Whether you’re a professional barista or a home barista – working on your latte art is a great way to improve your coffee-making skills.
When receiving a coffee, the first thing you notice is the pattern on top. If it’s an awkward love heart or a beautiful swan, having a well-presented coffee adds to the experience.
If you’re wanting to increase your general barista skills have a look at our other blogs like this one on espresso or, this one on why coffee can taste bitter.
I’m going to go over a few tips on getting the best out of your latte art.
First, let’s look at what we should be aiming for…
- Nice contrast between the dark base and the white shapes.
- No washout of the base.
- The right amount of foam.
- Cup not overfull.
- Neat, defined lines.
- Centred design.
- Design aligned correctly.
To achieve this it’s essential we steam our milk correctly. Without perfectly steamed milk it’s impossible to have perfect latte art.
Tips for smooth milk…
- Always use fresh cold milk. Full cream milk does steam better due to the higher fat content. But, good results can also be achieved with nondairy milk.
- Brands matter – stay away from “home brand” brands when it comes to both dairy and non-dairy. We use Bannister Downs milk because it texturises and tastes the best.
- Use a clean jug every time and don’t re-steam milk. Check out our blog on the dangers of reheating milk.
- Choose the right size jug for the number of coffees you are making. Make sure not to overfill or underfill the milk jug with cold milk. For most jug sizes you will aim to fill the milk jug roughly to the bottom of the spout.
Pouring latte art
Before you pour
- Keep the milk spinning so the foam stays combined.
- Split the milk into two jugs, equalizing the foam between them.
- Pour from the jug that gives you the best results.
- Knock out any big bubbles but don’t tap more than you need it separates the milk and foam.
Pouring the base
- Spin the espresso before you start to pour to loosen the surface.
- Orientate the cup – handle towards the wrist if in your left hand, or away if the cup is in your right hand.
- Relax your arms and shoulders and be calm… you got this!
- Tilt the cup towards the jug.
Start pouring with a thin stream of milk into the centre of the coffee. Slow pace, but not too slow.
You may need to change the pace of your stream to bring the crema up and make a nice base. You aren’t aiming to pour any foam at this stage.
If there are any white bits pour into them and they will go away.
If the crema splits or threatens to split, slow down or stop pouring all together. Depending on the design, the base will fill 1⁄2 – 3⁄4 of the cup.
We love this tape trick by Chris Baca to help centre the design:
The Basic Patterns
Heart
- Start by preparing the base as above.
- When the base is about 3⁄4 full, start to lower the jug spout and bring the back end up to bring the foam out.
- Stay in the centre of the cup and slowly let a bean shape form.
- When the dot is the size that you want, stay in the centre and bring the jug higher to thin the steam.
- Pull through gently but decisively.
For extra points, introduce some layers by moving the jug side to side while you are pouring the bean
Tulip
- Start by preparing the base as above.
- When the base is about 3⁄4 full, start to lower the jug spout and bring the back end up to bring out the foam.
- Stay in the centre of the cup and slowly let a bean shape form.
- When the dot is the size you want, stop pouring.
- Directly above the first dot, move the jug down again and pour another.
- As you complete the second dot, gently nudge it towards the first. This wraps the leaves around each other; you can draw as many as you want.
- Pull through gently but decisively from a height to finish.
Rosetta
- Start preparing the base as above.
- When the base is about 2/3 full, start to lower the jug spout and bring the back end up to bring out the foam.
- Staying in the centre, wave the jug from side to side to initiate the lines. Stay in the centre!
- Once the waves/lines reach the bottom edge of the cup, start to move backwards with the jug.
- Keep pouring the same.
- When you reach the top of the cup, bring the jug higher to get a thin stream and pull it all the way through.
It’s important to remember: practice makes perfect. Latte art can take some time to master so take every opportunity to work on your skills.
If you want to attend one of our Latte art classes click here.
We would love to see your designs… tag us in your Karvan coffee experiments @karvancoffee @leafbean_machine
All the best fellow coffee lovers!
Barista Trainer,
Summah