nixter wrote:It's kind of easy once you know the moves.

Yeah, but consistency is hard! You think you've got it nailed and then...

Sorry, some family was visiting. I'm going to post two days at once. I'm sure you will all survive.

CRCasey wrote:That last one was nice. Congratulations. I wish you many more.

But I will be waiting to see what sea monster pops up tomorrow

Haha. Yes, consistency is a bit difficult. Case in point...

Day 4


When it starts to look good I get excited and wobbly. I also really seem to favor the right side.


Forrest fire! I was experimenting a bit with the foam, and also just messed up.


Soft edges = not enough mixing. Still pretty reasonable, though.

I feel like I've climbed at least one peak - knowing how to steam the milk properly. It wasn't too hard, but it helps to figure our exactly what you need to do on your machine to get the milk right. After that, it's not terribly difficult to make almost-rosettas. Which, I happily note, are still impressive to family who haven't seen latte art before.

These pours are good reference points for the types of foam milk I seem to create:

~The last one is caused by big bubbles and not enough mixing. The foam isn't incorporated well, so it just pours out on top at the very end.

~The middle one is caused by not enough foam in general. Usually this happens to me when I can't keep the boiler on during steaming. It's hard to get clean whites.

~The top pour represents good foam. The definition is crisp and the crema color is preserved well.

Biggest tip yet: don't ever post onto a website about how you can pour almost-rosettas most of the time.

I'm going to make myself feel a little better by saying I was trying to go faster than usual. Some of these drinks were sequential for guests.

Day 5


Umm... whoops.


Bad foam. Not much you can do with it.


Ack! Worse foam. sea monster...


I started pouring on the right instead of the middle and it swirled. But at least it's distinguishable.


So I really cracked down, concentrated, and took my time. That's a little better. Obviously, I just didn't move the pitcher up the cup enough.

Sorry there are some color variances caused by my camera. I've been trying to use the same lighting and all, but there are limitations to what I can do.

Anyways, I'm determined to pour my best rosetta yet tomorrow. Let's see what happens.

I'd say you are doing well! Despite what you may think, it looks to me like you could actually do with pouring a little faster. At least thats what I found when I was learning - through excessive cocentration I was a hesitant with the flow rate. Pour faster and steadily (which of course means tipping the jug at an increasing rate as the milk progressively empties). A surprisingly little number of 'wiggles' can still result in a nice looking rosetta.

And a tip, if you create too much foam then just scoop the top layer off with a spoon. Swirl and tap the jug vigorously to re-incorporate the remaining foam and pour away.

Day 6


Once again, didn't steam very well.


This one reminds me oddly of a spider, even though it doesn't look like one. I poured too slow.


There we go! This one is my favorite so far. I like the way it fills the whole cup.

gyro wrote:Despite what you may think, it looks to me like you could actually do with pouring a little faster. At least thats what I found when I was learning - through excessive cocentration I was a hesitant with the flow rate. Pour faster and steadily (which of course means tipping the jug at an increasing rate as the milk progressively empties). A surprisingly little number of 'wiggles' can still result in a nice looking rosetta.

Good advice, that. When I pour too slow it just get wobbly spider-rosettas. I keep forgetting that all the pattern appears in the last fifth of the drink as well. It's especially important to keep the flow up then, but it's the easiest to forget as well.

I've decided that for my machine it is best to foam the milk only until it is very slightly above skin temperature, and mix the rest of the time.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to work on moving the pitcher towards the lip as I wiggle. I want my rosetta to be taller.

This topic has been viewed over 800 times in the past week... I really appreciate your interest, insights, and support. I hope I have helped some of you.

Day 7


That looks pretty good! The leaves are kind of sharp.


Stopped wiggling because I was thinking about pour speed too much.


A bit small, but still getting better...


Stayed in the middle too much. I like it though.


Hearts and rosettas are obviously similar.


My girlfriend said that this one was cute.

None of these are particularly stunning compared to what I have seen poured by professionals, but they are pretty good if I do say so myself. I hope you can see a development of skill in my 7 days of posting. I certainly feel like I've improved a lot. It sounds awfully cheesy, but I feel like a "winner." Indulge me in a quick recap and summary of the past week.

This and the previous posts represent a total of 27 lattes - my first attempts at latte art. In that time I have learned:
~what good foam looks like in the pitcher and in the cup
~the best technique for steaming with my machine
~how to make reasonable rosettas with ok consistency
~part of the answer to the question "exactly how long to become good at latte art?"

I think that most people getting an espresso machine for the first time would be able to pour at least one good rosetta within one week with daily practice. I'll qualify "most people" as those newbies who have researched a fair amount about espresso and milk beforehand. But really, somewhat surprisingly, it is not ridiculously difficult. I don't think that I am more dexterous or skilled than average.

Fellow newbies, you can do it.

That really answers the initial question in my mind when I started this post. The new question then becomes, how long until an absolutely great rosetta? What about those consistently? I don't know yet, but I certainly want to find out.

I think that to post every day after this point would cause this topic to lose focus and be really boring. I am fine tuning technique and improving consistency, but the curve is flattening out. So here is the new plan, for those who are interested...

I will post pictures once a week from here on out. I will post two pictures of the two best pours from that week, and then one more picture as a quality control. The quality control will be a "one take" event - I will take a picture of the first latte I pour that day, good or bad. I think that "no-warmup" pours will be a good way to document an improvement in consistency.

(I don't mean the tread on the toes of Dan's "Latte Art Challenge[d]" with this. I'll give credit to his post for the idea behind this technique. I'm just trying to compile my pours in one spot.)

Thanks again, home baristas. I've gotten a lot of good information from this site. I'm pretty proud of the way my entrance into the world of home espresso is going because of it.

I suggest starting with hearts. they are much easier to pour. Once you have mastered those move onto rosettas and tuilips.

i practiced for a while last night w/the soapy water technique.

I then tried to apply it to my 2 lattes this morning. I think I am pouring to slow - the flow is consistent, but needs to be faster.

I think yours are looking pretty good - i'll be happy to make some that look that good!

gregaliff wrote:I suggest starting with hearts. they are much easier to pour. Once you have mastered those move onto rosettas and tuilips.

From what I've gathered, the techniques behind a heart are the fundamentals for a rosetta. I went straight for rosettas because I think that they are "way neat." I hope that my posts prove that rosettas are within a beginner's reach, but some people might want to start with hearts, I suppose.

jammin wrote:i practiced for a while last night w/the soapy water technique.

I did that too at first. I think it helps.

jammin wrote:I then tried to apply it to my 2 lattes this morning. I think I am pouring to slow - the flow is consistent, but needs to be faster.

I still have to constantly remind myself to keep the flow up. I think about lifting up the back of the pitcher "even faster" as the pitcher empties. Keep in mind, like gyro said, that an average good rosetta for me only has 5-6 wiggles (back-and-forths) to make the leaves.

jammin wrote:I think yours are looking pretty good - i'll be happy to make some that look that good!

Thanks! Best of luck with your own. You'll get it, I'm sure.

As I said, here are the pictures for the week: my two best and then the quality control that I poured this morning.

Week 2


I wish it wasn't off-center, but I was really proud of this one.


A tiny bit washed out but I like it. Ignore the drips, haha.


This was the first pour of the day. Um... there you go!

Two things that I'm noticing are (1) my pitcher movement tendencies and (2) what I think is a limitation of single boiler machines...
1. For some reason, when I wiggle I have to be really careful not to get any front to back movement. Like in the quality control today, it sometimes starts sloshing forward and backward, which messes up the pour. Steady hands require practice, I suppose.
2. In a fair amount of my pours there will be a halo of milk around the boarder of the crema. I'm pretty sure that this results from the crema "hardening" while I wait for the boiler to heat to steaming temps. Swirling the espresso before pouring the milk helps some.

I'm certainly willing to accept some compromises for the price of my machine. It's not a big deal.

Anyways, the quality control pour is pretty representative of my worst pours this week. (Stage-fright!) Looking back, it is still better than a lot of my pours last week. That's a good amount of improvement, right?

I like my two best pours a lot, but they are rounder than what I am aiming for. I'm trying to work on drifting the pitcher up (towards the rim) to make the leaves taller. I think my foam is getting better over time too. I'm having to bang out less bubbles.

On a side note:
After enjoying both making and drinking my own beverages so much, I don't think that I can ever go to an "average" coffee shop again. Be prepared newbies... once you buy your own espresso machine, you will be inescapably swept away by the Third Wave.