That’s all you need to know about coffee latte art

There is no clear documentation about the origin of coffee latte art. We only know that in Europe and America, coffee latte art was a highly difficult professional technique displayed during coffee performances, which greatly shocked the coffee industry at the time. Therefore, it has attracted public attention from the beginning. Everyone is deeply attracted by the magical and gorgeous skills of coffee latte art.

There are two main types of latte art: free pour, which is to “pull” out a pattern while pouring hot milk into espresso; and etching, which is to “carve” directly on the foam on the surface of the latte with chocolate sauce and toothpicks after brewing the latte. You can find videos of making latte art and etching on the Internet for the specific process.

Compared with latte art and carving, latte art is more wonderful, while carving has more varieties. This is because the foam on the surface of the latte has a certain stability when carving, which can support colorful sauces such as chocolate sauce and caramel syrup, which not only gives the barista more time, but also gives him more freedom in drawing and composing.

How is coffee latte art formed?

The coffee used to make latte art is called "Espresso", which is what we often call concentrated coffee or Italian espresso. This is a strong-tasting coffee made by using nearly boiling hot water at high pressure to rush through finely ground and compacted coffee powder. There is a layer of reddish-brown foam floating on the surface of the espresso, which is called crema.

The presence of crema is often regarded as a sign of espresso quality and an important factor in the formation of coffee art. Its volume accounts for more than 10% of espresso. The crema contains a lot of gas, which accounts for about half of the total volume.

In the process of mixing hot milk and espresso, we have two kinds of foam mixed together, one is the foam of air on the surface of milk and milk, and the other is the coffee crema foam of fat, gas and espresso on the surface of espresso. The coffee crema foam can generally last for about 10 minutes, and the foam formed by milk and air can also last for several minutes.

After the two kinds of foam are mixed together, because their particles are large and squeezed together, the mixing speed between the two kinds of foam will be very slow without stirring. Therefore, the boundary between the foams will remain clear for a long time. In this way, the latte art can be kept long enough for customers to appreciate. Therefore, the coffee latte art is actually the effect of mixing two kinds of foam (not liquid).

Some readers may ask, why do the foams have to be mixed together? Can't liquids of different colors be mixed together?

The answer is no. If there is no foam in either liquid, when we pour milk into coffee, the interface between the two liquids will not only be very unstable due to the flow of the internal liquid, but also become blurred due to the rapid diffusion, and it will not be possible to make a latte art pattern.

This is all we have to say about coffee latte art.

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