Barista Magazine

JUN-JUL 2013

Barista Magazine is your home for the worldwide community of coffee and the people who make it.

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make happy friends who saw the pics the customer took and uploaded. That's why I'm continuing making latte art: There is a happiness around people who are smiling." Beyond the customer-service aspect of latte art, however, many of us in specialty coffee see the marriage of milk and crema as a mark of skill behind the bar: Only those baristas with a command over espresso coffee and microfoam will achieve the kinds of show-stopping art that takes our collective breath away. "To me, as a barista, latte art exemplifies purpose and creativity," says Alexandra Szep, a Coffee Fest–contest veteran and the barista trainer at her family's Caffe Amadeus in Indiana, Penn. "I think latte art gives a purpose to our job as a barista. When I train our staff…I say to them, 'If you're going to pull your shots correctly and roll your milk to perfection, why not make a beautiful design on top?' It makes the barista feel special, too. Understanding quality and mastering latte art gives the barista a sense of purpose and passion." (That said, remember that the coffee should always come first. As Coffee Fest Latte Art Competition champion and latte-art whisperer Ryan Soeder of Counter Culture Coffee says in his tutorial series for the how-to website Howcast.com: "There are no latte artists; we are baristas." Putting a pretty design on a grossly overextracted espresso shot is the caffeinated equivalent of lipstick on a pig. Don't do it.) TROUBLESHOOTING MONK'S HEADS Latte art can also serve as a kind of growth chart for baristas, and it's a visually gratifying way to track our progress. On those days when it feels like everything's going wrong—it takes forever to dial in, or a customer returns a not-foamy-enough cappuccino, or someone accidentally puts decaf in the wrong grinder hopper— those of us who have kept a lasting photo record of our latte-art development over the years can at least find comfort in the fact that we've come a long way, baby: Our first sad, spindly rosettas eventually (hopefully!) gave way to graceful flowers with petals full of foxtail streaks and perfect contrast. Going Public Speaking of those photos, latte art has long been a way to draw us together as a far-flung community of coffee maniacs: Through throwdowns, YouTube videos, and tulip-filled Instagram feeds, we can take inspiration, show admiration, and nurture a healthy bit of competition with our peers near and far. The folks I interviewed for this article are no exception: I met Alexandra and Ryan at my first—and, mercifully, last—Coffee Fest Latte Art Competition in New Jersey in 2010; Junichi (@junichi_yamaguchi) and Nicely (@ nicely85) are two of my favorite latte-art Instagrammers. Of course, a barista doesn't improve her latte-art skills just by en- Beige Not getting close enough to the liquid in the cup when you begin the design turns this otherwise lovely monk's head into a beige mess. Tilt the cup more to get the spout of the pitcher within a half inch of the liquid in the cup to pour crisp white against dark brown. Big Beginning a design early—with the cup less than halfway filled— results in larger designs that fill the cup but with less control and loss in definition. Bad Milk Without properly textured milk, your latte art just isn't worth pouring. Aerating should sound like paper tearing, not like blowing bubbles. Only add air when the milk is cold, and bring the ending temperature to no more than 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Small Beginning a design late—with the cup over halfway full—results in smaller, more compact designs. As you fill the cup, you increase surface tension. www.baristamagazine.com 67

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