Work of Functional Art: The Acaia Lunar Scale

This is more of an appreciation post than a review or information post on a product. But here’s what set me off:

I’m currently working on two Acaia product reviews: the Acaia Pearl 2021 model and the Acaia Pearl S model, and I realised that I had an unpublished review written up for the Acaia Lunar scale (the one in the picture above). I was thinking about finishing it and publishing it but I see the company now has an Acaia Lunar 2021 model so any review I post of the original Lunar would be outdated (we don’t have a Lunar 2021 at CoffeeGeek to test).

Then I remembered I had taken a lot of photos of the Lunar. And it struck me how absolutely beautiful — as in a Museum of Modern Art Way — the Lunar was and is. The Pearl line — Acaia’s other scales — look almost exactly like Apple’s old Apple TV (1st Generation) or Apples Airport Extreme or early Time Capsules. The Lunar, even though it is in the same form factor just feels entirely different and unique.

Perhaps it’s because the Lunar is so… dense. It has heft and weight. Lifting it, you feel like you’re lifting a solid block of aluminum. The Pearl on the other hand feels fairly light and very… plasticky.

Perhaps it’s because when the silicone mat sits on top of the Lunar, it encapsulates the top of the scale in a more complete form.

Perhaps it’s because of the Lunar’s size. It is tiny, and occupies a tiny footprint on the drip tray of most espresso machines.

Whatever the reason, the Acaia Lunar feels like… art. But best of all, it’s functional art.

It’s an amazing scale with a wide range of functionality built in and even more advanced abilities added since it was first introduced, thanks to Acaia releasing firmware improvements over the years.

One of my favourite things about the scale is how responsive it is. It reacts almost instantly to even 1/10th a gram differences, and since the scale can read in 1/100th a gram levels (you have to program it to go to this extra level of accuracy), it offers a level of dogged accuracy you just don’t find in any other products designed to weigh coffee and help you brew better.

I also completely love the fact that Acaia does not believe in planned obsolescence, a business strategy companies like Apple absolutely live by. Acaia continues to bring advanced features to their scales via firmware updates, long after the products have been released. An Acaia Lunar scale today is a lot more feature rich than a Lunar scale 7 years ago, even though physically, they are the same scale.

I’m pretty sure that even with the introduction of the Lunar 2021, the original Lunar will still see some firmware updates down the road.

Add to it all that this scale is very water resistant thanks to it’s inverted scale design (Acaia scales are basically upside down scales, which means there’s zero gaps around the top weighing plate and the innards; the USB charging ports are waterproof), and you have even more functional art.

Another reason why it’s art. It actually looks different depending on what direction light hits it. Here’s what I mean:

The Lunar is not cheap. The original model was $225 and the new 2021 model is $250. But as a highly functional work of art, you get what you pay for: not only is it stunningly beautiful and functional, but you are getting in effect an industrial grade quality scale inside a tiny 10.5cm square, 1.5cm tall, 270g body.

The Acaia Lunar scale is not in the Museum of Modern Art, but it should be.

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.