The Professional Barista's Craft
Like Duolingo, but for The Professional Barista's Craft. 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 4 sections, about 42 minutes end to end, roughly 8 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Precision Extraction, Milk and Texture Mastery, The Professional Workflow, and Maintenance and Chemistry. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in The Professional Barista's Craft
- Crema volume changes based on bean freshness while weight stays constant
- Acids and salts extract first, creating a sharp or salty profile if stopped early
- Measuring yield in grams ensures the exact ratio of water to coffee solids
- Heavy tannins and bitter compounds extract last, creating a dry or ashy taste
- Why weight is a more reliable metric than volume for shot consistency
- Distinguishing the sensory profiles of under-extraction and over-extraction
- Finer grinds create more resistance, slowing the water flow through the puck
- Increased contact time allows the water to dissolve more sugars and balance acidity
- Degassing reduces the internal pressure in the puck, causing water to flow faster
- Tightening the grind compensates for the lack of CO2 resistance in older beans
- Using grind size to manipulate extraction time
- The Salami Shot separates an extraction into timed cups to show flavor stages
- Acids extract almost instantly, followed by sugars, then bitter plant fibers
- Adjusting for bean age and CO2 loss
- The flavor evolution sequence in a Salami Shot
- Clumps in the dry grounds create paths of least resistance for water
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 Professional Barista's Craft 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 you stop your espresso shot too early, what kind of flavor profile should you expect to taste?
Get it right to open this lesson and 20 more in the app.
Where The Professional Barista's Craft takes you
Move beyond basic brewing to master the precision, chemistry, and workflow of a professional espresso bar. Learn to manipulate extraction variables and perfect your microfoam for world-class drinks.
- 1
Precision Extraction
- Dialing In for Flavor
- The Physics of the Puck
- 2
Milk and Texture Mastery
- Microfoam Science
- Latte Art Control
- 3
The Professional Workflow
- High-Volume Efficiency
- Modern Espresso Ratios
- 4
Maintenance and Chemistry
- Water and Machine Care
4 sections · 7 units · 21 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
The Professional Barista's Craft is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. 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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Espresso Barista Techniques
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The Art of the Espresso Shot
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The Home Barista's Craft
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Start The Professional Barista's Craft today.
Download Tomo, search The Professional Barista's Craft, and play your first lesson in under a minute.