Espresso and Milk: The Barista's Craft
Unlock the secrets behind the cafe counter. Learn how to pull sweet, balanced espresso shots, steam silky microfoam, and assemble coffee shop classics with confidence.
Like Duolingo, but for Espresso and Milk: The Barista's Craft. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 11 levels across 2 sections, about 22 minutes end to end, roughly 4 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Mastering the Shot and Milk and the Cafe Menu. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Espresso and Milk: The Barista's Craft
- Fresh crema has lots of trapped gas and puffs up unpredictably
- A shot that looks full might actually hold far less coffee liquid
- Weighing dry coffee in and liquid coffee out gives an exact, repeatable ratio
- Tamping only compresses the coffee directly beneath it; it does not move grounds sideways across the basket
- Uneven piles create denser and looser spots inside the compressed puck regardless of how hard you press
- Leveling and raking grounds evenly before tamping is what creates uniform density
- Tamping only needs to remove air pockets until the coffee bed stops giving way
- Once air is squeezed out, pushing harder cannot compress the grounds further or slow down water
- Grind size, not tamping force, controls how tightly water is restricted
- High-pressure water rapidly erodes and tunnels through cracks or loose spots
- Water moving through channels over-extracts harsh, bitter flavors along the crack while leaving the rest of the coffee dry and sour
- The resulting cup ends up both watery and sharp rather than rich and balanced
- Timing begins the moment the pump is engaged, not when liquid first drips
- A shot that finishes far too quickly indicates the grounds offered too little resistance to the water
- A fast run time usually means the coffee is ground too coarse
- Finer coffee particles pack tighter and restrict water flow
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 Espresso and Milk: The Barista's 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.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Why can looking at marked lines on a shot glass be deceiving?
Get it right to open this lesson and 10 more in the app.
Where Espresso and Milk: The Barista's Craft takes you
- 1
Mastering the Shot
- Pulling Your First Real Shot
- Tasting and Tuning the Grind
- 2
Milk and the Cafe Menu
- Steaming Silky Microfoam
- Crafting the Classic Menu
2 sections · 4 units · 11 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Espresso and Milk: The Barista's Craft 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 Espresso and Milk: The Barista's Craft today.
Download Tomo, search Espresso and Milk: The Barista's Craft, and play your first lesson in under a minute.