Tips on coffee latte art

Fancy coffee art mainly includes three forms: latte art, carving and printing. Printing is to use the aid of molds to pour cocoa powder, chocolate powder or cinnamon powder on coffee to create patterns. The more creative, the less technical.

Latte art and carving are collectively referred to as Latte Art. The former is to directly "pull" out a pattern by pouring hot milk into espresso through technical movements such as shaking the wrist, while the latter is to use auxiliary materials such as chocolate sauce, as well as tools such as toothpicks and bar spoons to do some carving work to make the pattern perfect. Latte art is the basis, and carving is auxiliary. Latte art tests technique, while carving tests creativity. An excellent barista must pay equal attention to latte art and carving.

Latte art is a skill that requires a lot of practice and is the "master skill" that first-line baristas have accumulated day after day. If increasing speed, creating styles, improving details, and enhancing beauty are topics that "latte art masters" like to talk about, I often envy them.

There are five steps to learning how to make latte art:

The first step is to choose a 600ml latte art milk jug with a pointed spout and a cappuccino cup with a capacity of about 200ml. Make sure that you can extract excellent espresso (it is best to use an espresso machine, because the richness of coffee oil is closely related to latte art) and whip up dense and thick milk foam.

The second step is to practice shaking your wrist first, you can use water instead of milk. Then practice precise control of flow rate and direction, you can still use water instead of milk, and soy sauce instead of coffee in the cup - of course, you can use coffee grounds to make a paste to simulate the texture of espresso.

The third step is to practice the presentation of basic patterns and try to make them perfect. Hearts and leaves are two basic milk art patterns. The starting point is also different.

Step 4: Use real milk and coffee to practice making basic latte art patterns.

Step 5. With the foundation of step 4, you have become a qualified latte art artist. The next step is to further improve your skills.

Let's extract a cup of espresso, then hold the coffee cup with one hand, with the mouth of the cup slightly tilted inwards, and hold the milk jug with the other hand. The height of the milk jug should be about 10cm higher than the coffee cup, with whipped milk foam inside, and the jug body slightly tilted, with the tip facing the coffee cup. Next, we start the journey of latte art.

[Basic steps for drawing a heart-shaped pattern]

1. Slowly pour the milk into the coffee, paying attention to the height so as not to damage the coffee oil on the surface. The milk injection point determines the pattern and basic position of the latte art. The milk injection point we choose can be slightly behind the center of the cup.

2. When the coffee and milk in the cup are close to 2/3 of the capacity, an irregular mass of "white cotton" has appeared around the injection point. At this time, lower the latte art cylinder and drag it back to the edge of the coffee cup, "pushing" the generated "white dough" forward to form a circular pattern.

3. Start to shake your wrist slightly and swing the milk jug left and right, so that thin layered lines appear and push outward layer by layer like ripples. A multi-layered concentric circle pattern has basically appeared.

4. Straighten the coffee cup gradually, and at the same time move the milk jug to the front of the cup, so that the milk poured in at this time cuts through the center of the concentric circle and goes to the front of the edge of the coffee cup, then stop pouring the milk and finish. The heart-shaped pattern is formed.

[Basic steps for drawing leaf patterns]

1. Pour the prepared milk into the cup containing espresso. Be careful not to let the milk foam float on the surface of the coffee at the beginning. Tilt the cup towards the coffee pitcher and pour from a place slightly behind the center.

2. When the surface of the coffee begins to turn white, increase the amount of milk and shake the latte art pitcher to create patterns. Don’t panic, continue shaking and increase the flow rate, and slowly step back.

3. After moving back to the edge of the cup, lift the latte art pitcher, pour in the milk in a small flow rate, then draw a straight line forward. Stop pouring milk when the leaves start.

4. A cup of leaf-shaped coffee latte art is ready

Chongqing Bairest Coffee and Pastry Training Academy