Espresso at Home
Unlock the potential of your home espresso setup and pull sweet, balanced shots every morning. Learn how to prepare a clean puck, diagnose sour and bitter notes, and dial in your grinder with confidence.
Like Duolingo, but for Espresso at Home. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Pulling the Basic Shot and Tasting and Dialing In. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Espresso at Home
- Espresso relies on high water pressure forcing water through tightly packed, finely ground coffee
- The pressure emulsifies insoluble coffee oils directly into the liquid, giving espresso its heavy body and concentrated aroma
- Drip coffee relies on gravity and usually passes through a paper filter that traps most of those oils
- The classic standard espresso brew ratio is 1:2 (weight of dry ground coffee to weight of brewed liquid)
- Dosing 18 grams of dry ground coffee yields roughly 36 grams of liquid espresso in the cup
- Espresso is measured by weight on a scale rather than volume because foam and crema distort volume measurements
- A typical balanced 1:2 espresso extraction takes between 25 and 30 seconds from the time the pump starts
- Shot time acts like a speedometer for water flow: a shot that finishes much faster than 25 seconds flowed too fast, usually due to a grind that is too coarse
- A shot that takes far longer than 30 seconds flowed too slowly, usually because the coffee was ground too fine
- Crema forms when pressurized water forces trapped carbon dioxide gas and coffee oils into a microfoam
- Fresh coffee beans produce thick crema because they retain abundant carbon dioxide from roasting; stale beans produce thin or non-existent crema
- On its own, crema tastes quite bitter and ashy rather than sweet, despite looking appealing
- An espresso shot settles in distinct density and flavor layers: sour, dense compounds drop to the bottom, while lighter, bitter notes and crema float on top
- Stirring combines these separated layers into a harmonious, balanced sip instead of delivering sharp, jarring flavors in stages
- Water pumped under high pressure naturally seeks out the easiest, least dense route through the coffee puck
- When water rushes through loose patches rather than moving evenly through the whole bed, it forms channels that ruin the shot's flavor and flow rate
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 at Home 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 gives espresso its distinctly thick, syrupy body compared to other coffee drinks?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where Espresso at Home takes you
- 1
Pulling the Basic Shot
- The Anatomy of a Shot
- Puck Prep: Building an Even Bed
- 2
Tasting and Dialing In
- Diagnosing the Taste: Sour vs. Bitter
- Dialing In: Adjusting the Grind
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Espresso at Home is taught in 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.
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Start Espresso at Home today.
Download Tomo, search Espresso at Home, and play your first lesson in under a minute.