Barista Craft Behind the Bar
Step behind the commercial machine and master professional barista technique. Learn to dial in espresso by taste, texture silky microfoam, execute standard cafe menus, and keep a high-volume bar running smoothly.
Like Duolingo, but for Barista Craft Behind the Bar. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
25 levels across 4 sections, about 50 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Dialing In and Shot Mechanics, Milk Craft and the Espresso Menu, Sensory Calibration and Filter Methods, and Bar Workflow and Equipment Health. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Barista Craft Behind the Bar
- A prolonged brew time over-extracts bitter and astringent compounds.
- Keeping dose and target yield fixed isolates grind size as the variable.
- Coarsening the grind lowers bed resistance to reduce shot duration.
- Commercial grinders trap grounds between burrs and the exit chute.
- Adjustments do not affect coffee already sitting in the chute chamber.
- Purging a dose clears old grinds so the next shot reflects the change.
- Finer grinds break beans into vastly more microscopic particles.
- Greater total particle surface area increases resistance to water flow.
- Higher puck resistance extends water contact time through the espresso bed.
- Ambient humidity causes coffee grounds to absorb moisture and swell.
- Swelling particles can alter packing density and channel water faster.
- Micro-adjusting the collar finer restores bed resistance and flow time.
- Crema contains trapped carbon dioxide bubbles that inflate visual volume.
- Fresh roasts produce significantly more airy crema than older beans.
- Gram weight measures actual liquid mass unaffected by foam depth.
- Nine bars of water rush through micro-clumps via cracks of least resistance
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Barista Craft Behind the Bar the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Why keep your dose and target yield the same when dialing in espresso?
Get it right to open this lesson and 24 more in the app.
Where Barista Craft Behind the Bar takes you
- 1
Dialing In and Shot Mechanics
- The Daily Dial-In
- Puck Preparation and Channeling
- 2
Milk Craft and the Espresso Menu
- Microfoam Physics and Steaming
- Drink Architecture and Espresso Styles
- 3
Sensory Calibration and Filter Methods
- Diagnosing Extraction by Taste
- Manual Pour-Over Behind the Bar
- 4
Bar Workflow and Equipment Health
- Speed, Rhythm, and Bar Workflow
- Machine Maintenance and Water Chemistry
4 sections · 8 units · 25 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Barista Craft Behind the Bar is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
More Food & Drink on Tomo
Behind the Espresso Bar
Step into the commercial cafe environment with the technical skills required of a working barista. Master grinder calibration, puck physics, milk microfoam, sensory extraction diagnosis, and high-speed bar sequencing.
Coffee Extraction and Barista Craft
Bridge the gap between home brewer and working barista. Master dial-in adjustments, milk thermodynamics, sensory calibration, and water chemistry behind the bar.
Espresso Extraction and Technique
Bridge the gap between pulling erratic shots and consistently crafting cafe-quality espresso. Learn the mechanics of puck prep, extraction diagnosis, flow profiling, and microfoam chemistry.
Espresso Craft and Extraction Science
Move beyond guesswork to dial in espresso with precision. Explore puck preparation, extraction dynamics, microfoam rheology, and the chemistry behind great beans and water.
Dialing In Espresso and Milk
Bridge the gap between basic espresso pulling and cafe-quality consistency. Master extraction variables, diagnose channeling by taste and flow, and steam silky microfoam every time.
Espresso: Dialing in the Perfect Shot
Move beyond the basic 'double shot' and learn to manipulate extraction variables like a professional barista. Master the art of dialing in to balance acidity, sweetness, and body in every cup.
Start Barista Craft Behind the Bar today.
Download Tomo, search Barista Craft Behind the Bar, and play your first lesson in under a minute.