Coffee Knowledge | Four Basic Skills of Coffee Latte Art Tutorial

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 easier to digest—unless you’re lactose intolerant.

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

1. Height

If you don’t want white foam to immediately cover your brown coffee canvas, the first thing you need to do is to let the milk foam 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 surface, but also has to shrink his body as much as possible when his body touches the water surface 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 surface with his belly and hopes to stretch his limbs on the surface - just like you want your milk foam to draw a heart shape or even a Rosetta flower (you can do it eventually). Use a big slosh to reduce pain. This swimming movement will allow 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 flower pattern on the surface.

Once you've high-dive your milk into the cup, you can start making latte art on the surface by bringing the mouth of the milk frother as close to the coffee as possible. You'll find that the closer the mouth of the frother is to the coffee, the more white milk foam will float on the surface of the coffee, rather than sinking to the bottom. So remember this rhyme: Start high and slow, then bring it down low. (We'll tell you the second half of this rhyme later.)

2. Position

When you pour milk foam into coffee to create a symmetrical latte art design, you must remember that you are pouring one liquid into another liquid, which means that this "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 pattern and the coffee in the cup forward, and you have to mix the white milk foam and the brown coffee while pouring the milk foam.

If you pour the milk foam steadily from the center of the coffee, 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 the coffee cup is placed flat on the counter or table when pouring the milk foam, it will make it easier for you to aim at the center of the cup, but in this way, the milk foam is not enough to make a deep base for you to draw the latte art pattern. If you tilt the cup slightly when pouring the milk foam at the beginning and then return the cup to the right position steadily, although you must gently correct the flow path of the milk foam to ensure that the milk foam is poured into the cup from the center point, but when you master the technique, you will draw a white and brown pattern with beautiful proportions.

3. Flow

The amount of milk foam flow is the most important factor in determining whether you see a flowery or messy 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" and the second half of it is: "Increase the flow of milk foam" so that you can make beautiful latte art! "Lower the mouth" means as low as possible. Remember: the closer the mouth of the milk frother is to the coffee, the more latte art you can make - you may want the mouth of the milk frother to touch the coffee cup, I want you to put the mouth of the milk frother 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" can enable 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 hand.

【Want to make Rosetta latte art】

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

The so-called "control" refers to the milk frothing jug gently swinging on both sides to outline the petals of the flower.

First, about the swing. This is not an attack from the back to the front, which does not require the whole arm to move. Instead, this swing is more like a gradual movement with the brakes on; the so-called gentle swing of the milk frother is achieved by holding the milk frother.

The handle of the teapot is held in a gripping and relaxing pattern, just like holding down the brakes 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 drawn the number of petals you want and decide to enter the finishing stage, raise your milk frother again to 2 inches (about 5 cm) from the coffee (this position is the height you pour the milk foam into the coffee at the beginning), and then use a thin stream of milk to draw an elegant flower stem from the narrowest part of the petal to the widest part.

【Want to make tulip latte art】

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 achieved by controlling the height and flow at the same time.

As mentioned before, pour the milk froth high and slow – but this time, don’t lower 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 pot mouth 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 the halo is close to your ideal size, stop pouring milk foam, and then continue pouring milk foam (you must lower the pot mouth and pour the milk foam quickly). Before making the second layer of tulip latte art, lift the mouth of the milk froth pot back. After making the third layer of tulip latte art through the above process, reduce the flow of milk foam while raising the milk froth pot, and then draw a flower stem from the middle of the third layer of tulip petals, and the tulip latte art is complete!

About the author:

Erin Meister is a coffee trainer at Counter Culture Coffee. She is also a confident professional barista, a fearless foodie, and a nervous chef.