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Come to Front Street today for a latte art class! Today I will teach you the most basic pattern - the big heart. This pattern is basically the first pattern that every novice draws, and it is also the basis for many patterns. The prerequisite for learning this is to pass the basics of extraction and concentration, milk foaming, cylinder holding and fusion. Friends who have not mastered the skills can look for related articles from Front Street!
What coffee beans are better for latte art?
Whether a cup of coffee tastes good or not depends on the quality of the coffee and milk. Similarly, whether the latte art effect is good or not also depends on the quality of the espresso and milk foam. When making latte art in a coffee shop, the first choice is the fat-flavored style - the classic Front Street blend and the must-have style for opening a shop - the Front Street commercial blend. Both Italian beans contain a small amount of Robusta varieties. The Front Street classic blend combines Brazilian, Mandheling and Robusta, and is roasted medium to dark. When extracted, it emits obvious aromas of butter, toast, and caramel biscuits. The flavor is strong, the taste is solid, and it has delicate oil. The extraction is very stable, making it a must-have home coffee for beginners.
-Milk foam thickness
The first is the requirement for milk foam. Delicate milk foam is the most basic requirement. However, it has a high tolerance for thickness and only requires fluidity. To translate, it’s no problem to whip the milk from 5 minutes full to 6 to 8 minutes full. Even if it is thicker and drawn out, the pattern will look better. Sometimes players who are used to embossing may not be able to draw a nice big heart for a while.
-Amount of fusion
The amount of fusion depends on the amount of "convection" required when plotting, because the less fusion, the stronger the "convection". For example, when pulling "Embossed Tulip", because the drawing requires more "convection", it only needs to be blended until the cup is 4 minutes full. For example, when pulling "wheat ears", the amount of "convection" required is not much, but more fusion is required, usually reaching 8-9 points.
Pulling "Big Heart" requires "convection", but not too much, so it will be integrated to 7 points. If there is too little fusion, the heart will be very large; if there is too much fusion, the heart will be small, neither of which is very beautiful.
-Plot point
The heart pattern is symmetrical, so it should be injected along the axis. If there is an offset, the entire pattern will be biased to one side, which is not beautiful. The injection point should be close to a quarter of the side of the latte art tank, so that the entire peach heart will be in the center.
-Publish pictures
When drawing the picture, you need to pour as much milk as possible. This can increase "convection" and make the pattern fuller. While pouring the milk, push the milk injection point full from the quarter to the center, slowly return the cup with your left hand, and at the same time slowly raise the mouth of the cylinder with your right hand to prepare for the finish. (There will be error examples below)
-Finishing
The finishing move is very important, and many friends are ruined at the finishing point. When it reaches 9 minutes full, it is necessary to prepare to finish. When finishing, it is necessary to reduce the flow, raise the cylinder mouth, reach the bottom of the heart along the axis, and decisively cut off the flow. This will give you a short tail.
Some friends like to drag the heart outside the cup wall when finishing. This will cause the heart to drag a long tail, which is not very beautiful. And it will also affect the cleanliness of the coffee cup.
Below, I will post some pictures of failed peach heart latte art on the front street and indicate the reasons.
The phenomenon in the picture above is that there are two petals, one large and one small. The reason is that the cup is not flat or the milk tank is not straight when injecting.
The picture above is no longer heart-shaped. The reason is that the cylinder mouth does not move forward during "convection" and remains at the quarter point.
The heart shape in the picture above is flat and not full. This is caused by raising the milk tank during "convection".
The white milk foam behind the heart shape in the picture above is insufficient, and it also has a long tail. Insufficient milk foam may be due to insufficient thickness of the milk foam, or it may be that the milk tank is not tilted sufficiently to create a large flow of milk during latte art. And the long tail was not decisive enough when ending, and excess milk still flowed out.
The pattern in the above picture is overall downward. The reason is the injection point. The injection point of this cup of coffee is at the center point, which will cause the overall sudden feeling to be downward.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
