Coffee Extraction, Chemistry, and Terroir
Master the physics of extraction, water mineral kinetics, fermentation biochemistry, and roast thermodynamics. Designed for experienced coffee professionals and passionate enthusiasts ready to move beyond the basics.
Like Duolingo, but for Coffee Extraction, Chemistry, and Terroir. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
23 levels across 4 sections, about 46 minutes end to end, roughly 9 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Precision Extraction and Fluid Dynamics; Water Chemistry and Sensory Diagnosis; Agronomy, Genetics, and Fermentation; and Roast Thermodynamics and Bean Chemistry.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Coffee Extraction, Chemistry, and Terroir
- Around 70% of roasted coffee bean mass consists of insoluble cellulose and structural polysaccharides that cannot dissolve without destructive hydrolysis
- Pushing yields past 22% leaches harsh, bitter astringents and dry-distillation compounds out of the degrading cell matrix rather than desirable flavor compounds
- TDS measures the concentration of solids in the cup (strength), while extraction yield measures the percentage of dry bean mass dissolved (balance)
- Dose adjustments shift beverage strength (TDS) without altering flavor balance as long as the extraction yield percentage remains unchanged
- Extending the brew ratio pulls late solubles, dropping TDS while raising yield toward over-extraction
- Micro-fines extract almost instantaneously due to negligible diffusion distance, contributing early body but late bitterness and astringency
- Large boulders suffer from interior diffusion lag, leaving their cores under-extracted and contributing hollow, sour organic acids
- A bimodal distribution forces the brewer to taste simultaneous over-extraction dryness and under-extraction sourness in the same cup
- Highly volatile polar compounds like fruit acids and floral monoterpenes dissolve rapidly at the beginning of brewing
- Mid-weight caramelization products and simple sugars extract during the main phase as heat and flow continue
- A declining water temperature profile suppresses the thermal energy required to dissolve heavy, bitter phenolic compounds and chlorogenic acid derivatives at the end of the brew
- Hydrodynamic drag carries detached fines toward the bottom filter paper or basket floor
- Accumulated fines clog void spaces at the bottom boundary, creating a dense cake layer with drastically reduced permeability
- Darcy's law resistance scales non-linearly as compaction narrows pore throats
- High-velocity water tears through localized pathways, stripping harsh, slow-dissolving polyphenols and astringents from channel walls
- The differing sensory impacts of fines and boulders resulting from bimodal grind distributions
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 Extraction, Chemistry, and Terroir 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.
You push your extraction yield past 24% to get every bit of flavor out, but the cup turns astringent and dry. Why does that happen?
Get it right to open this lesson and 22 more in the app.
Where Coffee Extraction, Chemistry, and Terroir takes you
- 1
Precision Extraction and Fluid Dynamics
- Refractometry and Extraction Yield Mechanics
- Percolation Dynamics and Channeling Physics
- 2
Water Chemistry and Sensory Diagnosis
- Solvent Chemistry and Buffer Systems
- Organic Acid Profiling and Sensory Diagnostics
- 3
Agronomy, Genetics, and Fermentation
- Varietal Genetics and Agroecological Terroir
- Fermentation Biochemistry and Processing Innovations
- 4
Roast Thermodynamics and Bean Chemistry
- Roast Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer Dynamics
- Phase Transitions and Chemical Transformations
4 sections · 8 units · 23 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Coffee Extraction, Chemistry, and Terroir 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.
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Start Coffee Extraction, Chemistry, and Terroir today.
Download Tomo, search Coffee Extraction, Chemistry, and Terroir, and play your first lesson in under a minute.