Illustrated Guide to Cappuccino Heart Pattern Latte Art Tutorial - Latte Art Milk Foam Requirements

Today at FrontStreet Coffee, we're having a latte art class! Today, we'll teach you the most basic pattern—the large heart. This pattern is essentially the first design every beginner creates, and it's also the foundation for many other patterns. The prerequisite for learning this is mastering the basics of espresso extraction, milk frothing, pitcher handling, and integration. Friends who haven't mastered these techniques can look for FrontStreet Coffee's previous related articles!

Milk Foam Thickness

First, let's discuss milk foam requirements. Fine milk foam is the most basic requirement. However, there's high tolerance for thickness—as long as it has fluidity, it's acceptable. To put it simply, frothing milk from 5/10 full to 6/10-8/10 full is perfectly fine. In fact, slightly thicker frothing creates more beautiful patterns. Sometimes, baristas who are used to etching patterns might temporarily struggle to create a beautiful large heart.

Integration Amount

The amount of integration depends on how much "convection" is needed when creating the pattern, because less integration creates stronger "convection." For example, when creating an "etched tulip," more "convection" is needed for the pattern, so integration only needs to reach about 4/10 full of the cup. However, when creating a "wheat sheaf" pattern, which doesn't require much "convection," more integration is needed, typically reaching 8/10-9/10 full.

Creating a "large heart" requires some "convection" but not too much, so we integrate to about 7/10 full. If there's too little integration, the heart will be too large; if there's too much integration, the heart will be too small—neither of which looks aesthetically pleasing.

Pattern Entry Point

The heart pattern is symmetrical, so you should inject along the central axis. If there's any deviation, the entire pattern will lean to one side, which is not aesthetically pleasing. The injection point should be near the quarter point on the side of the latte art pitcher. This way, the entire heart will be centered.

Creating the Pattern

When creating the pattern, you need to pour with a relatively large milk flow to increase "convection" and make the pattern fuller. While pouring milk, the injection point gradually moves from the quarter point toward the center. The left hand slowly tilts the cup back, while the right hand slowly raises the pitcher spout to prepare for finishing. (Examples of incorrect techniques will follow below.)

Finishing

The finishing movement is very important, as many friends ruin their entire creation at this stage. You should prepare to finish when the cup reaches 9/10 full. When finishing, you need to reduce the flow rate, raise the pitcher spout, move along the central axis to the bottom of the heart, and decisively cut the flow. This will create a short tail.

Some friends like to drag beyond the cup rim when finishing, which creates a long tail on the heart, affecting its aesthetics. It also affects the cleanliness of the coffee cup.

Common Mistakes and Solutions

Next, FrontStreet Coffee will show some failed heart latte art images with explanations of the causes:

The phenomenon in the image above shows two lobes of different sizes—one larger and one smaller. This is caused by the cup being uneven or the pitcher not being held straight during pouring.

The image above doesn't even form a heart shape anymore. This is because the pitcher spout didn't move forward during the "convection" phase and remained at the quarter point.

The heart shape in the image above is flat, elongated, and not full. This is caused by raising the pitcher during the "convection" phase.

The heart in the image above has insufficient white milk foam at the back and is dragging a long tail. The insufficient milk foam could be due to inadequate thickness or not tilting the pitcher significantly to create a large milk flow during latte art. The long tail is caused by not being decisive enough when finishing, allowing excess milk to continue flowing.

The overall pattern in the image above is positioned too low. This is due to the injection point—this coffee's pattern injection point was at the center, causing the entire protrusion to appear at the bottom.

Important Notice :

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