Food & DrinkThe BestieBeginner
How Coffee Gets Its Flavor, a free food & drink course on Tomo

How Coffee Gets Its Flavor

Like Duolingo, but for How Coffee Gets Its Flavor. 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.

24 levels across 4 sections, about 48 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Making a Better Cup, Developing Your Palate, Buying and Storing, and The Science of the Bean. It starts from scratch.

24 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Bennie the Bean, the guide who teaches the How Coffee Gets Its Flavor course
How Coffee Gets Its Flavor
with Bennie the Bean
24
Levels
4
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in How Coffee Gets Its Flavor

  • The impact of grinding timing on flavor retention
  • The correct temperature range for brewing coffee
  • The ratio of coffee grounds to water determines the concentration of the brew
  • Coffee is over 98% water, so the water's own taste significantly impacts the final cup
  • Adding more coffee relative to the amount of water increases the body and intensity
  • Chlorine and heavy minerals in tap water can mask the delicate fruity or nutty notes of the coffee beans
  • Using the coffee-to-water ratio to control brew strength
  • Coffee contains oils that turn rancid and bitter if left on equipment
  • Old residue creates a 'stale' flavor that interferes with the bright, clean taste of fresh beans
  • The role of water quality in coffee flavor
  • The effect of equipment cleanliness on taste
  • French Press is an immersion method where coffee sits in water
  • Immersion brewing extracts more solids and oils for a heavy body
  • Texture is a primary differentiator between brewing styles
  • Percolation involves water passing through coffee grounds
  • This method filters out more sediment for a 'clean' or 'clarified' taste
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 How Coffee Gets Its Flavor 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.

Fresh Beans and Perfect Heat

If you want the best flavor, what is the ideal temperature range for your brewing water?

Get it right to open this lesson and 23 more in the app.

Course map

Where How Coffee Gets Its Flavor takes you

Go from a casual drinker to a confident brewer. Learn how to taste like a pro, choose the right beans, and master the science behind your morning cup.

  1. 1

    Making a Better Cup

    • The Golden Rules of Brewing
    • Choosing Your Brewing Method
  2. 2

    Developing Your Palate

    • Tasting Like a Pro
    • Understanding Roast Levels
  3. 3

    Buying and Storing

    • Decoding the Coffee Bag
    • Keeping Coffee Fresh
  4. 4

    The Science of the Bean

    • From Seed to Cup
    • The Chemistry of Extraction

4 sections · 8 units · 24 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Bestie

How Coffee Gets Its Flavor 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.

Start free

Start How Coffee Gets Its Flavor today.

Download Tomo, search How Coffee Gets Its Flavor, and play your first lesson in under a minute.