The Art of the Dial-In
Like Duolingo, but for The Art of the Dial-In. 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: 14 levels across 2 sections, about 28 minutes end to end, roughly 6 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Diagnosing the Cup and Precision Variables. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in The Art of the Dial-In
- Acids dissolve first, so sourness means the water didn't extract enough sugars
- Under-extraction occurs when the brew time is too short for the coffee type
- Over-extraction pulls out heavy polyphenols that cause a dry mouthfeel
- Bitterness and ashiness are the final flavors to emerge during a long brew
- Identifying under-extraction through sensory cues
- Recognizing the physical sensation of over-extraction
- Bypass involves adding clean hot water to the finished brew to lower concentration
- Finer grinds increase surface area to speed up extraction and add sweetness
- Adding water post-brew changes strength without extracting bitter tannins
- Coarser grinds slow down extraction to prevent bitter flavors from dominating
- Using grind size to correct flavor imbalances
- Higher temperatures increase the energy available to extract stubborn sugars
- Applying the bypass technique to fix intensity
- Temperature is a secondary lever used for micro-adjustments after the grind is set
- Identifying when to use temperature as a fine-tuning tool
- Acids and fats dissolve first
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 The Art of the Dial-In 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.
If your coffee tastes unpleasantly sharp and sour, what is the most likely chemical explanation?
Get it right to open this lesson and 13 more in the app.
Where The Art of the Dial-In takes you
Move beyond following recipes to understanding the variables of extraction. Learn to diagnose flavor profiles and manipulate water, heat, and grind to brew the perfect cup every time.
- 1
Diagnosing the Cup
- Saving a Bad Brew
- The Extraction Spectrum
- 2
Precision Variables
- Water Chemistry and Heat
- Agitation and Flow Control
- The Recipe Framework
2 sections · 5 units · 14 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
The Art of the Dial-In 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.
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Start The Art of the Dial-In today.
Download Tomo, search The Art of the Dial-In, and play your first lesson in under a minute.