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How To Do Latte Art

Learn how to do latte art.

Would you be able to identify a latte without its art? Some people would shiver at just the thought of a naked latte! The impressive patterns atop the latte are the finishing touch and often helps to create that picture-perfect coffee snap. Although the origins of latte art are hard to establish, it is believed that it emerged from Italy (as like many coffee origins) whilst others believe that the coffee’s art became popular thanks to David Schomer in his coffee shop in the United States, Seattle in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. The sole point of latte art is to show the customer that their drink has been crafted with careful care and detail and is almost a reflection of the barista's experience and quality.

The different types of latte art

When it comes to latte art there isn’t just one pattern that you’ll find in the foam, but many more as baristas and coffee drinkers take up the challenge of testing their ability to create more complex and beautiful patterns. Let us talk you through just a few…

How to do swan latte art

To create the perfect swan latte art, first you’ll need to fill a jug with milk foam and swirl it well, making sure to pour some of the upper foam away before you get pouring. Slightly tilt your cup and pour a small amount of milk into your latte whilst moving your jug closer to the cup to increase accuracy, sitting with the spout just above the latte pour the milk until a half moon is visible and then stop. Slowly start pouring the milk again with slight wavy movements towards yourself and instead of pouring the milk through the centre of the waves, pour the milk along one side of it, this will create the swan’s wing. The moment you reach the bottom of the wing, pour the milk upwards again to create the swan’s long neck and when you reach the top, create a u-shape to create the bend in the neck. When creating the swan’s head, you’ll want to bring the jug a little closer for precision and pour a small heart, lifting up to create the beak. Swan-tastic!

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How to do heart latte art

The latte heart is one of the easier designs to create on your coffee and therefore is the perfect place to start practising your coffee art skills. Slightly tilt your cup resting the jug’s spout on the cup and as you’re pouring the milk in gently rock the jug until a circle of milk appears. When you see this circle, pull the jug higher up to create a thin steady stream of milk. Whilst keeping the milk flow steady, pour your milk through the centre of the circle from one side of the cup to the other and viola, your milky heart!

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How to do tulip latte art

Tulip latte art is also a very popular design but a slightly tricker one. Whilst slightly tilting your cup, start to pour the milk in from a height of roughly ten centimetres whilst making a circular motion. Then you’ll want to get the spout of your milk jug close to the cup and pour a thicker stream of milk in until you see that half moon appear and then stop. Create another half moon pattern using this same technique but with a pushing movement in the direction of the first half moon; stay with me! Keep creating half moons 3-4 times using the same pushing motion, this is creating the petals of the tulip. Top tip: the harder the pushing movement of the milk, the further the tulip’s petals will fold around each other. When you’ve created your last half moon, lift the jug higher to create a thin stream of milk and pour directly through all of the half moons and you’ll be left with a beautiful tulip.

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How to do rosetta latte art

Creating rosetta latte art is commonly known as being easy getting started with it but hard to master. Whilst tilting the cup slightly, start pouring the milk steadily from a higher distance into the centre of the cup. When the cup is half full, get the spout of your jug as close to the surface of the coffee as possible and maintain that steady pouring within the cup. When you reach the bottom of the cup start slightly wiggling the milk jug, this will start creating the layers that form the rosetta. Once you’ve filled all of the space stacked up with the layers, raise your jug further away from your latte and slowly draw a thin line through the design and you’ll be met with the classic image of the rosetta pattern.

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