Coffee school in your browser
Seven animated studios take you from the coffee tree to latte art. Steam the milk, dial in the espresso, pour the swan. Pause any moment, step through it, and see what the milk is doing.
Also an app for Android and iPhone
Best on a bigger screen. For the best experience, open the studios on a laptop or a tablet. A phone works, but the animations and controls have more room on a larger screen.
The road of the bean
Each studio follows coffee one step further, the way the bean travels. Every one is an animated lesson with the theory underneath.
On the farm
Grow a coffee tree from a seed and follow its year: the flowers, the green cherries, the red ones and the harvest.
At the mill
Open a ripe cherry and follow the seed through washed, natural and honey processing, fermentation and drying.
In the roastery
Watch a drum roaster turn green beans brown, catch first and second crack, and learn to read the roast curve.
At the espresso machine
Dial in a shot step by step: dose, yield, time and grind size, and what to change when it tastes sour or bitter.
At the brew bar
Brew a pour-over with three different kettles: the bloom, where and how to pour, and a calculator for your own recipe.
At the steam wand
Steam silky milk in ten steps: how deep the tip goes, the whirlpool, the sounds, and the right temperature for each drink.
In the cup
Pour 20 latte-art patterns, from the heart to the swan and the phoenix, one move at a time: where the pitcher goes, how high and how fast.
Start anywhere. Most people start with milk steaming and the heart.
How a lesson works
Videos go by too fast to copy. In a studio you control the moment.
You see the cup the way you see it at the bar, with close-ups of what the milk and the coffee are doing.
Every lesson has a timeline and step buttons. Stop on the exact second a pattern forms and watch it again.
Each studio shows the common mistakes beside the correct version, so you know what yours means and how to fix it.
A theory section with its own pictures explains what is happening and why it works.
The app
Seed to Swan is also an app for Android and iPhone: its own icon on your home screen, full screen, and it works offline. Put your phone next to the machine and pour along.
Free. On iPhone it's added from Safari in four taps: see how.
Made by a working barista
Seed to Swan is made by Gio, a working barista. Every pattern in the Pour Studio is checked against real pours like these, so what you practise is what works at a real machine.
The studios for the tree, the mill and the roastery are built from coffee research Gio collected: variety catalogues, processing studies and roasting guides.
Accounts are on the way. They will keep your progress, so you can pick up on your phone where you left off on your laptop.
Questions
Not to learn. Every studio works on its own. To practise the pours and the dial-in you need a machine with a steam wand, and the studios show you what to do at it.
Yes. Every studio runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers. You can also put Seed to Swan on your phone as an app, for Android and iPhone: get the app.
Yes. All seven studios are free right now, with no account.
Home baristas with a new machine, café staff learning the bar, and anyone who wants to know where their coffee comes from.
Yes. Send your team the link: every studio is free to use. Team accounts with progress for each barista are planned.
