The Craft of the Café
Like Duolingo, but for The Craft of the Café. 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.
21 levels across 3 sections, about 42 minutes end to end, roughly 8 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Precision at the Bar, The Sensory Palate, and The Professional Workflow. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in The Craft of the Café
- Under-extraction pulls acids first
- Increasing dose for heavier body
- Over-extraction pulls tannins
- Yield ratio preserves balance
- Balanced shots and sugars
- Dose changes require grind changes
- Applying the extraction triangle to fix a weak, watery espresso shot
- Distinguishing between under-extraction and over-extraction sensory cues
- Finer particles pack closer together, creating more resistance for the water
- Higher temperatures extract compounds faster, often leading to more bitterness
- Increased resistance from a fine grind slows the flow rate and extends brew time
- Lower temperatures favor the extraction of bright acids over heavier sugars
- Coarser grinds allow water to pass through the puck quickly with less contact
- Temperature stability is vital for repeating the same flavor profile across shots
- The relationship between grind size, resistance, and shot timing
- Understanding the impact of water temperature on extraction speed and acidity
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 the Café 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.
Picture a shot that tastes great but feels thin like tea. What should you increase to add more 'weight' and soluble material to the texture?
Get it right to open this lesson and 20 more in the app.
Where The Craft of the Café takes you
Move beyond basic brewing to master the precision of espresso extraction, sensory analysis, and the workflow of a professional barista.
- 1
Precision at the Bar
- Dialing In for Consistency
- Advanced Milk Texturing
- 2
The Sensory Palate
- Sensory Analysis and Tasting
- Origin and Processing Profiles
- 3
The Professional Workflow
- Barista Workflow and Speed
- Water Chemistry and Maintenance
- The Hospitality Environment
3 sections · 7 units · 21 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
The Craft of the Café is taught in the The Storyteller style: every lesson is a story. 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 the Café today.
Download Tomo, search The Craft of the Café, and play your first lesson in under a minute.