Food & DrinkThe ProfessorIntermediate
The Coffee Connoisseur’s Journey, a free food & drink course on Tomo

The Coffee Connoisseur’s Journey

Like Duolingo, but for The Coffee Connoisseur’s Journey. 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.

54 levels across 4 sections, about 108 minutes end to end, roughly 22 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Mastering the Espresso Menu, Developing Your Professional Palate, Choosing the Right Bean, and The Global Story of the Bean. It assumes you already know the basics.

54 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Barnaby Bean, the guide who teaches the The Coffee Connoisseur’s Journey course
The Coffee Connoisseur’s Journey
with Barnaby Bean
54
Levels
4
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in The Coffee Connoisseur’s Journey

  • Milk acts as a buffer that dilutes the sharp acidity of espresso
  • A cortado has a 1:1 ratio of milk to coffee
  • Increasing the milk-to-coffee ratio shifts the focus toward creamy notes
  • A latte has the highest volume of milk relative to the espresso shot
  • How milk volume impacts the perception of espresso intensity
  • The hierarchy of milk-to-coffee ratios in common drinks
  • Heating milk increases the perceived sweetness of its natural sugars
  • A cappuccino is defined by its distinct three-part balance
  • Milk's creamy texture coats the tongue and hides coffee's bitterness
  • Distinguishing drinks by their specific milk and foam composition
  • Lattes are dominated by liquid milk rather than foam
  • Why milk makes coffee taste sweeter without sugar
  • Smaller milk drinks preserve the unique origin flavors of the coffee
  • Large amounts of milk can completely mask subtle coffee notes
  • Cortados use a 1:1 ratio of milk to espresso
  • Cortado milk is steamed to a lower temperature for immediate drinking
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives The Coffee Connoisseur’s Journey 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.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Finding the Perfect Balance

If you order a cortado, what is the specific ratio of milk to espresso you should expect?

Get it right to open this lesson and 53 more in the app.

Course map

Where The Coffee Connoisseur’s Journey takes you

Move beyond the basic caffeine fix. Learn to craft the perfect milk-to-espresso ratio, identify subtle flavor notes, and discover how geography shapes your morning cup.

  1. 1

    Mastering the Espresso Menu

    • The Golden Ratio: Balancing Milk and Foam
    • Cortado vs. Flat White: Texture and Intensity
    • The Art of the Micro-foam
    • Iced Variations and Cold Extraction
  2. 2

    Developing Your Professional Palate

    • Acidity vs. Bitterness: Finding the Sweet Spot
    • Identifying Fruit, Nut, and Chocolate Notes
    • How Water Temperature Changes the Taste
    • The Impact of Grind Size on Flavor Clarity
    • Body and Mouthfeel: From Tea-like to Syrupy
    • The Science of the Aftertaste
  3. 3

    Choosing the Right Bean

    • Arabica vs. Robusta: Beyond the Marketing
    • High Altitude and Dense Beans
    • Natural vs. Washed Processing Methods
  4. 4

    The Global Story of the Bean

    • The Journey from Ethiopia to the World
    • Regional Profiles: Africa, Asia, and the Americas
    • The Evolution of Coffee House Culture
    • How Roasting Chemistry Unlocks Potential
    • Sustainability and the Future of the Crop

4 sections · 18 units · 54 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Professor

The Coffee Connoisseur’s Journey 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 Coffee Connoisseur’s Journey today.

Download Tomo, search The Coffee Connoisseur’s Journey, and play your first lesson in under a minute.