6/22/2011

Latte Art - The Joy and Wonder Of Latte Art

By Amy Lee


You have probably already seen the amazing things that an artist can do to a cup of coffee and asked yourself what is that art called. The art of drawing on a cup of coffee is named latte art and the person who does that is called a barista. There are two ways in which latte art is made. By pouring milk into a cup espresso or as it is also called "free pouring" or by using a stick called "etching". However free pouring is more spread to the wide public, but it cannot create complex forms while the etching results in more precise forms or shapes and an experienced barista can create miracles with a stick. Of course if you want to produce good latte art you will need an experienced barista and an espresso machine of the highest quality.

Latte art develops in different tempos depending on the country. However it wasn't a well known art before several years, but because of the recent advance in micro foam research and the developing of the espresso it has become even more popular. The country that is considered the birthplace of espresso is Italy. Latte art needs two main ingredients to be created - foam and crema. Foam is nothing more than buffed up milk and it is buffed by mixing it with air. Crema is the brown cream that appears on top of the espresso. However those two mixtures dissipate rapidly and you can enjoy latte art only for a few minutes.

The most important ingredient for a successful latte art creation is the espresso itself. It needs to have a cream like surface which is called crema. When the espresso is well prepared the barista starts pouring milk into the espresso while moving the pitcher. This way he creates various forms and shapes which appear on the top layer of the crema. Of course to do that you will need some practice and a really steady hand. The use of etching is much harder, but it results in clearer and definitely more attractive designs.

Free pouring isn't very precise so it is quite hard to create complicated forms using it. Because of that the most commonly made forms using free pouring are hearts and flowers while etching allows you to create much more complex forms and even portraits, however etching is much more harder than free pouring that's why there are special classes which teach the art of etching in latte art.

Latte art is a beautiful way to change the way your beverage looks like. Despite the fact that you can order a specially drawn espresso you can also learn the latte art yourself just by practicing or visiting special classes. And the best part of latte art is that you can learn it in your home just by practicing on your morning coffee without having to buy any extra stuff, but however the mixture between ordinary coffee and foam will result in more translucent forms, but still visible.




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