Good point. I have been doing more double lattes and have seen a slight improvement doing this.

For singles I tend to pour out excess milk and I thing larger bubbles go with it. This also helps as my milk the milk is always that silky loose yogurt-like consistency with no visible bubbles. I am using Costco organic 2%, which I've found produces the best consistency of all milks I've tried and has a wonderful sweetness to it.

Well... one question..

Once you're getting great latte art pours... like great steaming and pouring skills happen to come around

Are you guys consistent... or is it up and down along the road?

Since in a cafe situation we could justify pulling a ton of shots and steaming a ton of milk everyday but at home it's impractical.. and practice might not be as consistent

Consistency has come slowly for me. The best thing I did for consistency, to practice the actual moves, was to do more pours per day. I had tried soapy water trick, didn't really seem to help me, but I didn't want to waste milk to practice.

On a normal day I was making one or two double shot lattes. I changed to single shots by splitting into two cups, and then I got double my pours per day for the same amount of coffee and a similar amount of milk.

So far, I have not had much luck frothing a large pitcher of milk and using it for multiple cups, so I have pitchers that are basically the right size for each size cup. That helped me, too. The Motta's have worked best for me.

I did get a tip from a barista that seemed to help (mighta been a placebo effect, though): add a little cream to the milk. I started adding a bit of half and half to the milk, and it made a difference (for me, YMMV). I switched up to whole milk anyway after that, when I realized that, for low fat milk, they take out the good omega-3 fats, leave the bad fats, and add sugar. I don't think it should matter once one knows the technique (that Dritan guy did a video where he used milk in one pitcher, and then 80-90% water with a splash of milk in another, steamed both, and poured art with each one just to prove it didn't matter whether cream, whole milk, 2%, skim, or fat free).

The other mistake I was making was getting too much air in the foam. I'm not sure I've 'nailed' it yet, but I am more consistent, and am now able to repeat some designs.

I'd show some pics here but not sure how to do it. (fairly new to this site).

Haha.. after quitting my barista job 5 months ago and only pulling 2 doubles a day.. and steaming one 1 litre of milk every two days i can tell you..

The cafe environment really does shape and sharpen a barista..



Art getting very crappy



Shots arent getting any worser... still as great as in the café

Consistency comes with practice, that's all.
Some people taken longer to train their muscle memory than others.

Great... its coming back to me again.. it's like a broken addiction... it'll haunt you again..