Become a latte magician

Your cappuccino has arrived. Before you stands a work of art. It looks like the barista has somehow painted a leaf on, or in, the milk foam. How is this possible? What magic powers does he posess? The fact is that it is not very difficult, but it will certainly require some practice. First read my previous article on milk frothing and then lets start the tutorial :)

Every magician needs a good wand...

To pour a cappuccino or caffe latte in style you will need a pitcher with a deep and narrow spout. You will want to work with precision.

and the right ingredients.

Use full fat milk. Around 4%. Low fat milk often produce hard, bubbly foam.

Can my machine do the trick?

I would say that just about any machine can produce good enough foam to make latte art, its just not as easy on some. Turbo nozzels must of course be removed.

So What is the trick?

Basically there are four factors you need to control:

• Milk temperature (55-60°)
• Foam texture (size of bubbles)
• Foam thickness
• Pitcher movement

If you read my previous article I stated that the steamed milk should run much like creamy yogurt. This can only be achieved by controlling the temperature of the milk while frothing.

The perfect temp is about 60°. At this temperature the air that has mixed with the milk rises to the surface at a relatively slow speed, and you can quite easily blend the foam with the milk by rotating the pitcher (read my previous latte article for instructions).

When the foam in the pitcher is shiny and mirror like the texture is perfect. There are no big bubbles which can destroy the image you want to produce. Also the foam is creamy smooth and will blend well with the milk. Look at the following illustrations of how the milk/foam should blend with the espresso.




The first image illustrates how the milk runs through the crema on the espresso and starts to build up under the surface. Image two shows how the foam after a few seconds break the crema and starts to show on the surface. This is the time to wave your wand. If your end up at illustration number two right away your foam is to thick. The foam lands on top of the crema instead of running through it. In this case you should look carefully at how the milk looks in the spout when you tilt the pitcher. This way you can learn how milk foam looks when you have blown to much air into it. After this you pour out some of the milk. This leaves less foam in the pitcher. Rotate the pitcher if necessary and pour the milk as soon as possible as it starts separating to two layers as soon as the rotation is stopped.

Pouring with style

To illustrate how this is done look at the images I have made. Arrows indicates pitcher movement and the dot means keep the pitcher still. All three basic patterns are described starting with the simple apple shape.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

The Apple

The Heart

The Leaf

What you waiting for?
Run out to the kitchen and start practicing! When i first decided to learn the trick i went to the local store and asked if i could get milk that had passed its "best before date". With this milk i got a jump start :) Let it take time, and dont expect to make perfect latte art on every latte drink, even experts mess up time and again. Good luck!

xpressivo