VST LAB Coffee III Refractometer

• The highest precision and accuracy in the industry:
• Improved precision ±0.01%
• Incredible accuracy: ±0.03% in the coffee range of 0.00-4.99% and ±0.05% in the espresso range of 5.00-20.00%
• The instrument takes multiple readings and averages them for accuracy and consistency, displaying the resulting % TDS in 2-3 seconds
• Advanced optical engine with 1024 element detector array for precision
• Sapphire optics for durability
• 24-character easy to read back-lit display
• Evaporation cover & ambient light shield ensures nothing interferes with your sample reading and protects the sample well when not in use
• Easy-clean stainless steel sample well
• Temperature stability function
• Smart Zero-Set Software - You can zero out your Refractometer using readily available distilled water. This ensures accurate readings in every sampling session.
• Silicone armor jacket is included for protection and to show your style
• Choose between language interface in English, Spanish, German, French, Russian

The VST Lab III Coffee Refractometer can be used on its own, or in conjunction with VST CoffeeTools™ Software for Mac OS, Windows, iPhone or iPad.

For years, coffee brewing was part craft, part guesswork. Even the best baristas had no scientific way to measure strength, track extraction, or reliably repeat a perfect cup. That changed when VST set out to give brewers a tool they’d never had: the ability to dial in a flavor they loved and reproduce it with precision every time.

At the time, the industry relied on an outdated brewing control chart that worked only for coffee in units of volume. When VST updated the brewing control chart, we uncovered a critical error: the chart didn’t take into account water’s expansion when heated, immersion coffee brewing or batch slurry processes, cupping, or espresso. We also provided units of weight for brew water and coffee, brewed, as well as ground.

We corrected the formula and published a new universal brewing control chart that takes these factors into account. We also developed a software application available on all common operating systems.

Next came the breakthrough that changed the industry: the world’s first coffee-specific digital refractometer. Designed to measure TDS to 0.01%, it turned brewing into a repeatable process backed by hard data.

Combined with VST’s CoffeeTools software, it lets baristas and roasters map extraction yield, fine-tune brews in real time, and get the flavor profile they love again and again. All through science, with no guesswork required.

Today, the VST Refractometer is the global standard for competitions, research and development, quality control, and food science. It is the standard against which all others are compared. But more importantly, it gives the coffee world a shared language for precision, consistency, and trust.