World Latte Art Champion Spills the Beans on Learning Latte Art
Latte art is not for the faint of heart. After all, it’s not easy to use milk and coffee as your medium. In this unique field.
A bona-fide champion barista seriously knows what their talking about when it comes to latte art!
Champion barista's shared a few tidbits about techniques and skills they've learned along the way, giving us a taste of what is talked about here.
Latte art fish, created with a mix of free pour and etching techniques
To learn latte art, you have to first perfect your milk pouring techniques – it takes finesse to make a great latte design, considering the small size of your canvas and the liquid nature of the medium. Starting out with simple designs such as monk’s heads (more commonly recognised as an apple shape) and the simple heart will help exercise those fine motor skills. With enough practice, you’ll be able to master your hand movements all the way down to the joints!
A steady hand is all it takes to create great latte art, but that’s not always as easy as it sounds. Patience and a calm demeanor will help you avoid mistakes. “Calm people can do better because they understand what’s going on.” Because no matter how dexterous you are, letting anger and frustration get to you will likely lead you to make a mistake and make it harder for you to assess what went wrong, and how to improve on it for next time.
Making great latte art takes more than just finesse and a cool head though; You also need to change your technique depending on the milk and the machine.. changing the equipment you are working on will force you to adapt and develop your latte art skills even further. Soon you’ll find that not all steam wands behave the same, so the time and technique required to perfectly stretch your milk varies with different machines.
Latte art scorpion created with free pour and etching techniques
For the most part, a self-taught latte artist, he advises new latte art learners to find a mentor, someone who can give guidance and provide advice. After all, even Leonardo Da Vinci had a mentor at one stage. Having a friend or colleague that can guide you through your mistakes and push you on to greater achievements is invaluable for motivation.
People in the industry who helped and supported others from the beginning of their journey from the first spilled coffee cup to World Latte Art Champion, help introduce and encourage neophyte barista's to pursue latte art, and that encouragement helps to stay on track in pursuit of latte art perfection.
Not everyone is destined to wear a champion’s badge of honour, nor do you need to in order to make amazing latte art. With the right motivation, dedication, and support, you too can be an accomplished latte artist and pour some extra happiness into every coffee you make!
