By definition, latte art is a coffee making technique that involves pouring steamed milk into espresso to create a design on the surface of the drink. Steaming milk creates a unique texture known as “microfoam,” where the small bubbles formed by the milk frother pushing air (“aerating”) into your milk mixes with your hot milk. The texture of steamed milk, when done well, is known to resemble wet paint, and will lay beautifully on top of your espresso to create a nice contrasting white-colored design.
Latte art can be poured in various shapes and designs, with hearts, rosettas, and tulips being the most common. There are also other methods of doing latte art, such as etching, where baristas draw on designs using a toothpick or thermometer. Some get even more creative, utilizing tools like food coloring to pour rainbow colored latte art, too!
What is the purpose of latte art?
Aside from making your coffee of choice look nice, latte art does encourage proper milk steaming techniques. The texture of the milk must be just right to get the perfect latte art pour, and consequently, focusing on latte art will also help baristas improve with steaming milk, resulting in smoother lattes with just the right amount of milk foam!
Do you need a commercial espresso machine to pour latte art?
Latte art is absolutely not limited to just baristas working on commercial machines. As long as you have a steam wand on your home espresso machine, you’ll be able to pour latte art with a little practice.
Where can I learn how to do latte art?
There are plenty of free resources on the internet nowadays, with many tutorials on YouTube and TikTok. However, we believe latte art is a skill best learned with hands-on education and practice. After all, it’s easier to learn how to paint in an art studio than sitting at your desk, right?
Whether you’re local to Klatch Coffee or not, there are many coffee roasters and cafes that offer a variety of coffee training, coffee classes, and barista training. In most, if not all, cases, places that offer any sort of barista training will also have classes specifically catered to learning how to pour latte art!
What other barista training courses can home enthusiasts take?
As mentioned above, many cafes and roasteries offer a variety of coffee training courses. Classes can range from home enthusiast level latte art and brewing classes to professional level barista training!
Klatch Coffee offers SCA-certified training and classes
Here at Klatch Coffee, we want to make sure everyone feels welcomed, whether they’re a beginner with no experience just looking for a fun activity, or a seasoned barista with years of experience looking to improve or refresh their knowledge. Our classes and training events are ideal for coffee enthusiasts based in Southern California and those willing to travel are welcome as well!
Taking place at our coffee training lab located in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, we offer Home Espresso, Home Brewing, and Home Latte Art classes that are great for those wanting to start their home coffee journey. For those wanting more in-depth knowledge, we also offer barista training such as our SCA Intro to Coffee, SCA Brewing Foundations, SCA Barista Foundations, and SCA Barista Intermediate classes. Klatch Coffee also offers private roaster training courses with our founder, roastmaster, and green sourcer, Mike Perry. All our coffee training classes are taught by SCA-certified instructors.
