Well done Mini! Five years as a barista, I've just beginning to learn free pour latte art recently. I have been very lucky with my first pour and my heart shape was perfect. Subsequent pour were hit and miss. I still need alot of pratice. I am looking forward to your new pictures. I'll post some pictures up for my next attempt.

Just wondering what's happened to mini? There hasn't been any pictures for more than a week. I hope everything is fine with mini.

My apologies to all those who missed my updates!

Spring semester just started, and I moved into a new apartment. My stuff is still scattered about everywhere. I wasn't making lattes for a little while, and then I just didn't have enough time to post. But I think that I will be able to resume weekly updates on the weekends now.

Weeks 3 and 4


It had potential... but it was a rough week.


I debated turning this into a heart mid-pour. Turns out indecision isn't a good idea. Heh.


Aha! This was the quality control poor. To self: "See? I haven't lost it completely."

The lesson of the past two weeks is that just because you can pour latte art doesn't mean that you can half-ass latte art.

With moving and running out of coffee for a couple of days, I didn't pour any lattes for a bit. I kind of lost the rhythm of what I had been previously doing, and I just couldn't seem to get it back at first. It wasn't so much that I had lost the ability, it was that I had lost some focus. I kept making little mistakes like pouring too slow, or messing up the boiler cycling for steaming, or spilling.

What I really needed to do was concentrate. With extra attention to detail, I started making a lot better pours. The last picture was the first pour of today, and one of my better rosettas I think. I don't think that you will forget how to make rosettas without daily practice. I'm trying to say that if you don't pour rosettas often, then you need to really take your time, focus, and not rush things.

The good news is that I learned a lot in the past two weeks, even though I don't have tons to show for it.

Steam tip placement:
I found the perfect place in my pitcher for the steaming wand, and that makes a huge difference. HUGE I tell you. I get a lot more swirling now, which really incorporates bubbles and makes even foam. Seriously, the quality and silkiness of my microfoam has increased at least 50%. I have a somewhat doughnut shaped bottom, so I use the curves to my advantage - I place the wand tip aiming down the side wall, and the current curves around the bottom and up the other side nicely. "Standing waves" are good things.

Timing:
I'm also discovering the best times to stretch the milk. You can keep adding volume to the milk as long as you want. However, stretching as much as I need before the milk is about skin temperature really makes my milk smoother.

Technique
I started picking up the cup for the pour. I don't think that I ever mentioned it, but every pour posted before today was done with the cup simply sitting on the counter. Newbies, don't overcomplicate things, you really don't have to pick up the cup. I would suggest leaving it on the counter.

However, when you pick up the cup, you give yourself a longer window for marking the milk. What I never completely understood was why the milk made the crema white only towards the end of the pour. It's all about distance from the spout. By picking up the cup and angling it towards the pitcher, you can pour closer to the milk for longer, and potentially mark the milk more.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm trying to walk a thin line between not giving out too much advice (like I stated in my original post), and offering the tidbits that I'd wished I known earlier. I'm not an expert at all, but I'm learning a lot and pretty excited about it.

Therefore, I wanted to post two more pictures of lattes that I thought were funny. I probably come across as scientific and technical and all that garbage, but that's not the point behind latte art. The point is to have fun and enjoy the process. And if you can't laugh at yourself during the process, you aren't doing it right. I mean, have you ever really thought about the face you're making while steaming milk?



Is... is that it?


Funny story:
My cousin/roommate has started using steamed milk for his drip coffee. In a bit of teasing, he said, "Hey Matt, come check out this sweet rosetta I just made," because I'm always trying to show him my best pours.


Until next week, happy pouring.

mini wrote:I have a somewhat doughnut shaped bottom, so I use the curves to my advantage, have you ever really thought about the face you're making while steaming milk?

I had not thought about either one of those things... Now I wonder how I am going to get them out of my head the next time I walk up to the steam wand.

-Cecil

You are right! Indecision is bad when it comes to latte art. The number of times I've changed my mind during mid pour has resulted in tragedy.(Sea Monster) Although the swinging motion is alot slower than in most clips but the pour still require smooth and even rythem and hesitation is a no-no.

New techniques revealed! The elusive owl -> http://thebleedingbean.com/106




Not really, but a pathetic attempt with way to thick foam.
What temp are you heating to?

thebleedingbean wrote:Not really, but a pathetic attempt with way to thick foam.
What temp are you heating to?

Aw, that's not pathetic! I would say that the foam was not way too thick... I've gotten close with foam like that before. And I actually do not use a thermometer, I just used my hand and trial-and-error to figure out how hot to steam.
I think the only big problem you had was jittery pitcher movement, which is related to pitcher grip I bet. I think pitcher grip is a good topic of conversation.

Pitcher Grip:
Have you ever sawed wood before? You know how even when you get into a groove with your strokes, every once and a while you will hit the edge of the handle on the wood or let the end of the blade slip out of the notch? I think that back-and-forth movements that use your biceps and triceps are inherently less precise than movements involving your wrist. Think about trying to write your name with your wrist locked.

There are two ways to move the pitcher for latte art, which are heavily influenced by the way you grip the pitcher.
~ grip the pitcher solidly, and move it side to side with your arm
~ grip the pitcher loosely, mostly by the handle, and let it swing side to side with your wrist

Obviously, I'm claiming the second one is better. Pendulums have a more easily controllable period and amplitude. I really think that swinging the pitcher lets you do rosettas with more even leaves and keeps your pouring motion more fluid.

Week 5

It was a good week for latte art.


I really, really like this rosetta. I was so proud when I made this one. My idea of perfection is getting closer.


I decided to see how many leaves I could make. Turns out, a fair number. It looks pretty cool.


I sorta messed up while steaming. This was one of the worst ones this week, but still good.

I felt like my consistency this week was solid. I didn't have any pouring meltdowns, and I had trouble picking my top 2. I'm happy about that! Everyone's idea of a perfect rosetta is probably unique. In the next couple of weeks I hope to pour a rosetta that I consider ideal. Maybe my favorite won't be yours... it will be fun to find out.

In my search to find that ideal rosetta, I started experimenting with a few things to determine what exactly I need to change. You can see my attempt at many leaves. It's not my favorite stylistically, but it was a neat effect. The characteristic that I love the most is the hollow leaf effect, so I offer you two contrasting pictures...

Hollow leaves:


Notice the washed out area in the top left.


Ultra-hollow leaves. I think this looks impressive.

These are the two sides of the spectrum of hollow leaves. Hollow leaves are formed when a crisply defined zig-zag gets pinched together at the stem. Speaking generally, the effect is completely dependent on the thickness of the foam. The top picture had such thick foam that it instantly started marking the crema (hence the washed out portion). The bottom picture had foam that was substantially thinner than I had been usually creating. The whites are very thin, making the cavities very large.

My goal is to walk the line between the two by next week.

Thanks again for reading! I hope that the level of detail in the past two posts is interesting instead of tiring. It makes me really happy to see others attempting latte art because of me.

You are so right about the importance of the grip of the pitcher! Obviously, you need to have perfect steamed milk too. I favour the method you chose too by loosely gripping the handle and use a wriggling motion in a smooth and fluid movement to create a rosetta. I find hollow leaves of substantial thickness aesthetically pleasing. More so than having many pine like skinny leaves!

As for me, I am getting better with my rosetta but I still lack consistency but lately, I have been feeling the weight of the milk sloshing in the pitcher while I was wriggling thus breaking my momentum. Does anyone have the same problem? What can I do?

Hm... I'm not completely sure. Two things to think about are wiggling and pour speed.

For a while I had the problem of wiggling the pitcher side-to-side and front-to-back. This is when I felt the most sloshing and resistance. Make sure that you are only moving the pitcher side-to-side.

One other thing to try is simply pouring faster. For some reason, when my pours start to mess up sometimes I can save them by just pouring faster.

I'm not the expert, though, so I should stop giving out so much advice! Other opinions?

Matt, I am really enjoying this thread. Keep it coming. This thread may ultimately get me out of pouring an onion every time I try latte art. Bleeding Bean - nice owl

Cheers

Ian