CoffeeHQ Academy · 9 levels
Become a Barista
You make espresso-based coffee at home, or are about to start work behind a machine, and want the skills in the order they build on each other.
Each level teaches one layer, gives you a tool to use, an exercise to run on your own equipment, a fault to reason through and questions to check yourself against. By the end you can dial in a coffee you have never used, steam milk to a texture you chose, build the main café drinks and keep a machine in working order.
How each level works
- It opens with what you will be able to do, not with a list of topics.
- The teaching is on the page, with each section labelled as sourced, convention, tendency or explanation.
- One tool, with a specific task to carry out on it.
- One exercise to run on your own equipment, written as a protocol with its limits stated.
- One fault or problem, reasoned through step by step.
- Questions to check yourself against. Nothing is scored or recorded.
What this is not. It is not a certificate and cannot be one. Nothing here was assessed by anyone, and hand skills such as steaming and pouring are learned at the machine. Use it beside practice, not instead of it.
Foundations
The ideas every later level assumes: dose, water, ratio, grind and extraction.
Level 1. Barista foundations
Dose, water, ratio, grind and extraction — the five ideas everything else rests on.
After this level you can:
- Weigh a dose and a brew and state the ratio between them
- Explain the difference between a strong cup and a well-extracted one
- Predict which direction a grind change will move the taste
- Assumes
- Nothing
- Tool
- Coffee ratio and strength calculator
- Exercise
- The ratio ladder
Espresso
How a shot is made, how to read one, and how to correct it one variable at a time.
Level 2. Espresso foundations
What the machine does, what the puck does, and how to read a shot as it runs.
After this level you can:
- Name the parts of an espresso machine that touch the coffee and say what each does
- Choose a dose for your basket and a target yield, and state the ratio
- Prepare a puck the same way every time: distribute, level, tamp
- Assumes
- Level 1: Barista foundations
- Tool
- Espresso dose and yield calculator
- Exercise
- One shot in three cups
Level 3. Dialling in
A repeatable method for turning a bad shot into a good one, one variable at a time.
After this level you can:
- Run a dial-in with a fixed dose and yield, changing only the grind
- Tell a strength problem from an extraction problem from an evenness problem
- Choose the first adjustment for a sour, bitter, thin, harsh, fast or slow shot
- Assumes
- Level 2: Espresso foundations
- Tool
- Espresso dial-in assistant
- Exercise
- A one-variable dial-in
Milk and drinks
Texturing milk on purpose, then building the café menu from the same two ingredients.
Level 4. Milk
What foam is, how a steam wand makes it, and why each milk behaves the way it does.
After this level you can:
- Explain what holds milk foam together and what destroys it
- Steam in two phases: add air early, then texture without adding more
- Stop at a temperature you chose, by thermometer or by touch
- Assumes
- Level 1: Barista foundations
- Tool
- Milk frothing troubleshooter
- Exercise
- Milk at three temperatures
Level 5. Drink construction
The café menu as a small set of decisions about espresso, water, milk and foam.
After this level you can:
- Describe each core drink by its components rather than its name
- Build a cortado, flat white, cappuccino and latte from the same espresso
- Choose a cup and a milk texture to suit each drink
- Assumes
- Level 3: Dialling in; Level 4: Milk
- Tool
- Drink composition comparator
- Exercise
- One espresso, three milk drinks
Working like a barista
Sequence, pouring and the cleaning that keeps the coffee tasting of coffee.
Level 6. Workflow
Doing the same things in the same order, so quality does not depend on having a good day.
After this level you can:
- Lay out a station so that every tool has one place
- Sequence a shot and a jug of milk so neither waits for the other
- Steam the right amount of milk for the drinks in front of you
- Assumes
- Level 5: Drink construction
- Tool
- Milk drink builder
- Exercise
- Two drinks, one sequence
Level 7. Latte art foundations
Why patterns form, the three phases of a pour, and the order in which to learn them.
After this level you can:
- Explain why white foam sits on top in one moment and sinks in another
- Pour in three phases: integrate, set the pattern, finish
- Control height and flow rate independently
- Assumes
- Level 4: Milk
- Tool
- Milk frothing troubleshooter
- Exercise
- Pouring practice without wasting milk
Level 8. Maintenance
Cleaning and descaling are different jobs, and your manual outranks every schedule.
After this level you can:
- Tell cleaning from descaling and say what each removes
- Decide whether your machine can be backflushed, and do it correctly if so
- Keep a steam wand, basket, shower screen and grinder clean
- Assumes
- Level 2: Espresso foundations
- Tool
- Cleaning and maintenance planner
- Exercise
- A maintenance audit of your own machine
Advanced
Pre-infusion, pressure, flow and measurement — and how much of it you need.
Level 9. Advanced espresso
Pre-infusion, pressure, flow, baskets and measurement — and an honest view of what each buys you.
After this level you can:
- Explain what pre-infusion is for and when it helps
- Describe pressure and flow as two views of the same shot
- Predict how basket size and shape change the dose and grind you need
- Assumes
- Level 3: Dialling in
- Tool
- Extraction yield calculator
- Exercise
- A classic shot and a faster, longer one
Alongside the levels
- Practical exercisesEvery exercise from both programmes in one place, each as a full protocol.
- Tasting LabA worksheet for your own tasting notes: one coffee, two side by side, or blind.
- LearnThe other programme, and shorter reading paths on single subjects.