How to use this course
Twenty sessions, roughly 40 minutes each. Do them in order — the chain builds on itself, and the brewing block assumes the processing and roast blocks. Each session has a tasting instrument or tool, a short "do this now" step, a quiz, and flashcards. Progress saves in your browser per session.
The honest caveat — the one thing this can't give you
Coffee is the second subject in this series where
you perform the final step yourself — extraction — and it's the least forgiving. No course can supply the coffee, the grinder, or the reps. Treat the reading as the map and the cup in front of you as the territory; the "do this now" steps only work if you actually brew.
On the chain — read a flavor to its cause
The core discipline: don't call a coffee "bad." Ask which
link failed — a field/processing defect, a roast fault, or an extraction error — because each has a different fix. Acidity is a virtue (brightness, not sourness); bitterness is usually roast or extraction, not the bean; and strength (concentration) is not the same as extraction (how much you dissolved).
On grading — this is changing right now
Session 12 covers the SCA's shift to the Coffee Value Assessment (superseding the 2004 cupping form). The 80-point "specialty" reference still circulates, but the framework is a live transition from a single score to a multi-dimensional profile. Treat specific scoring claims as current-as-of-now and worth verifying.