Tuning Your Brew
Move beyond following recipes and learn to manipulate the variables of extraction to fix any cup of coffee.
Like Duolingo, but for Tuning Your Brew. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Mechanics of Extraction and Advanced Variables and Origin. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Tuning Your Brew
- Acids and salts are the most soluble compounds and dissolve into the water first
- Over-extraction pulls out heavy tannins and plant fibers that create a drying astringency
- Under-extraction leaves behind the sugars that would normally balance the sourness
- Bitterness increases as the brew time extends past the point of sweetness
- Identifying under-extraction by its specific flavor profile
- Recognizing the sensory markers of over-extraction
- The sweet spot occurs when acidity is ripe rather than sour and bitterness is a subtle backbone
- Strength (TDS) refers to the concentration of solids, while yield refers to what was taken from the bean
- Balance is achieved when no single flavor note overwhelms the others
- A high dose of coffee with too little water results in a strong but under-extracted brew
- Bright acids and salts appear in the first few seconds of the brew
- Defining the sensory goal of the 'Sweet Spot'
- Sugars and caramel notes dominate the middle 'heart' of the extraction
- Distinguishing between strength and extraction yield
- Bitter, woody, and astringent notes only appear at the very end of the flow
- Understanding the chronological emergence of flavors during brewing
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 Tuning Your Brew 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 brew leaves your tongue feeling dry like a desert island, what heavy compounds have ye likely pulled out?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where Tuning Your Brew takes you
- 1
The Mechanics of Extraction
- Diagnosing the Extraction Spectrum
- Controlling the Flow
- 2
Advanced Variables and Origin
- The Invisible Solvents: Water and Heat
- Decoding Processing and Density
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Tuning Your Brew is taught in the The Pirate style: arr, learning be an adventure!. 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 Tuning Your Brew today.
Download Tomo, search Tuning Your Brew, and play your first lesson in under a minute.