The Science of Specialty Coffee
Like Duolingo, but for The Science of Specialty Coffee. 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 Extraction Dynamics, The Chemistry of the Cup, and Origin and Sensory Mastery.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in The Science of Specialty Coffee
- Soluble solids account for ~20-30% of the puck's mass
- Pre-infusion swells the coffee particles to close micro-voids
- Loss of mass increases the permeability of the coffee bed
- Saturating the puck ensures water travels through the coffee rather than around it
- Constant pressure on a degrading puck leads to a 'runaway' flow rate
- Low-pressure wetting creates a uniform hydraulic resistance across the entire bed
- Puck resistance decreases as the shot progresses
- The mechanical purpose of pre-infusion in preventing bypass
- Uneven tamping creates a pressure gradient across the puck
- Clumping during dosing creates localized areas of high and low density
- WDT (Weiss Distribution Technique) is required to homogenize the bed density
- Low-pressure pre-brew saturates the puck
- Mechanical purpose of pre-infusion
- Peak pressure (9 bar) extracts the desirable acids and sugars
- Tapering pressure prevents the extraction of heavy, bitter tannins
- Identifying causes of channeling beyond grind size
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 Science of Specialty 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.
When you pull a shot, what percentage of the dry coffee's mass is actually capable of dissolving into the water?
Get it right to open this lesson and 20 more in the app.
Where The Science of Specialty Coffee takes you
Move beyond basic brewing into the complex chemistry of extraction, water composition, and experimental fermentation. This course is designed for the enthusiast who wants to master the variables that define world-class coffee.
- 1
Precision Extraction Dynamics
- Flow Profiling and Puck Physics
- Solubility and Yield Management
- 2
The Chemistry of the Cup
- Water Composition and Ion Exchange
- Milk Science and Microfoam
- 3
Origin and Sensory Mastery
- Advanced Processing and Fermentation
- Varietal Genetics and Terroir
- Professional Sensory Evaluation
3 sections · 7 units · 21 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
The Science of Specialty Coffee 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 Science of Specialty Coffee today.
Download Tomo, search The Science of Specialty Coffee, and play your first lesson in under a minute.