Baristas have to practice for years to make beautiful latte designs
Who says art has to be framed and hanging on a wall to be considered art? There can be beauty, form, texture, and expression in many things, including your coffee cup — and whatever’s inside it.
Latte is a type of coffee that’s made with espresso (finely ground dark coffee) and hot, steamed milk. And that’s exactly where the fun comes in: That hot, steamed milk can make some pretty cool designs. Those designs can be simple hearts, flowers, or leaf shapes. Or they can be abstract patterns, or animals like bears, bunnies, or ducks. Or they can even be 3-D foam creatures hanging out in your cup. Though this medium is referred to as “latte art,” don’t worry if your parents don’t let you drink coffee yet or if you don’t like the stuff. Latte art can be created in any drink containing milky foam, like hot cocoa — or even tea.
Sometime in the 1980s, in Italy, a coffee seller by the name of Luigi Lupi started experimenting with making patterns of milk in the lattes he was preparing for customers. And at the same time in the United States, a man named David Schomer was playing around with milk and lattes in his Seattle-based Espresso Vivace coffee shop. Some people say that Schomer saw a picture of one of Lupi’s creations and worked from there. Others say the two just independently thought of the same idea.
Whatever, whoever, wherever — latte art was born, beginning with a simple “rosette” pattern, which Schomer had mastered by 1992 (it took years of practice). Then Schomer started working on other patterns and ideas and even began to teach others how to do it. He actually taught classes and printed a book on the topic. Lupi, meanwhile, was doing basically the same thing across the Atlantic.
Create a free account to keep reading.
