 2021, has a broad range of improvements and enhancements. While the scale may look the same as the Pearl has always looked since its initial launch, it is different in may ways on the external side, and even more different internally. Let’s get into some of the scale’s improvements.
Pearl 2021: Very New Inside
The inside of the Acaia Pearl 2021 scale — the guts as it were — is very different from the previous Pearl models, and everything is an improvement. The industrial calibre scale mechanisms themselves are new and very much improved in terms of both accuracy and response time. I never found the old Pearl and Lunar scales to be particularly slow; their boot up time was a second or two, but operation of the scales provided lightning quick response times. Well, the new scale is faster in start up and operation.
The scale now charges via USB-C and features a new lithium ion battery that has a rather crazy 30-40 hour operation time between charges, and that includes using the scale’s various Bluetooth modes. This translates into you going for months of daily usage between charges.
The display itself gets a big upgrade too. It is markedly brighter than the older Acaia Pearl Models, and I could read our test unit even in indirect sunlight. Changing the brightness can be done in the Acaia App or right on the scale in its programming mode, if you find the unit too bright.
The display improvements don’t end there. On the old Pearl, you kind of had to guess at what modes the scale was in; is it green light or yellow light for pour over mode? Green and yellow for portafilter mode? Well, the Pearl 2021 model has dedicated graphical indicators for modes: pour over gets a rain drop, and portafilter mode gets a square box.
Another improvement for the Pearl 2021 scale is the display retaining the .1g readout even when timer modes are used. With the older Pearl models, once you were in timer mode, the scale would go to 1g readouts, even if it was still measuring down to .01g (to see .1g or .01g resolution when using the scale’s timer mode, you had to use the Acaia app and its real time weight display). The Pearl 2021 now maintains the .1 gram resolution on board display all modes that a timer is displayed.
Lastly, Acaia did something with the lit display that is quite nice and helpful for people who turn off the scale’s beep sounds: the display light fades and glows when switching between modes, or turning off. It’s actually a very useful aesthetic improvement.
New and Improved Modes
Through software updates, the older Pearl models introduced new brewing modes and other improvements, including timer enhancements, auto start and auto tare modes, a beverage mode and espresso modes. While welcome, these improvements had to live within the product’s display limitations and were sometimes difficult to use and master because they were ad ons. If you always used the Acaia apps with the scale, they were much easier to use and access, but if you commonly use the scale on its own, they were harder to figure out at times.
The new Pearl 2021 makes it a lot easier to access and make use of these modes right on the scale, no app required, and Acaia even adds a few new ones. From a usability standpoint, the addition of the graphical indicators for pour over mode and portafilter mode are helpful.
The Beverage Mode sees a very marked improvement. At first glance you would think it is the same as the Beverage mode provided with the Pearl V2 software upgrade, but the Pearl 2021 model has one more trick up its sleeve. On top progressing through the weight and addition of items to the scale (carafe, filter, filter paper, coffee, then water) with automated prompts on screen, when the brew is completed, the display cycles through information about the drink build. On the V2 Pearl, you got total time and total water used, and the beverage weight. On this new Pearl 2021 model, a third display is presented: your brew ratio is calculated and displayed. Very nice.
Of note, when you get the Acaia Pearl 2021 scale, only two modes are enabled out of the box: the weigh only mode, and dual display mode. Owners of the new scale will have to dip into the scale’s settings (either directly or through the Acaia app) to turn on the other modes. The reason for this is simple: if all modes were enabled on the default settings, many users who just want it to weight and time would be annoyed having to cycle through all the modes.
One More Thing
Since the Pearl looks very much like an early-generation Apple Time Capsule Wifi Router (or 1st gen Apple TV), I couldn’t resist! There is one more thing with the scale, and it is quite special.
The Acaia Pearl 2021 now has a visual, real time flow rate indicator! It is a series of lit dots in a row, above the number readout area of the scale’s display, and it is executed brilliantly. The middle 9 dots represent from 0 to 2.5g/second flow rate and spread out left and right to give a really good indication of how fast or slow you’re adding water to your brew. The 2.5g indicator lights are brighter than the others, to provide you with a visual cue for a pouring rate used by most pros and pour over coffee champions. The next pair of brighter lights are at the 6.5g/second flow rate indicators, which is a safe maximum pouring speed if you want a faster brew.
The design and implementation of the live flow rate indicator helps you control and ease your flow of water to a bed of coffee so it’s very consistent and even. Acaia executed this brilliantly and I certainly appreciated it’s addition to the scale’s UI.
The flow rate indicator, which is normally invisible, activates and lights up in the scale’s Dual Mode display mode, Pour Over Auto Start display mode, and in the Beverage mode. If you find it not useful or distracting (I can’t imagine this), it can be turned off in the scale’s settings.
Wrap Up
We have a new Pearl 2021 Scale from Acaia and will be writing up a more formal QuickShot Review of it in the next few weeks. This initial take used marketing material Acaia provided us with, as well as using the scale for a few days to suss out its features. So far, we like what we see; there’s no questioning that Acaia is the absolute top of the coffee scale chain, and what I like best is, they don’t rest on their laurels. They are always looking to improve their scales.
The existing Pearl scale is a wunderkind of its own that enjoyed massive improvements and software upgrades from Acaia over the years to make it relevant and even better to use (indeed, the now-older generation Pearl is still state of the art when compared to most other scales you can buy for coffee). Now with the new Pearl 2021 scale, Acaia has taken it to yet another level.
And there’s one more thing to celebrate: though not confirmed yet, the new Pearl 2021 models is expected be sold for the same price as the old Pearl models: $140msrp for the white, and $150msrp for the black models.
About the author
Mark has certified as a Canadian, USA, and World Barista Championship Judge in both sensory and technical fields, as well as working as an instructor in coffee and espresso training. He started CoffeeGeek in 2001.