Comparison

Coffee Journal vs Espresso Journal

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Coffee Journal

Log your coffee brews, beans, and recipes in a digital journal. Track brewing details, tasting notes, and coffee bag aging. Discover new recipes and connect with the coffee community.

Highlights
  • Coffee journal for brews and café visits
  • Track beans, roast dates, and aging
  • Explore and save coffee recipes
  • Organize coffee gear
  • AI bag scanning for details
  • Coffee community feed
Read full description

BeanBook is a free coffee app for specialty coffee lovers. Keep a coffee journal, organize your beans with a coffee tracker, explore coffee recipes, and follow the coffee world in the Coffee Feed. Remember what made each cup great. Save your photos, tasting notes, grind settings and brewing details together, from your morning pour-over to a memorable café visit. YOUR COFFEE LIBRARY - Beans, Brews, Recipes and Gear live in one library, a swipe apart. - One + button adds a bag, brew, recipe or gear from any page. - Filter My Beans by In use, Finished, Wishlist, freshness or label, and open Brew calc from any page. - Open My Coffee Wrapped, your coffee year, in one tap (Pro). THE COFFEE FEED - Read facts and real voices from the coffee community on new beans and gear, daily, each with its sources, quotes and key notes. - See what coffee people are arguing about in Hot takes, and vote in the Daily Poll. - Catch new coffee drops and deals from roasters in your region. - Save a bag you spot to your Wishlist, log a café cup of it, and move it to My Beans when you buy it. - Save stories to read later. YOUR COFFEE JOURNAL - Record home brews and café visits with photos, notes and ratings. - Track dose, ratio, grind, water temperature and brew time. - Log the water and mineral drops you brewed with. - Send Brew Calculator's ratio, water and pours straight into a Brew Log. - Attach beans, Gear and recipes to each Brew Log. - Save a setup as a template (gear, recipe, numbers and steps) and start your next brews from it (Pro). - Customize sections and backgrounds to make the journal your own. - Changes save as you edit. - Revisit your cups in a list, see every brew on a check-in calendar and every café on a map. YOUR COFFEE TRACKER - Scan coffee bags with AI to fill in the roaster, origin, process and tasting notes. - Track roast dates, resting time and how each bag is aging. - Pause the roast clock while a bag is frozen. - See how much coffee is left in each bag as you brew. - Match your beans to jars with numbered or custom container labels. - Remember your favorite coffees and keep a history of finished bags. EXPLORE COFFEE RECIPES - Discover brewing methods and save your own coffee recipes. - Keep dose, ratio, grind settings and temperature ready for your next brew. - Start a Brew Log from a saved recipe. - Calculate water amounts for two to five pours with Brew Calculator. - Follow your brew with the built-in timer. Find recipes for Hario V60, AeroPress, Hario Switch, OXO Rapid Brewer, V60 NEO, NextLevel Pulsar, Deep27, Origami, Orea, Chemex, French Press and Cezve. Explore recipes from coffee professionals including James Hoffmann, Tetsu Kasuya, Lance Hedrick, Scott Rao, The Coffee Chronicler, April Coffee Roasters and World Brewers Cup champions. YOUR COFFEE GEAR - Organize grinders, brewers, kettles and scales with photos, notes and ratings. - Save grinder settings for the coffees you brew. - Find related Brew Logs on bean and Gear pages. - Keep a wish list for your next setup. BEANBOOK AI - Scan bags to spend less time entering coffee details. - Ask about origins, processing, flavor notes and brewing techniques. - Get suggestions for grind size, temperature, resting time and extraction. FREE TO START BeanBook is a free coffee app with optional Pro features. Keep up to 10 fully unlocked Brew Logs on the free plan, plus unlimited basic logs with photos, notes, beans, locations and overall ratings. BeanBook Pro unlocks unlimited beans, recipes and Gear, plus advanced Brew Log features beyond the free allowance. Brew, taste, remember. Keep your coffee journey in BeanBook. Terms of Service: https://beanbook.app/terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://beanbook.app/policy

About

Espresso Journal

Log and analyze every aspect of your espresso brewing to understand what makes a great shot. Track details like timing, weight, bean origin, and tasting notes to refine your technique and achieve consistent results. Perfect for home baristas and coffee professionals seeking to improve their craft.

Highlights
  • Shot timing and yield tracking
  • Bean origin and roast details
  • Equipment and recipe logging
  • Tasting notes and ratings
  • Built-in shot timer
  • Recipe management
  • iCloud sync
Features
Read full description

Espresso Journal is a simple log for home espresso. Record each shot, see what you changed, and get to a better cup sooner. LOG A SHOT IN SECONDS New shots start from your last one, so you only change what you're dialing in. Start the timer, pull the shot, and the brew time is filled in for you. Add dose, yield, grind setting, grinder RPM, grind time, temperature, a rating and notes. KEEP TRACK OF YOUR BEANS AND GEAR Save the roaster, origin, process and roast date for each coffee, with a link to the shop for when you need more. Add your machine, grinder, portafilters and baskets. ON IPHONE AND IPAD Your journal syncs through iCloud. Export your shots as a spreadsheet whenever you like. ESPRESSO JOURNAL PRO A one-time purchase, shared with your family: • Take a photo of a bag and the app reads the label for you • Recipes for the drinks you make often • Charts comparing grind, ratio and time with how you rated each shot • The shot timer on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, and a Pull a Shot button for Control Center and Siri • Bean stock, shot cards and flavor notes Questions or ideas? Use Send Feedback in Settings.

Screenshots

Coffee Journal4 screens
Espresso Journal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Coffee Journal at every 5 days against Espresso Journal's every 5 months. Coffee Journal also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.7) and ratings volume (30 vs 3). Espresso Journal's advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium) and review sentiment (100% vs 91%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Coffee Journal sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $7.90 per month and Espresso Journal sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Coffee Journal holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Coffee Journal has 30 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 91% of Coffee Journal's written reviews are positive against 100% of Espresso Journal's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Coffee Journal ships an update every 5 days, Espresso Journal every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Coffee Journal versus Espresso Journal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCoffee JournalEspresso Journal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (30 ratings) — better4.7 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews91.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings30 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size104 MB6 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperBitleverGruffydd Johnston

Customer experience

Coffee Journal

All ratings30 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive91.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.7%

Espresso Journal

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Coffee Journal

Subscriptions4
  • BeanBook Pro Monthly$7.901 Month
  • BeanBook Pro1 Month trial$35.901 Year
  • BeanBook Pro1 Month trial$49.901 Year
Show 1 more
  • BeanBook Pro1 Year trial$49.901 Year
1 purchases

Espresso Journal

One-time1
  • Espresso Journal Pro$9.99

Questions

Is Coffee Journal free?
Coffee Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Espresso Journal free?
Espresso Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Coffee Journal or Espresso Journal?
Coffee Journal is rated higher. Coffee Journal averages 4.9 out of 5 from 30 ratings, while Espresso Journal averages 4.7 from 3 ratings.
Do Coffee Journal or Espresso Journal have ads?
Neither Coffee Journal nor Espresso Journal shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Coffee Journal or Espresso Journal?
Coffee Journal ships an update every 5 days, and Espresso Journal every 5 months. Most recently, Coffee Journal was updated on November 12, 2026 and Espresso Journal on November 5, 2026.

Other comparisons