How To Be The Picasso In The World Of Latte Art

There are days when gravity's pull is too strong and you feel yourself being drawn closer to your bed. But life is hard and you are pushed to drag your lazy ass to work. Ugh, we get that too. (A bit too often!) Well, we have found a solution that would help you kick-art your day. No, that was not a typo. We are talking about latte art! Every coffee enthusiast appreciates being handed a cup of coffee with great art design, especially in the morning. Latte is just espresso blended with hot, steamed milk, which creates a splash of foam on top, so it's not complex in itself. However, there are loads of fantastic ways to dress things up by adding a unique art design which for sure will help to put a smile on someone's face. Before we go into the tips for latte art design that you can master at home, let's go over the basics.

Also read: How to Make Iced Latte At Home? - A Step-By-Step Guide

What You Need

All you need to make latte art masterpieces are:

• A pitcher or jug
• A cup
• Espresso machine or latte art tools. If you don't have any, a toothpick, or anything thicker than a toothpick would do the trick

Tips For Being The Next Latte Van Gogh

Even though the only ingredients for a pleasant milk beverage are delicious espresso and creamy milk, the latte art gracing the top of your cup is typically the piece de resistance. It's the first indication of a craftsperson that a customer notices, a promise of excellence that awaits, and a photo opportunity that will become an Instagram-worthy post.  So, is this an expertise reserved for baristas with pricey instruments and extensive training? Certainly not! If you can prepare espresso and micro foamed milk, you can also create delectable and dazzling artworks for yourself, your friends, and your visitors whenever the opportunity comes up. Here are a few tips that could help you through the process:

Silky And Smooth: No Not Your Hair. The Milk

Steaming milk may feel challenging, and many people believe that it is the most difficult aspect of preparing espresso-based beverages. Making silky smooth milk is simple and can be done in seconds with a few simple techniques. What we're going for is a massive swirl in your milk pitcher that will suck away air bubbles and smooth out your milk. Latte art is only possible with smooth milk. Position your wand in the center of the pitcher and slant it slightly so that the wand is a third of the way up the pitcher's side. This position guarantees a massive whirlpool! When you turn on your wand, you should hear a sucking sound. If you don't, lower the pitcher slightly until you do. Making latte art with murky or foamless milk will be difficult, therefore you must have the proper amount of air. Steamed milk should be ready at a temperature between 55 and 62 degrees Celsius. Some argue that the ideal temperature for latte art is 50 degrees, however, we don't advocate serving cold beverages to consumers if you don't want them to despise you. That said, make sure you don’t go above 70 degrees. Why not, you ask? The heat begins to alter and denaturize the proteins in the milk, resulting in a lack of texture, richness, and sweetness. When milk is heated over 70 degrees, it is nearly difficult to produce microfoam. Maintain a temperature range of 55-62 degrees for the best latte art results. 

Contrast Is The Key

People frequently overlook contrast when creating latte art. Without contrast, even your neatly poured latte art swan would appear sloppy. That's why you should pour slowly at first, allowing your milk to pass through the crema. The dark brown mixture will serve as your canvas on which to sketch or, in this scenario, pour your art. Pouring heights for latte art are typically 5cm and 0.55cm from the surface of the drink. Maintain a 5cm spacing between yourself and the base/canvas for your work. Begin pouring in the center of the cup and work your way around in a spiral motion. Continue doing this until your cup is 40-70 percent full, depending on the pattern you want to do. The surface tension of the cup will increase as the cup fills up. If you wish to create larger designs, you must begin early so that surface tension does not hinder the pattern from spreading.

Don't Do A Long Distance Relationship With Your Cup

Whether you effectively paint milk over your espresso or merely mix the two depends on how close your pitcher is to the cup. Your pour should start a few inches above your cup, utilizing gravity to drop your milk through the crema right into the liquid espresso bottom to mix with it. This will leave a clear surface on top as you fill the cup just enough to create a design. In order to really draw with your milk, you must position your pitcher's spout as near to the crema's surface as you can. This will allow the milk to pass through the crema and create microfoam that will float on top of your beverage utilizing lateral flow and lower velocity. You must bend your cup to get pretty near the surface. If you don't, you'll either be too far away or you'll need to pour incredibly quickly, which won't likely create your pattern. As you get near the surface, you'll discover you can pour leisurely and there is no urgency. There will always be tulips around. Trust us. They will.

Also read: Iced Coffee vs Iced Latte: Know the Differences

And that's it, folks. Oh, that and practice. Start honing your skills! The more you practice latte art, the simpler it becomes. The secret to being able to effortlessly draw beautiful and clean designs is to build up a little bit of muscle memory. Once you've mastered the fundamentals, you can look out for more challenging patterns to work on in sources like YouTube or Instagram. If you get extremely good, you can even start racking up likes on your preferred social networking site. Or perhaps come up with cute latte art names! An elite athlete is said to require 10,000 hours of practice. Although it might not take as long, latte art will undoubtedly demand commitment.