Food & DrinkExplain Like I'm 5Intermediate
Coffee Extraction and Barista Craft, a free food & drink course on Tomo

Coffee Extraction and Barista Craft

Like Duolingo, but for Coffee Extraction and Barista Craft. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.

21 levels across 3 sections, about 42 minutes end to end, roughly 8 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Dialing In and Extraction Control; Milk Science and Sensory Evaluation; and Bean Origins, Water, and Equipment Care. It assumes you already know the basics.

21 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Bram the Bear, the guide who teaches the Coffee Extraction and Barista Craft course
Coffee Extraction and Barista Craft
with Bram the Bear
21
Levels
3
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Coffee Extraction and Barista Craft

  • Locking dose and beverage yield isolates grind size as the single moving tuning variable.
  • Adjusting grind finer increases contact time and puck resistance without shifting recipe ratios.
  • Changing dose or yield simultaneously confounds extraction yield and masks the root issue.
  • Stopping shots on target yield treats time as an observational symptom of grind resistance.
  • Cutting a shot solely by time produces arbitrary beverage yields and uncalibrated strengths.
  • Shot duration signals whether puck grind size needs to shift coarser or finer for the next pull.
  • Uneven coffee distribution creates localized low-density zones that water cuts channels through.
  • Tamping at an angle causes side-channeling along the lower edge of the portafilter basket.
  • Aggressive edge tapping cracks the settled dry coffee bed and breaks the basket seal.
  • High air moisture swells roasted porous coffee beans, reducing puck flow resistance.
  • Motor thermal expansion narrows burr clearance during continuous rush-hour operation.
  • Atmospheric shifts require baristas to fine-tune collars even without changing bean bags.
  • Bright organic acids and high-density crema salts wash out in the initial seconds.
  • Sweet caramelized sugars and balanced aromatic oils dominate the middle extraction window.
  • Astringent plant cellulose, bitter tannins, and diluted watery compounds exit at the tail end.
  • Sequencing the flavor and sensory compounds extracted across a split salami shot from start to finish
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Coffee Extraction and Barista Craft 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.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Tuning Your Daily Espresso Shot

When dialing in, why keep your dose of grounds and cup yield the exact same weight?

Get it right to open this lesson and 20 more in the app.

Course map

Where Coffee Extraction and Barista Craft takes you

Bridge the gap between home brewer and working barista. Master dial-in adjustments, milk thermodynamics, sensory calibration, and water chemistry behind the bar.

  1. 1

    Dialing In and Extraction Control

    • Calibrating the Daily Espresso Dial-In
    • Diagnosing Extraction and Flow Mechanics
    • Filter Brewing Dynamics and Pour Control
  2. 2

    Milk Science and Sensory Evaluation

    • Milk Chemistry and Microfoam Texturing
    • Cupping Protocols and Palate Calibration
  3. 3

    Bean Origins, Water, and Equipment Care

    • Processing Methods and Green Bean Dynamics
    • Water Composition and Machine Diagnostics

3 sections · 7 units · 21 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
Explain Like I'm 5

Coffee Extraction and Barista Craft is taught in the Explain Like I'm 5 style: no big words. promise.. 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.

Keep going

More Food & Drink on Tomo

Start free

Start Coffee Extraction and Barista Craft today.

Download Tomo, search Coffee Extraction and Barista Craft, and play your first lesson in under a minute.