Simple Latte Art Learning Guide: Step-by-Step Tutorial with Principles, Techniques, and Milk Selection

Many people ask FrontStreet Coffee how long it takes to learn latte art. If you're talking about creating just one beautiful pattern, with good luck, it might only take a day. If you want to master creating one pattern, it takes at least 4 days. Many people might ask, how did we come up with these 4 days? It's quite simple: Day 1, read this article from FrontStreet Coffee; Day 2, practice; Day 3, read this article again; Day 4, practice once more, and you'll get it (assuming your milk frothing technique is qualified).

Principles and Techniques for Learning Latte Art

First, to master latte art, you must understand the relevant principles, techniques, and practice consistently.

Principle and Technique 1: Why Patterns Form

Latte art consists of two stages: fusion and pattern creation. With the same milk foam, when you raise the pitcher spout, the foam gets forced into the coffee and won't create white lines, while lowering the pitcher spout allows the foam to float on the surface, creating white patterns. This makes sense, right?

Therefore, during the fusion stage, to avoid white appearance, you raise the pitcher spout. When it's time to create the pattern, you need white to appear, so you lower the pitcher spout to create the design.

Principle and Technique 2: Fusion

Good fusion creates a golden ring - both beautiful and delicious. Poor fusion looks like a scratched background board - no matter how perfect the main pattern is, the overall impression will be diminished.

Generally, the distance between the pitcher spout and the coffee surface should be around 5 to 10 centimeters. Everyone's habits are different, so there's no completely fixed height and distance standard.

The typical fusion technique involves stirring in one direction. Hold the coffee cup with your left hand and the latte art pitcher with your right hand, with both hands offset by half a circle in a relative circular motion. The stirring force from the high and low positions can easily mix the coffee and milk thoroughly. As for how large the circle should be, FrontStreet Coffee suggests making the largest possible circle without touching the cup walls.

Principle and Technique 3: Drop Point and Trajectory

Different patterns require different drop points. For example, when making a leaf pattern, the drop point should be at the center of the liquid surface, while for a heart shape, it's at the 1/4 point. Taking the heart shape as an example, if the drop point is at the center, the entire heart shape will be positioned too low.

Additionally, this situation needs to be analyzed based on the amount of fusion and milk foam thickness. More fusion or thicker foam will reduce the convection effect, resulting in smaller patterns. If there's less fusion or thinner foam, the convection effect will be better, and the patterns will be larger.

When making a heart shape with the drop point at the 1/4 position, as you continue pouring milk, combined with tilting the cup back, the drop point will gradually move toward the center. If you fix the drop point at the 1/4 position, the entire pattern will become elongated, making it look like your drop point has moved backward.

Principle and Technique 4: Creating Patterns at Will

When you can create a circular white foam, you've already taken a successful first step. The next step is learning how to control its changes freely.

At this stage, the skill we need to master is cup tilting. For latte art that requires convection patterns, cup tilting is crucial. Tilting too early or too late can cause the pattern to deform.

When creating the pattern, the coffee cup held in your left hand should gradually return to an upright position. The normal convection phenomenon is that when pouring milk in the center, you'll see the milk foam "pushing" out from the middle, with a回流 (return flow) phenomenon on both sides, making the pattern fuller. The thinner the milk foam, the more obvious this phenomenon becomes. For example, when we want to create a heart shape or pressed tulip patterns, we need convection.

Principle and Technique 5: Finishing

When you've created a pattern to your satisfaction, first contain your excitement, because if this final step is done poorly, it can ruin the entire pattern. There are mainly 3 problems with the finishing movement.

First, some people like to pull directly out of the cup, leaving a long tail, which doesn't look very appealing. If you're using a thick coffee cup, there might also be milk residue on the cup edge.

Second, some people don't raise the pitcher spout when finishing, which "forces" the pattern to elongate.

Third, the finishing isn't clean and decisive, causing excess milk to drip and make the tail "bloom" unintentionally.

Taking a heart shape as an example, the proper finishing should be: when the coffee cup is 9/10 full, gradually raise the pitcher and push forward while gradually reducing the milk flow.

FrontStreet Coffee's Practice Recommendations

1. For your first time trying, FrontStreet Coffee still recommends using real milk and real coffee to try 1-2 times. The purpose of this is to feel the sensation when milk and coffee blend, and then when creating patterns. It doesn't matter if you can't create patterns at first - what's important is getting that feeling.

   

2. After experiencing the real thing, you can practice with plain water. Of course, this is to save milk. This stage is both important and tedious. With today's advanced internet, there are various latte art videos available online. FrontStreet Coffee suggests finding videos that clearly show the upper body, preferably with close-ups of hand movements. Don't focus on their patterns - watch their hand techniques: pitcher grip, cup holding, fusion method, pattern creation technique, cup tilting movements... Observe carefully, then imitate and repeat practice. It's best to have a friend watch from an observer's perspective to check for any posture issues.

   

3. When you've practiced enough to develop muscle memory, you can switch back to real milk and coffee to test your results. If your method is correct, you should be able to create decent patterns this time. If not, you can deduce which step went wrong from the resulting pattern and focus on practicing that particular aspect. During this practice, don't get obsessed with high-difficulty patterns. Start with the most basic heart shape and practice repeatedly.

Important Notice :

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