Espresso by Taste and Roast
Like Duolingo, but for Espresso by Taste and Roast. 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.
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 Taste First, Tweak Second and Taming the Roast Spectrum. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Espresso by Taste and Roast
- Espresso extracts acids and sharp sour notes first
- Sugars extract mid-shot to create balanced sweetness
- Heavy bitter and astringent compounds wash out last
- A standard beginner baseline espresso ratio is 1:2 (coffee dose to liquid yield)
- Dosing 18 grams of dry coffee yields roughly 36 grams of liquid espresso in the cup
- The 1:2 ratio balances heavy body with clear flavor separation
- Espresso naturally separates into dense, bitter crema on top and sweeter, syrupy liquid underneath
- Taking a sip without stirring means your first impression is dominated by bitter foam
- Stirring integrates the distinct layers into a single cohesive sip
- Sourness triggers immediate mouth-watering salivation and a puckering feel along tongue edges
- Bitterness creates a lingering, drying astringency toward the back of the throat
- Recognizing tongue and throat sensations tells you whether a shot pulled too fast or too slow
- Sourness in espresso comes out first and signals under-extraction
- Letting more water brew through the coffee puck extracts sweet sugars to balance the sharp acids
- Ending a shot too early cuts off the extraction before sugars can dissolve
- A harsh, drying bitterness indicates too much material was extracted from the coffee puck
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 by Taste and Roast 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 starts to dissolve during the middle part of an espresso pull?
Get it right to open this lesson and 10 more in the app.
Where Espresso by Taste and Roast takes you
Learn to dial in delicious espresso using your own palate instead of rigid rules. Discover how to taste the difference between sour and bitter, then adapt your brew recipe for dark, medium, and light roasts.
- 1
Taste First, Tweak Second
- Tasting Your First Shot
- Diagnosing and Fixing Extraction
- 2
Taming the Roast Spectrum
- Brewing Dark and Medium Roasts
- Unlocking Sweetness in Light Roasts
2 sections · 4 units · 11 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Espresso by Taste and Roast 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
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The Art of the Espresso Shot
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Mastering the Art of Espresso
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Espresso at Home
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Espresso: The Perfect Shot
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Start Espresso by Taste and Roast today.
Download Tomo, search Espresso by Taste and Roast, and play your first lesson in under a minute.