A laboratory-scale torque meter suitable to measure the power consumption for a miniature agitated bioreactor was developed. The working principle of the device is based on the Newton's third law of motion. The range of torque measured was 4 to 332 g-cm and the corresponding power was 2.8 x 10(-3) to 1.73 W. The relationship between N-p and N-Re, was obtained with the six and two flat-blade paddles in the range of N-Re = 5 to 1 x 10(4). The power curves obtained in this work were compared with those published by Nagata and Yamamoto. Fairly good consistence between the current data and literature data were obtained. Instability caused by aeration was not significant provided aeration rate is below 0.3 vvm. The fluctuations due to aeration were below 3.93%. The torque meter developed in this work is simple in structure and easy to install and operate. The device is applicable to measure the power consumption in a laboratory-scale agitated bioreactors.