Imagine walking into a boutique coffee shop, ordering a hot latte, and then the store manager served you a delicious milk coffee, but there was no latte art. At this point, would you think it doesn't matter, or that the store owner is crazy, or would you suspect it's April Fools' Day?

It is not clear when latte art has become a part of specialty coffee. When customers visit specialty coffee shops, they take it for granted that latte art is on their milk coffee. But in fact, apart from being beautiful, what is the purpose of latte art? I will explore six aspects to see whether latte art can make a good cup of coffee even better or is it just a waste of time.

Imagine walking into a boutique coffee shop, ordering a hot latte, and then the store manager serves you a delicious milk coffee, but there is no latte art on it. At this point, would you think it doesn't matter, or that the store owner is crazy, or that it's April Fools' Day? It's not clear when latte art has become a part of boutique coffee. When customers visit boutique coffee shops, they think it's natural to have latte art on their milk coffee. But in fact, apart from being beautiful, what is the purpose of latte art? I will explore six aspects to explore whether latte art will make a good cup of coffee even better or is it unnecessary.

Taste comparison test

Simply put, milk coffee such as latte or cappuccino is a beverage made by mixing espresso with steamed milk, and the way these two ingredients are mixed can affect the customer's flavor perception. Matt Perger, who is well-known in the specialty coffee industry, once conducted the following experiment in May 2015.

First, he prepared two identical cappuccinos with the same coffee-to-milk ratio and latte art. Then, he stirred one of the cups, which of course destroyed the latte art, and put on a blindfold for himself to conduct a blind test.

What was the result? He found that if you want a cup of milk coffee with a very balanced and smooth flavor, latte art may not be what you want. A standard and beautiful latte art design must have a circle of dark brown coffee oil on the edge of the cup to highlight the white milk foam pattern. This circle of oil is visually beautiful, but it actually tastes very strong and is generally bitter, so the first sip of milk coffee often feels a bit sharp. On the contrary, a cup of stirred milk coffee has a rich flavor without being overly stimulating, and is superior purely in terms of taste.

Coffee master Scott Rao advocates a method that may allow baristas to continue to show their latte art skills without sacrificing taste. First, pour the thicker milk foam into the espresso, shake it evenly to reduce the bitterness of the fat, and then complete the latte art as usual. This can avoid the first sip being too bitter and will have a better visual effect.

Multi-sensory experience

When you drink coffee, you are experiencing the taste, smell, and mouthfeel at the same time. Most people think that flavor is formed by these three aspects, but in fact, flavor may be affected by many other factors.

Ida Steen, author of the European Specialty Coffee Association's sensory course, mentioned in an interview with Little Black Coffee Cup that many people think that flavor is a multi-sensory experience that includes vision and hearing. Similarly, biochemist Olivia Auell also concluded after a specialty coffee seminar that if slow and sad music is played while drinking coffee, testers will be more sensitive to bitter taste, while light music will highlight sweetness. In addition, an experiment conducted by Oxford University in 2014 proved that testers' prediction of the deliciousness of salad will change depending on whether the salad is arranged like a famous painting.

In general, the so-called color, aroma and taste means that there are many factors that can affect the flavor of your cup of latte. The most important one is of course the taste of the coffee itself, but it also includes the smells around you, such as other people’s perfume or the aroma of some nearby food, the music that is playing at the time, and even the design of the latte art in the cup.

Improve perceived value

Places that offer gourmet food, such as Michelin restaurants, pay great attention to the presentation of food and the visual design of the products. A plate of exquisite dishes is not only pleasing to the eye and makes diners feel that delicious food is in front of them, but also brings out an important message: the chefs and the staff who prepare the ingredients attach great importance to their products and do their best to take care of every detail in order to provide the best dishes for customers to enjoy.

Many studies, including the 2014 Oxford University experiment mentioned earlier, have concluded that beautiful presentation increases the perceived value of the dish. A similar situation also occurs with specialty coffee. Beautiful latte art represents countless hours of practice, as well as tremendous thought and effort, in order to present the best coffee experience to customers, both in terms of taste and visuals. An attractive appearance also increases the perceived value of the cup of coffee in the minds of customers.

Of course, a beautiful latte art alone is not enough. It must be accompanied by the utmost effort in the process of green bean processing, coffee roasting, and brewing to be called perfect boutique coffee.

Micro-foam and latte art

One of the reasons why latte art can be frustrating is when the barista only pays attention to the visual effect and ignores the texture of the milk foam. For example, when you order a hot cappuccino, the barista hands you a cup of extremely beautiful latte art with swans, hearts and lucky clover patterns, but just when you take the first sip with great anticipation, you find that the milk foam is only 0.1 mm thick and the taste is completely wrong, not even as good as a cup of French press coffee with warm milk.

Cappuccino should have dense and rich micro-milk foam, perfectly blended with hot milk and espresso. When you drink it in one gulp, you will have a unique sensory experience, enjoying the rich and delicate sweetness and the lingering marshmallow-like taste at the same time.

The author believes that it is a pity to sacrifice the taste that affects the quality of the entire cup of milk coffee for a pattern that will be destroyed after taking a sip. Therefore, baristas should weigh the pros and cons, take both visual and taste into consideration, and find a good balance.

Convenient for marketing

Social media like Instagram has become an indispensable tool for businesses and is also a part of the online life of many coffee lovers.

For shops, every like and share on social media is the lifeblood of their business and a necessity for survival, because these can effectively attract new customers and achieve publicity. Therefore, if you, as a shop owner, want everyone to taste the flavor and taste of your coffee wholeheartedly, and completely ignore the importance of latte art, or even stipulate that the products in the store cannot have latte art, the result may be that only your family and friends will follow your social media.

In visual media, images are everything. If you want to attract attention on this kind of platform and make users who have never tried your coffee follow your account, then you should make appropriate use of latte art.

Translator's note: But the situation is a bit too much now. In the current trend of drinking with your phone first, the barista spends 10 minutes carving 10 latte art patterns of bears, cats, and birds before delivering the milk coffee to the customer. The customer then takes a 360-degree panoramic photo. When he finally drinks it, not only is the temperature of the drink too low, but the dense milk foam originally mixed in the coffee has floated to the surface, making the smooth taste rough. In this regard, both the barista and the customer have their own responsibilities. As the author said, vision and taste must be taken into account and a balance must be found.

Latte art for art

I believe you have seen the works of the World Latte Art Competition, how beautiful and amazing they are. For the contestants and the entire competition, the technique and craft they pursue and demonstrate is latte art, and the role of coffee is just a platform or medium for them to perform. So it is meaningless to talk to them about whether the coffee is delicious, whether it is over-extracted, how it tastes, etc. Even for the judges, they will only score based on visual items, such as creativity, execution, consistency, contrast, etc.

These latte art designs, which sometimes use food-grade pigments, are undoubtedly very ornamental, but they take a long time to make. Imagine, as a customer, would you be willing to wait for half an hour just for a beautiful but cold cup of milk coffee? In this case of latte art for art, the concept of latte art is contrary to the concept of coffee. Of course, this is possible and should be done in competitions or when organizing activities and training, but for a busy coffee shop, it is a bit unrealistic.

So, does latte art add value to a cup of coffee, or is it unnecessary? I think both sides have some truth. Without sacrificing taste and flavor, latte art can indeed enhance the sensory experience of customers, and it is also a good promotional tool for businesses. But there is one point that I think must be remembered: bad coffee will not become delicious because of good latte art design, but bad latte art will become insignificant because of delicious coffee.