How are coffee latte art made? Why is the coffee latte pattern too small? How to make latte milk froth?

Before latte art, we must first achieve one prerequisite, which is to have an ideal Italian concentrate and high-quality milk foam! When learning latte art, you should first choose Italian coffee beans that can extract rich oils. If you like the taste like butter cookies, buy the Front Street Classic Blend. It combines the three major production areas of Brazil, Indonesia and Vietnam, and uses a combination of Arabica and Robusta to maximize the presentation of oils. For coffee shop effects, the first choice is the Front Street Commercial Blend, which can taste the aroma of roasted chestnuts and dark chocolate.

When the latte art milk foam does not meet the requirements of latte art, it will be difficult to even make a pattern, let alone control the size of the pattern. For example, when the milk foam is too thick, because the overall fluidity is low, we cannot easily create delicate textures; when the milk foam is too thin, because the overall fluidity is too high, the pattern is always prone to offset during production, or textures similar to zigzag patterns appear.

Therefore, the prerequisite for latte art is to learn how to make high-quality milk foam. So about how to froth milk, you can go directly to this article to read → "How to froth milk?" 》~

When we learn to make high-quality milk foam, we can begin to understand why the picture cannot be produced and the pattern is too small. In fact, it is mainly caused by two reasons: distance and traffic.

1. Distance

The distance refers to the distance between the cylinder mouth and the liquid surface! The reason why the milk foam can form lines on the surface of the coffee liquid is because it floats on top of the coffee liquid, so the white stripes can be seen by us. To do this, we need to infinitely tighten the distance between the mouth of the flower pot and the coffee liquid level.

Because when the distance is too large, the milk foam will have a relatively strong impact. This force will push the milk foam into the coffee liquid, causing the milk foam to float under the coffee oil and not be visible. Therefore, we need to bring the mouth of the cylinder as close to the liquid surface as possible so that the poured milk froth has no impact and can float on the surface.

When drawing flowers, we can tighten the distance between the mouth of the drawing cylinder and the liquid surface by controlling two factors. One is fusion. Fusion is the preparatory step before the formal latte art. By stirring the milk into the coffee liquid, the two can be more fully integrated and the liquid level can be raised.

When there is more fusion, the water level will be higher, so the latte art tank will not need to tilt too much to bring the mouth of the tank close to the liquid surface. So, this is a little trick that can bring the two closer together. But if we need to make some more complex patterns and need to leave enough space for drawing without too many fusions, then we can choose the second method: control the amount of milk in the latte art tank.

When the amount of milk in the latte art tank is less, the more angles the latte art tank can tilt. As long as we control the milk in the tank to the minimum amount required to make a cup of latte, the latte art tank can tilt to the maximum on this basis. We can often see baristas in some coffee shops using two milk jugs for latte art making, one small and one large. The small-capacity milk vat is used for frothing milk. After frothing, pour it into the large-capacity milk vat for latte art.

This is to take the best advantages of the two cylinders and use them together. The advantage of the small-capacity milk cylinder is that it has a small capacity. A small amount of milk can reach the height of the steam wand for frothing milk. The advantage of the large-capacity milk cylinder is that it has a large capacity. The same small amount of milk does not occupy a large proportion in the large-capacity milk cylinder, so more tilts can be made during latte art.

2. Traffic

In addition to distance, another reason is that the traffic is too small. The flow rate here refers to the rate of milk we pour when drawing flowers. Many friends don’t dare to let go of their hands and feet to draw because they don’t have much experience. I am afraid that because the pouring flow is too large, the coffee liquid will overflow the coffee cup, or the cup will be full at once.

But as mentioned before, latte art patterns need to rely on milk foam to "carve" them. When the flow rate when drawing is too small, it will not only be difficult to pour out the milk froth, but it will also cause the milk to be unable to push the latte pattern because it does not have the push force. The final pattern produced is either very small or cannot be produced at all.

This situation can be easily solved by increasing the flow rate on the original basis when drawing flowers. Distance and flow are indispensable, so we must simultaneously shorten the distance between the mouth of the latte art tank and the liquid level and increase the flow of poured milk, so as to ensure that the latte art pattern produced has a full image.

What you need to know is that what we share here on Front Street only refers to making the pattern fuller, not to being able to make a good latte art pattern! Although making a good-looking latte art pattern requires a lot of skills, it also requires you to study hard and practice hard. Practice makes perfect~