Coffee Craft and Extraction
Bridge the gap between pulling routine tickets and understanding true coffee craft. Master extraction mechanics, milk chemistry, sensory evaluation, roast profiles, and brew styles to elevate your daily bar workflow.
Like Duolingo, but for Coffee Craft and Extraction. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
24 levels across 4 sections, about 48 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Mastering the Espresso Bar, Tasting and Sensory Calibration, Manual and Filter Extraction, and Origins and Raw Bean Chemistry. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Coffee Craft and Extraction
- Fast flow extracts early sour acids before sweet compounds dissolve
- Excess contact washes harsh, drying tannins into the cup
- A balanced shot resolves acid and bitterness into sweet clarity
- Yield ratio dictates beverage concentration and flavor balance
- Shot time merely tracks flow rate rather than dissolved solids
- Cutting yield early preserves sweetness and cuts harsh tail-water
- Water carves narrow cracks through unevenly tamped coffee beds
- Channeling creates simultaneous sour and bitter notes in one cup
- Erratic high-speed spurts from the basket signal localized fissures
- Blonding signals that desirable sugars and oils are depleted
- Continuing the shot past blonding extracts harsh, astringent water
- Stream viscosity thins and color turns translucent at exhaustion
- Soupy pucks result from excessive headspace below the shower screen
- Under-dosed baskets leave excess water pooling on the spent bed
- Puck dryness after extraction is largely independent of grind setting
- Aerate with gentle paper-tearing hisses while milk is still cold under body temp
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 Coffee Craft and Extraction 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.
What happens when ground coffee remains in contact with brewing water for too long?
Get it right to open this lesson and 23 more in the app.
Where Coffee Craft and Extraction takes you
- 1
Mastering the Espresso Bar
- Diagnosing Espresso Extraction in Real Time
- Milk Chemistry and Microfoam Physics
- Calibrating Commercial Grinders and Dosing
- 2
Tasting and Sensory Calibration
- Deconstructing Acidity, Sweetness, and Bitterness
- Roast Architecture and Solubility
- 3
Manual and Filter Extraction
- Filter Dynamics and Manual Pour-Overs
- Batch Brew Optimization and Cold Immersion
- 4
Origins and Raw Bean Chemistry
- Processing Methods and Origin Chemistry
4 sections · 8 units · 24 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Coffee Craft and Extraction is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. 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
Coffee Extraction and Tasting
Master professional cupping protocols, dial in modern espresso ratios, and engineer precise extractions. Explore water chemistry, milk physics, and sensory analysis to unlock elite-level coffee craft.
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.
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.
Dialing In Espresso and Milk
Bridge the gap between basic button-pressing and barista craft. Learn to diagnose extraction defects by sight and taste, manipulate grind and yield variables, and steam silky microfoam with repeatable speed.
Dialing In Great Coffee
Move beyond basic brew recipes to control the mechanics that determine coffee flavor. Learn to diagnose extraction flaws by taste, balance water chemistry, and read bean processing to brew with intention.
Brewing Better Coffee at Home
Move beyond basic brewing instructions to understand extraction, grind mechanics, and water chemistry. Diagnose problem cups and dial in pour-over, immersion, and espresso methods with confidence.
Start Coffee Craft and Extraction today.
Download Tomo, search Coffee Craft and Extraction, and play your first lesson in under a minute.