Why Does Coffee Latte Art Get Blurry? These Details You Absolutely Cannot Ignore When Creating Designs on Milk Coffees Like Lattes, Flat Whites, and Cappuccinos!

Truth be told, many times when our latte art patterns don't look appealing, it's not because we lack technical skills, but because various issues hold us back, preventing us from creating visually pleasing designs! For example, the espresso crema being too firm, as FrontStreet Coffee mentioned in the previous article.

Beyond that, numerous factors can affect our latte art results! Today, FrontStreet Coffee wants to share one phenomenon that has troubled most friends for a long time: milk foam that becomes cloudy when poured! When creating latte art, we occasionally encounter the situation where poured milk foam spreads out upon contact with the coffee crema! This typically occurs during the latter half of pattern creation. If you happen to need to inject a large amount of milk foam to create larger patterns at this moment, congratulations - you'll have created a latte art pattern with "hazy beauty."

Most of this "art" is not accepted by the world, such as this one! So we need to find the root of the problem and return to basics! So, why does this phenomenon occur?

1. Separation of Milk Foam and Milk

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned, this situation often occurs during the latter half of latte art. Why? Because in many cases, this happens when milk foam has been sitting for too long, causing separation between the foam and milk! Similar to the situation with firm crema, separated foam cannot be carried by the milk flow, thus significantly losing its fluidity! (As shown in the image below, we can clearly see the dividing line between milk and foam)

If we pour directly at this point, what comes out of the pitcher first is not milk foam but milk, followed by the foam! Because the foam is brought out by the inertia of the milk flow, it lacks impact force at this moment. Without impact force, the foam cannot blend with the crema, only floating on the surface and spreading out. In such cases, we can gently shake the milk foam in the pitcher (or transfer it to another pitcher) to reintegrate it, which can significantly reduce the cloudy appearance in latte art.

2. Characteristics of Beans/Milk

When we use beans that contain abundant acidic compounds, this can also cause milk foam to spread on the crema surface! That's right! We're referring to some lightly roasted beans. The presence of acidic compounds breaks down the protein structure in milk, and milk foam is primarily composed of proteins and fats enclosing air! Therefore, when they encounter lightly roasted coffee with rich acidic compounds, the phenomenon of cloudy latte art easily occurs.

Besides coffee beans, some types of milk can also exhibit this problem after frothing! Due to excessive or insufficient fat/protein content, they develop weak barriers that cannot maintain bubble structure for extended periods! When they come into contact with coffee crema or fine particles hidden within the crema, they quickly break down and then atomize!

3. Excess Water Content in Frothed Milk

The steam we use for frothing is essentially gaseous water, so it's equivalent to injecting water into the milk! When too much water is injected, it dilutes the milk. Although this gives the entire foam greater fluidity and allows for more delicate patterns, the dilution shortens the time that proteins and fats can support the bubbles. If not used quickly, the barrier supporting the bubbles will soon disintegrate, then burst upon contact with the crema surface and spread out.

The best solution is to control the amount of water injected! Since the target temperature for milk frothing is fixed, this means we need to shorten the frothing time. By increasing the steam intensity, we can meet this requirement! This allows the milk foam to reach the target temperature in a shorter time, reducing the time for bubble breakdown.

However, some coffee machines have limited steam power that cannot be further enhanced unless modified! For most friends, this is completely unnecessary. Therefore, we can appropriately increase the temperature of the milk before frothing! To create denser and finer milk foam, FrontStreet Coffee typically recommends keeping the milk temperature as low as possible, which extends the temperature difference and allows for more thorough frothing. However, with weaker steam, doing this undoubtedly adds more water to the milk, causing dilution! So, we can appropriately raise the temperature to shorten the milk frothing time, thereby avoiding the atomization effect of the foam!

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