Roast and Extraction: The Espresso Method
Like Duolingo, but for Roast and Extraction: The Espresso Method. 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 The Chemistry of the Roast, The Physics of Espresso, and Texture and Evaluation. It assumes you already know the basics.
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Key ideas in Roast and Extraction: The Espresso Method
- Terroir refers to the unique flavor profile imparted by a bean's specific soil and climate
- Dark roasts involve carbonization which introduces bittersweet, smoky notes
- Light roasts preserve organic acids that create fruity and floral notes
- Oils migrate to the bean surface as the cellular structure breaks down in dark roasts
- Before the crack, the process is endothermic as the bean primarily absorbs heat
- First Crack is an exothermic reaction where built-up pressure escapes the bean
- Darker roasts are more porous, allowing water to extract solubles much faster
- Increased porosity means the bean's physical structure has expanded and weakened
- Medium roasts balance the remaining acidity with developed sugars
- First Crack is an exothermic reaction
- The 'sweet spot' occurs when caramelization masks sharp acids without adding char
- Darker roasts are more porous
- Recognizing the goal of a medium roast profile
- Maillard reaction occurs when sugars and amino acids interact under heat
- Identifying the roast profile that highlights a bean's unique geographic origin
- This reaction transforms raw, grassy seeds into aromatic, savory beans
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 Roast and Extraction: The Espresso Method 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 a coffee pro talks about 'terroir,' what are they actually describing?
Get it right to open this lesson and 20 more in the app.
Where Roast and Extraction: The Espresso Method takes you
Move beyond the basics of brewing to understand how roast chemistry and precision extraction physics create the perfect shot of espresso.
- 1
The Chemistry of the Roast
- The Spectrum of Roast Profiles
- Inside the Roasting Drum
- 2
The Physics of Espresso
- Precision Puck Preparation
- Navigating Extraction Variables
- Diagnosing and Fixing the Shot
- 3
Texture and Evaluation
- Milk Science and Microfoam
- Sensory Analysis and Palate
3 sections · 7 units · 21 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Roast and Extraction: The Espresso Method is taught in the Explain Like I'm 5 style: no big words. promise.. 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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