The Craft of Better Coffee
Move beyond the morning caffeine hit and learn to manipulate extraction, water chemistry, and bean genetics to brew the perfect cup.
Like Duolingo, but for The Craft of Better Coffee. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
18 levels across 3 sections, about 36 minutes end to end, roughly 7 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Dialing in the Perfect Cup, The Sensory Palette, and Origin and Chemistry. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in The Craft of Better Coffee
- A 1:15 ratio produces a higher concentration of coffee solids and a heavier body
- Coarser particles create larger gaps for water to pass through quickly
- Increasing to a 1:17 ratio dilutes the strength while allowing more clarity of flavor
- Finer grinds increase surface area and resistance, slowing the water flow
- The Golden Ratio typically sits between 1:15 and 1:18 depending on desired intensity
- Flow rate directly determines how long water is in contact with the coffee
- Applying the Golden Ratio to adjust coffee strength and flavor balance
- Predicting how grind size affects water flow and extraction time
- Acids and salts are the first compounds to dissolve during extraction
- Changing two variables at once makes it impossible to tell which one fixed the flavor
- Sugars and oils follow the acids, providing the 'sweet spot' of the brew
- Plant fibers and tannins extract last, contributing harsh bitterness
- Isolating one variable, like grind size, reveals its specific impact on the cup
- Systematic adjustments prevent 'chasing your tail' when dialing in a new bean
- Identifying the flavor profile of different extraction stages using the Salami Shot
- Understanding the importance of isolating variables during dialing-in
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 Craft of Better Coffee 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.
Why does water move so much faster through a French Press grind than an espresso grind?
Get it right to open this lesson and 17 more in the app.
Where The Craft of Better Coffee takes you
- 1
Dialing in the Perfect Cup
- Precision Extraction
- Water: The Silent Ingredient
- 2
The Sensory Palette
- Tasting with Intention
- Decoding the Coffee Label
- 3
Origin and Chemistry
- The Alchemy of Processing
- The Science of the Roast
3 sections · 6 units · 18 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
The Craft of Better Coffee 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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Start The Craft of Better Coffee today.
Download Tomo, search The Craft of Better Coffee, and play your first lesson in under a minute.