Creating beautiful foam designs on espresso isn’t exactly neuroscience, but the fluid dynamics of milk and espresso are tricky to master. Regardless, breaking down all latte art designs into four components makes the process a little easier to digest—unless you’re lactose intolerant.

Here are some important steps to take into consideration when you want to create a beautiful and presentable latte art:

1. Height

To avoid white foam immediately covering your brown coffee canvas, the first thing you need to do is to use the milk foam to form a base under the espresso before using it to create the top layer of latte art. When performing this action, think of the milk foam as someone jumping into the water from a diving board, and the espresso in the cup as the pool water.

A diver not only dives from a distance from the water, but also has to shrink his body as much as possible when his body touches the water in order to create smaller ripples and reduce the vibration of the pool water. The milk poured into the coffee should be as thin as the diver at the beginning - about as thin as Mickey Mouse's tail, and poured from a height of about 2 inches (about 5 cm) from the surface of the coffee.

If the diver faces the entry point, then hits the water on his belly and hopes to stretch his limbs on the surface - just like you want your milk foam to draw a heart or even a Rosetta flower (you can do it eventually). Use a big slosh to reduce the pain. This swimming movement allows the diver to return to the surface position before the entry, and this slosh is necessary to treat the milk foam when you start to make a latte art on the surface.

When you have already added the milk into the cup in a high-diving manner, you can start making latte art on the surface. When pouring the milk foam, try to bring the mouth of the milk froth pot as close to the coffee as possible; you will find that the closer the mouth of the pot is to the coffee, the more white milk foam will float on the surface of the coffee, instead of sinking all to the bottom of the coffee. So remember this rhyme: Start high and slow, then bring it down low. (Wait a minute and we will tell you the second half of this rhyme)

2. Position

When you pour milk foam into coffee to create a symmetrical latte art design, remember that you are pouring one liquid into another liquid. This means that the "canvas" is not a fixed, flat surface when you draw the pattern: the force of the milk foam pouring into the coffee will push the latte art design and the coffee in the cup forward. When pouring the milk foam, you have to mix the white milk foam and the brown coffee at the same time.

If you pour the milk foam steadily into the coffee from the exact center, you will get a pattern that radiates outward from the center; but if you pour it off-center, the momentum of the milk foam pouring into the coffee will draw a long, clumsy, snake-like line that curls around the cup.

【Advanced Action】:

If you pour the foam while the cup is flat on a counter or table, it will make it easier to center the cup, but the foam won't be enough to create a deep base for your latte art. If you pour the foam in the cup slightly tilted and then smoothly straightened, you will have to gently correct the path of the foam to make sure it is poured into the cup from the center, but once you get the hang of it you will be able to create a beautifully proportioned white and brown pattern.

3. Flow

The amount of milk foam flow is the most important factor in determining whether you see a flowery or muddy mess in the cup. Pouring too much milk foam too quickly will destroy or even disintegrate the milk foam that we originally hoped to paint on the coffee canvas (pouring too much milk foam too far away from the coffee will result in something like the American Splashtown water world amusement park, with messy shoes and milk everywhere, and no beautiful design at all).

Remember the rhyme we talked about earlier? “Start high and slow, then lower the mouth of the kettle”. The second half of it is: “Increase the flow”, so you can make beautiful latte art!

"Lower the mouth of the pot" means to lower it as much as possible.

Remember: the closer you place the mouth of the milk frother to the coffee, the more latte art you can create – you may want the mouth of the frother to touch the coffee cup, I prefer you to keep it this low.

【Please note】

The action of "increasing the flow of milk foam" must be done after lowering the mouth of the pot. These two actions cannot be performed at the same time - > Do not increase the flow of milk foam while you lower the mouth of the pot; instead, increase the flow of milk foam when you put the mouth of the pot at the lowest point or closest to the cup. This set of continuous combination actions of "lowering the mouth of the pot and increasing the flow" allows you to pour the white foam in the milk foam pot from the bottom of the pot, allowing you to easily (skillfully and artistically) place the milk foam on the surface of the coffee.

4. Control

If you just want to make a heart-shaped latte art or a classic apple latte art like a monk's head, the first three basic techniques are enough. But if you want to make a Rosetta latte art or a tulip latte art, you must control the milk foam in your hands.

Want to make Rosetta latte art?

Making a basic Rosetta is not as difficult as it looks on the surface, but making a Rosetta does require mastering the first three elements: height, posture and flow.

The so-called "control" refers to the gentle swinging of the milk frother on both sides to outline the petals of the flower.

First, about the swing, this is not a back-to-forward attack that does not involve moving the whole arm. Instead, this swing is more like a gradual movement with the brakes on; the so-called gentle swing of the milk frother is performed by tightening and loosening the hand holding the milk frother handle, just like holding the brake when riding a bicycle.

By applying pressure with your thumb to control the swing, you can make the milk frother produce an even and consistent pendulum swing, so that you can draw the Rosetta petals after lowering the milk frother and increasing the milk froth flow.

When you have the number of petals you want and have decided to move on to the finishing touches, raise your milk frother again to about 2 inches (5 cm) above the coffee (this is the height at which you initially poured the milk foam into the coffee), and use a thin stream of milk to create an elegant stem from the narrowest part of the petal to the widest part.

Want to make tulip lace

To make tulip latte art, you must know the rule of "when to stop and when to continue pouring milk foam". Unlike Rosetta latte art, which requires shaking the milk froth pot on both sides, tulip latte art is produced by controlling the height and flow at the same time.

As mentioned before, pour the milk froth high and slow – however, this time, instead of lowering the spout while continuing to pour the milk froth, stop pouring the milk froth completely before lowering the spout of your milk frother.

When you start pouring milk foam into the center of the coffee again, make sure your spout is as close to the coffee as possible and pour the milk foam in forcefully and steadily. You should see a white halo in the cup, which is the first layer of the tulip latte art. When this halo is close to your ideal size, stop pouring milk foam, and then lift the spout of the milk froth jug back before you start pouring milk foam again (you must lower the spout and pour the milk foam quickly) and make the second layer of tulip latte art.

After repeating the above process to make the third layer of tulip latte art, reduce the flow of milk foam while raising the milk frother. Then draw a flower stem in the middle of the third layer of tulip petals. This completes the tulip latte art!