"Doug Hazen, Jr." writes:

[...inching toward buying a scale...]

With that long-winded prelude out of the way, I'm looking for information
about and recommendations for tea scales. Assume I know nothing about them
(or food scales in general); in fact, I've never even seen one in the flesh,
and have only seen little pictures at sites like
http://www.rightonscales.com/web/pocketscales. Presumably at least some of
these are quick, easy and convenient to use, as I've been told and have read
that they are as fast to use as a measuring spoon (though I confess I don't
believe this yet). I've also been told that a) all you really need for tea
is .1g accuracy,

Agreed.

and b) that I shouldn't go for less than 200g capacity.

Maybe so, if you intend to be dividing up large batches with your friends.

I've already had recommended to me the Jennings JS-500 and the Toyo 250 (at
the site above). Also, I know that Silk Road carries a tea scale, and David
Lee Hoffman told me something to the effect that (I'm sure I'm
misrepresenting this) it has some kind of "official" status in the tea
business in China - does anyone have any experience with that scale?

Yes, it works great. I normally have it set up to balance at 4g,
which is the amount of leaf I usually brew when, uh, drinking alone,
and measuring out the right amount could hardly be quicker. I also
like the fact that the receptacle is fairly big, so (with the
auxiliary weights) it's possible to measure out big quantities when I
need to.

Is digital best? I would think so, as you presumably wouldn't have to mess
with weights. But they would need power - battery, cords? Etc.

I don't like the idea of adding more batteries to the world, so my
other scale is a pocket balance (Deering, but I think there are others
available as well.) It works fine, with the exception that with
fluffy teas it can be hard to measure even 4g in one go.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html