Have you ever watched one of those reels on social media where they do perfect latte art and make it look super simple? Well, I watch them regularly and think to myself "okay that looks super easy, I can do that." Then I try on our espresso machine and fail every single time. I can never figure out why its so difficult.
Normally I drink my coffee black and occasionally with half and half cream. On weekends sometimes I'll have a second cup of coffee and if I feel inspired to try and create latte art then I'll give it a go. I'll make a latte, Cappuccino or flat white, basically whatever it happens to turn out to be when I'm done.
I can't figure out exactly what I'm doing wrong with the art attempts but I can never get it right.
My process goes like this. First I stretch the milk; I create the whirlpool effect to incorporate the bubbles; I steam the milk until its hot to the touch. Then I bang out the large bubbles in the frothing jug and then swirl the milk until it turns glossy and smooth, like paint. Before pouring the milk I swirl the espresso a little in the mug. When I start pouring the milk I begin higher up to sink it and create a base, and then I move closer to the coffee to make the foam stay closer to the surface.
Even doing all of that I can never create good looking latte art. You can see from the photos that there are times when I get close to making a basic tulip or fern but also that I'm just not quite there.
This one in particular looks like cauliflower.
The mug that I use is very small and not a Cappuccino mug which might contribute to the issue a little? But then again, I have also seen baristas do latte art in a small paper cup many times, so that can't be the only reason.
Ultimately, I can't figure out exactly what I'm doing wrong and its super frustrating watching online videos because they always make it look so easy. My coffees typically turn out to be more of a flat white style coffee, so I'm guessing that I'm incorporating too much air during the frothing process?
The other issue is that when I don't incorporate a lot of air then I find the milk doesn't froth up at all and its basically just like hot milk in a coffee, which I really hate.
This last image below is one of my better attempts but as you can see, its still pretty bad compared to the crisp and clean ones you see online or at a cafe.
So anyway. All that being said. I can't do latte art and it annoys me. I know its hard to invision my process via written text alone but if anyone has any suggestions please let me know in the comments.
