All things espresso for coffee fans in Vancouver
Latte Art Techniques To Use For Espresso
For those that love their espresso, whether it's going to the local barista at a popular coffee shop, or doing it yourself on your espresso machine at home, when combining milk and espresso to make a latte, people tend to have many options. One option in particular that is steadily growing in popularity is latte art techniques, wherein coffee makers pouring milk into a cup of espresso can make a wide variety of surprisingly complex designs to improve the appearance of an espresso as readily as its taste. With the advent of cheap, readily available, easy to use and easy to store digital photography, these pieces of temporary artwork can be preserved by anyone with a functioning smart phone, whether it's something they got at the coffee shop or something they made themselves. However, like all artworks, latte art has its techniques that made the process possible.
The first technique of latte art is to maintain a proper distance between the steamed milk source and the espresso. Making a big splash of milk very near to the cup of espresso will make little more than a big splotch of milk on the. Much like a person diving into a pool, the more height the milk falls, the less of an impact it has and the more control one has over the ripples. Steamed milk poured from a greater height is also slimmer and more compact, allowing for finer details in the end probably. The initial dash of steamed milk should be about two inches away from the espresso cup. When you want to make a bigger impact on your canvas, pour the milk closer to the cup.
The second technique of latte art is the position one takes when pouring the milk. This is extremely tricky, even for artists, because unlike a painting or drawing, liquid milk being poured into liquid espresso is not a stable canvas. Keeping the milk poured in the center of the cup (or as centered as you can manage) will create a symmetrical image in the cup. Doing otherwise creates a winding trail that seldom looks like much of anything. Advanced practitioners of espresso art are able to create a better contrast between the milk and the crema of the espresso by tipping the cup slightly, but this is for those who have practiced it a lot.
The third technique of this humble art is mastering the flow of milk into the espresso. Pouring more milk creates a larger impact on the crema canvas of the espresso cup. The trick here is to avoid spilling the milk all over the place and keeping it in place. Starting by positioning the milk up high and bringing it low is mastering the element of height, but how deep one tips the milk container is the essence of flow. The closer the milk container is to the coffee itself, the larger an impact on the crema the milk will have.
Finally, there is the matter of control over the milk. This is ultimately a matter of practice. A lot of practice. Like drawing and painting, getting control over the medium enough to make an image is going to take a lot of botched designs and efforts, but if one perseveres, it can be learned.
