Food & DrinkThe BestieIntermediate
The Better Brew: Beyond the Basics course icon

The Better Brew: Beyond the Basics

Like Duolingo, but for The Better Brew: Beyond the Basics. 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.

54 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free during early access · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Bennie the Bean
The Better Brew: Beyond the Basics
with Bennie the Bean
54
Levels
4
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in The Better Brew: Beyond the Basics

  • Excess water pulls out harsh, dry flavors from the grounds
  • Under-extracted coffee is dominated by acids that taste sour
  • Over-extraction leads to a lingering bitter taste
  • Too little water fails to extract the sweet and bitter compounds
  • The sensory consequence of using too much water relative to coffee grounds
  • The relationship between low water volume and sourness
  • Beans vary in size and density based on how they are roasted
  • Water acts as a solvent that pulls flavors out in a specific order
  • A scoop measures space, but the scale measures the actual amount of coffee
  • The ratio determines which flavor stage the brew ends on
  • Mapping water-to-coffee ratios to their flavor outcomes
  • Less water increases the concentration of coffee solids
  • Why weight is superior to volume for consistency
  • Reducing water prevents the extraction of thin, bitter notes
  • Predicting the result of a specific ratio change
  • Water pulls flavor from the surface of the coffee particle first
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 The Better Brew: Beyond the Basics 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.

Finding the Sweet Spot

If your morning brew tastes sharp and puckeringly sour, what is the most likely culprit?

Get it right to open this lesson and 53 more in the app.

Course map

Where The Better Brew: Beyond the Basics takes you

Move past the simple drip machine and learn how to manipulate flavor like a pro. Master the variables that turn a decent cup of coffee into a masterpiece of balance and clarity.

  1. 1

    Dialing In Your Daily Cup

    • The Golden Ratio: Balancing Water and Grounds
    • Grind Size and Its Impact on Taste
    • Temperature: Why Boiling Water Might Be Too Hot
    • Agitation: The Art of Stirring and Pouring
  2. 2

    Developing a Professional Palate

    • Identifying Sourness vs. Pleasant Acidity
    • Bitterness: Over-Extraction and How to Fix It
    • Body and Mouthfeel: From Tea-like to Syrupy
    • The Finish: Evaluating the Aftertaste
    • Aroma: Smelling What You Taste
    • The Flavor Wheel: Putting Words to Notes
  3. 3

    Choosing the Right Tools and Beans

    • Immersion vs. Percolation: Choosing Your Method
    • Reading the Bag: Processing Methods Explained
    • Freshness Windows: When to Use Your Beans
  4. 4

    The Science of the Bean

    • Water Chemistry: Why Filtered Water Matters
    • The Maillard Reaction: What Happens During Roasting
    • Altitude and Density: How Environment Shapes Flavor
    • Degassing: The Role of Carbon Dioxide
    • Solubility: What Actually Dissolves in Your Cup

4 sections · 18 units · 54 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Bestie

The Better Brew: Beyond the Basics 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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