EntranceHow to learn to draw coffee. Unusual coffee paintings worth seeing
Latte (from Italian Latte - milk) was first prepared in Italy. The drink is valued for its soft velvety taste. About half a century ago, Italian baristas breathed new life into the familiar lattes and cappuccinos. In his cup, the client was happy to find either a “flower”, or a “heart”, or an “apple”. It was these drawings that were the first and became the basis for the rest.
In the US, latte art was popularized by David Schomer in the 80s and 90s. Having visited Italy, he was inspired by the art of local baristas and today is the author of the book “Espresso Coffee. A guide for professionals” and many articles about coffee and latte art. His Espresso Vivace Café is internationally renowned for its high quality coffee.
Surely you have noticed that the patterns on coffee for visitors are different. Latte art is a way of dialogue with the visitor. Often the barista selects drawings on purpose. He will draw hearts for a couple holding hands, a smile for a sad person, a sun for a girl he likes.
Latte art allows you to create additional value for guests of coffee shops, cafes and restaurants. At the same time, the cost of a cup of coffee increases, and, accordingly, the revenue of the institution. For many local markets, latte art is a novelty that allows you to attract guests and drive out competitors. The quality of the resulting patterns on a latte or cappuccino depends, first of all, on the skill of the barista, the quality of the coffee itself and the milk foam.
The most common types of latte art are as follows:
- Pouring milk foam into thick espresso is the easiest and most practical way to create patterns on the surface of coffee. This method widespread in American coffeehouses due to its quick preparation and persistence.
- Creating patterns on the surface of milk foam with a toothpick - patterns created in this way are less stable compared to pouring milk foam. Painting with caramel and food coloring also finds application in latte art.
- Using stencils - coffee designs are created using a stencil and cinnamon or cocoa powder.
Technology for applying latte art
The pattern created by the master is influenced by the technique of the master and the following factors: the height of the milk jug above the surface of the cup; milk jet oscillation frequency; the point at which the jet of milk enters the cup; infusion rate.
For drawing, you need to prepare espresso coffee and high-quality milk foam. It's all about her bubbles. Before preparing the foam, the milk is cooled to 2-4 degrees. After that, a modern coffee maker equipped with a steam engine is used. Through this device, steam is supplied under pressure, which warms up and whips the foam. Milk should have time to warm up to 60-70 degrees, but no more. Then part of the milk will turn into a dense, tender and, most importantly, fine bubble foam. Milk whipped in any other way will only give big bubbles. On such a foam, the pattern will quickly settle and spread. High-quality foam retains the pattern for 10-12 minutes. Even if most of the coffee is drunk during this time, the pattern will settle to the bottom of the cup, almost unchanged.
Before pouring the frothed milk into coffee, it must stand for 30 seconds in the milk jug. After that, you can draw. According to the Italian method (pitching) - coffee or milk jet. When preparing a cappuccino, drawing begins with the first drop of milk foam that has fallen on coffee. If we are talking about coffee latte, then they draw a stream of coffee over milk foam. You can also draw in the Australian way (etching), using, in addition to the pitcher, any means at hand: wooden skewers, Chinese sticks, coffee spoons, chocolate and fruit syrups, cinnamon, etc.
Barista Secrets
A real barista always has his own secrets of creating unique latte art. The brewed coffee has its own foam. If you sprinkle it in a cup with cocoa powder, then the poured stream of milk foam will turn dark beige. It is necessary to study well the behavior of the foam when applying drawings. To "pull" the image into the right side, you need to sharply draw a line-jet. The height of the milk jug above the cup, the strength of the jet are also taken into account. Training sometimes takes months. Baristas know that the main taste of coffee is concentrated in the coffee foam. To emphasize perfection, you need to correctly position the picture. The execution of the classic "heart" allows the coffee foam to stray to the walls. This enhances the aroma and taste of the drink. If you sprinkle coffee with cocoa powder, the pattern will be brighter.
Thanks to innovation, latte art has been taken to a whole new level of development. Taiwan's Let's Cafe uses a special coffee printer that allows you to print a photo with a portrait of a guest directly on the surface coffee drink. To create a pattern on the surface of the milk foam, the printer uses special food-grade inks. At the request of the guests, in addition to the photograph, various inscriptions can also be added to the surface of the drink.
Now the best coffee bartenders gather for the annual coffee painting championships. There, coffee gurus create new patterns and technologies for their application. Aerobatics is considered "Taj Mahal", invented by Australian barista George Sabbads. One of the last world championships in latte art was won by Australian Scotty Kalagan, who designed 6 cups with an identical pattern, drawing behind his back. And the world record today is 7 roses, "blossomed" in a 150 ml cup of cappuccino.
Is latte art difficult to learn? Of course, it is difficult, because you need to learn how to control several processes at once, and at the same time also have a certain artistic taste. Difficult, but nothing impossible, especially if you have a Saeco automatic coffee machine at hand. After all, it is well known that it is not the gods who make pots, and everything can be learned with appropriate effort.
Hello. Lately, creativity has made me happy and gives me energy, or rather a video with drawing on YouTube. I was looking for information on drawing on T-shirts and came across incredibly original coffee pictures. Coffee-art is an original technique for creating paintings using coffee. Today it is becoming more and more popular. Coffee-addicted artists are subject to any subjects, from self-portraits to translations of masterpieces of world art into the language of coffee. Drawings of coffee on paper are unusual and admirable. And it’s easy to draw, see the detailed master classes on the video.
- Paper. It is better to choose thick watercolor paper, with a density of at least 200 g / m2.
- Tassels. Good natural brushes (for example, speakers) are suitable, as well as synthetic ones. I like synthetics because the brushes are quite elastic and do not lose the villi when drawing. Basically, I use synthetic brushes of different sizes. Wide - for the background, thin - for small details.
- Coffee. Of course, we need to talk about coffee. For drawing, you can also use very tightly brewed ground coffee(stronger than ristretto). But I prefer instant ground coffee in granules. Exactly instant coffee allows you to get a rich, almost black tone. And this allows you to make drawings contrasting, from the lightest shades to deep dark accents. Indian artist Amita Dutta calls her painting solutions " coffee syrups". Indeed, you can dilute coffee in such a way that you get a syrupy thick natural paint. The brand of coffee is not critical, but I use organic coffee. It is produced completely without the use of chemicals, without dyes and flavors - they simply brew the coffee extract and dry it.
- Water. Ordinary clean water is needed both for preparing the coffee solution and for washing the brushes during the drawing process.
Detailed lesson in Russian
Work examples
Inventions that until recently were an absolute novelty are now taken for granted, and it seems as if all these innovations have existed for a long time - they fit so seamlessly into modern life. So the new coffee machine, which is at the same time a mini-3D printer and is able to put any pattern on your coffee, is perceived as something so logical that just about, and this will also cease to be a novelty and become part of everyday life.
The time for cinnamon stencils and skills to draw cats and milk foam hearts seems to be coming to an end. A coffee machine called Ripple Maker is an absolutely charming invention that can "turn" each user into a barista: using a mobile application, you can tell the machine what exactly you want to depict on the foam of milk in your cup of coffee. It can be an inscription, a simple outline drawing, or maybe even a photograph!
For drawings, the coffee machine uses only coffee, there are no other dyes or additives. With the help of milk and a mixture of Arabica and Robusta coffee varieties, the machine makes, if not full-color, but monochrome, but quite accurate images. At a recent tennis tournament in Canada, for example, guest baristas made personalized cups of coffee, but instead of the names on the cups, there were photographs on the surface of the coffee itself. You can't really go wrong with who ordered what.
Good day, dear readers of our site. There are a lot of artists in the world, someone paints pictures on canvases, and someone expresses himself with the help of drawings on the surface of coffee drinks. Painting with milk foam on a coffee treat is called latte art.
Very often you can see such drawings in decent cafes where you can enjoy excellent coffee. With the help of them, the visitor can express gratitude for visiting the institution. Guests also note the uplifting mood due to cute drawings on coffee, which are pleasantly pleasing to the eye.
Latte art for beginners
The art of painting on a coffee drink appeared quite recently and has recently gained great momentum and has become part of the life of many coffee lovers. Gourmets who prefer coffee with drawings are ready to pay quite a decent amount for a cup of drink, somewhere around $100. As can be seen from the figure, admirers are ready to pay a large amount, which indicates the demand for latte art.
When art was just emerging, coffee was painted using improvised means. Here, cream was used, with which a heart or other shape was drawn on the surface of the coffee foam. easy drawing and decorated, for example, with ground cinnamon, sprinkling the edges.
Currently, various competitions are held in this area where the best baristas create whole works of art. This is where you can see the most beautiful latte art. They come up with more and more new techniques for drawing and confirm that there is room for improvement in the art of latte art. How to make a painting on coffee excites many, including ordinary coffee lovers who want to pamper themselves and loved ones not only delicious coffee, but also beautiful drawings on its surface.
To make latte art you will need:
- Craftsmanship is a matter of course, because without it it will not be possible to make beautiful patterns on the foam;
- Quality espresso. This is one of the main components, without which a high-quality drawing cannot be obtained;
- Milk of a certain fat content. It only takes fresh product with a certain temperature.
For drawing we need:
- A cup of good quality espresso;
- Whipped milk;
- Stick for drawing. It must be thin;
- Additional decorations: syrup, cinnamon or cocoa powder, chocolate chips and more.
Thus, the canvas is coffee, and the pencil or brush is a thin stick and a stream of frothed milk.
Dog 
Puppy (I think) 
Latte art 
heart
Barista is not just an attractive profession. Such a person must professionally perform his functions and meet all of the following requirements:
- Know all the rules for making espresso. Distinguish its types and know how to prepare other types of drinks based on it;
- It is good to know the types of coffee, as well as what each of them is suitable for. In addition, you need to know the secrets of cooking each type;
- To be able to correctly determine the type of coffee only by tasting the drink a little;
- Know the rules for making the best coffee drink and master the art of latte art.
To create a picture on coffee foam, baristas hone their skills for a very long time and hard.
Learning the theory is quite simple, but in practice it is not always possible to apply it the first time.
How to make latte art? This question worries many, because most of us believe that it is almost impossible to do at home. However, professional baristas claim that if you really want to, then everything will work out. Almost everyone who wants to do this will succeed in making a latte art heart, but it will be possible to start more complex three-dimensional drawings only after repeated training and understanding how this process takes place.
It is worth noting that one of the main points for preparing for painting coffee is milk for latte art, which must be fresh and well-whipped. In addition, it must be correctly poured into coffee, so that later you can draw whatever you want.
Latte art: how to draw? There are many secrets here, but you should know the following:
- You can draw a pattern with a regular toothpick;
- You need to pour milk into espresso in a special way that will allow you to correctly form the pattern.
With these two methods, you can draw both light patterns and complex ones. Here everything will depend on the degree of skill.
One question torments many who want to learn latte art: how to draw on coffee foam? In answering the question, it is worth noting some rules:
- Need to weld thick coffee: espresso or cappuccino. Here the brewing process itself will be important, as well as the quality of the drink;
- Use high fat cream. They do not need to be whipped for a very long time, just thicken a little;
- For whipping, a special device is used - a pitcher. It was created specifically for creating paintings, which allows it to be used due to the convenient design in the form of a jug;
- The pattern is shaded with cocoa powder, which is sprinkled on part of the pattern.
These secrets seem trifling, but they form the basis of a successful latte art. It will be possible to achieve great success in this direction if you are ready to hone your skills for years and improve it every time.
Directions of latte art
Latte art, like many techniques, has several directions that relate directly to the application of the pattern. The most common are 4 such areas:
- Etching. One of the most popular among the best baristas in the world. The painting is applied with the help of milk, foamed in a special way, and a sharp stick, which looms the main pattern;
- Cappuccino latte art. Here enjoy food coloring. The decor is given with the help of syrups and chocolate chips. Colored latte art improves the mood of visitors;
- Multi art. Mixed technique using the main secrets of 1 and 2 directions. It is used only by professional craftsmen;
- Espresso art. A fairly simple technique for applying a simple pattern or pattern.
You can make latte art topping, as well as shade the pattern with cocoa powder or cinnamon powder. Various form you can see latte art photos posted by ordinary people, as well as real masters.
There is another direction 3-D. Using this technique, you can achieve the most realistic drawing, but the process of creating a drawing is more complicated and not everyone can understand.
Latte art at home
Latte art allows you to deliver gourmets not only taste pleasure, but also give good mood for the whole day due to the cute pattern.
Professionals in this business pay special attention to milk foam, which is important to prepare very high quality. In a sense, the result will depend on it, and not on the quality of the coffee. The height of the foam will depend on the consistency of the foam, as well as the taste.
Latte art allows you to deliver gourmets not only taste pleasure, but also give a good mood for the whole day due to a cute pattern
How to make latte art at home? It is important to remember that to create milk foam, you need to take cold milk and beat, gradually heating it to the required temperature. This method ensures that the foam can hold for 10 minutes or more.
Latte art drawings are made by infusing coffee and milk jets using a certain technique. To decorate the picture, use a pen for latte art or a regular toothpick. In latte art, syrup is used to add color and flavor.
There are certain patterns that even a novice master can perform at home:
- Latte art heart. Due to the milk foam, you need to form a circle, filling it completely. Then make a drawing in the center of the circle.
- Rosa latte art. It is carried out by filling the cup ½ with a milk jet with a gentle movement starting from the far wall. With gentle movements, you need to bring the jug of milk closer while making the movements "snake".
- Apple. With the help of milk foam, the stalk is first formed, and then the jet moves in the center.
There are several more simple drawings that can be applied to coffee at home. Using a latte art stencil, you can apply a simple pattern to the foam using cocoa powder.
Very often, the pattern itself is influenced by many factors, the main of which are the following:
- How high is the jug of milk foam above the cup of coffee;
- How often do jet oscillations occur;
- From what point did the drawing begin;
- The rate at which the milk jet is added to the cup.
The drawing itself, its quality and how long the foam will last will depend on these and other factors.
It is worth noting a few secrets that baristas use when creating a beautiful pattern in a cup with a drink:
- High-quality coffee always retains its foam after preparation. It can be sprinkled with cocoa powder and this will give milk or creamy foam a rich beige color;
- To "pull" the pattern at one point or line, you will need to sharply draw a jet. Also here it is necessary to take into account the height of the pouring of the jet and its infusion force. Only training can lead to the desired result;
- Coffee foam gives the drink a full taste, so to emphasize it, you will need to correctly position the picture.
In order to properly whip the milk, you need a mixer. The procedure must be carried out in conjunction with gradual heating to 70 C. You can also use a special cappuccinator device. It will allow you to whip milk into foam much faster.
Hello friends and visitors of the site. Today we will talk about what are the recipes for making coffee....
A cup of coffee with a pattern on milk foam - branded feature of many coffee houses and cafes. For the institution, this is a way to attract new visitors, for the barista, it is an opportunity to show their imagination and creativity.
To make something like this at home for a person who has not undergone special training and does not have the same technical capabilities as a professional barista is not easy, but one must try.
If successful, you will give your loved one not just “coffee in bed” (although this is already great), but a confirmation of sincere feelings, if it is, for example, a cup with the inscription “I love you” on the foam or a drawing of a heart.
In the instructions for beginner artists, it is emphasized that the main component of success is a good milk foam, which is applied to the drawing. Nevertheless, own coffee foam is also extremely important - in a well-made drink, it lasts for a long time, giving the master the opportunity to create. Sometimes this foam is sprinkled with cocoa powder, and this brings additional, beige shades to the traditional coffee color scheme. Information about the benefits and harms of cocoa powder can be found. Read the article on how to properly whip milk for cappuccino.
Varieties of coffee art
Coffee painting is developing in several directions:
- pitching - to decorate the drink, a vessel for frothing milk, which is called a "pitcher" is used;
- etching - a drawing is created using foamed milk, and the artist’s tool is some kind of pointed object;
- cappuccino art - in addition to milk, safe edible dyes are used here;
- multi-art - is a combination of etching and cappuccino art;
- espresso art - the "canvas" for applying patterns is the so-called "cream" - the foam on the surface of the espresso.
Recipes for making espresso coffee at home can be found.
You can make a drawing using different types technology. One of them is called stencil and more suitable for beginners, since the pattern or inscription is already carved on a special plate, which greatly simplifies the task of the coffee artist. The second is 3D technique. It is not difficult to guess what it is: realistic, voluminous (they can be viewed from different angles) images are the aerobatics of latte art.
By the way, recently this technology ceases to be the lot of the elite. A unique Ripple Maker machine has been created that literally reproduces drawings and inscriptions from a customer’s smartphone onto coffee foam in just seconds. The maximum dimensions of the original (text, photos, including selfies) are 180 x 95 mm.
How to draw on coffee
Whatever drawing technique the master chooses, he first of all prepares an invigorating high-quality espresso or cappuccino in a coffee machine. The drink is poured into a cup or glass (as you like) and sprinkled with chocolate, cocoa powder or cinnamon on top. Thanks to these ingredients, the drawing will turn out to be especially interesting, expressive.
Then milk foam is prepared. Cream (fat content of 30 percent) or milk (fat content of at least 3-3.5) is best suited for this purpose. The foam preparation technology provides use of chilled product, which is then heated to the required temperature and at the same time whipped under pressure.
The whipping process, according to experts, should not be too long, because its purpose is to achieve a degree of easy thickening of the product. To simplify the task, in addition to coffee machines, a special milk jug (pitcher) is provided, they are used as follows:
For a beginner, this will be quite difficult to do, but experienced baristas are able to achieve the desired result in different ways:
- placing the pitcher at different heights from the cup (thus changing the strength of the jet);
- adjusting the speed of the jet;
- by selecting various points on the coffee surface and directing the jet to them.
To apply patterns, various thin and sharp sticks like toothpicks. They are lowered into coffee to the desired depth, and then raised, grabbing a little coffee and bringing it to a snow-white surface, and applying a light dark stroke, geometric lines, zigzags, ovals, flowers to it.
Also suitable for creating original coffee pictures confectionery syringe with a thin nozzle, it is filled liquid chocolate or thick syrup(caramel, strawberry, chocolate) and create patterns directly on top of the milk foam.
If the perfect picture does not work out, for a start it is better to master a simpler way of drawing - using a stencil, buying ready-made or cutting it out yourself from cardboard. Stencils should be slightly wider in diameter than a cup or mug, but the pattern should not go beyond it.
If you make a stencil yourself, try not to make the slits too thick - then the image will turn out to be more elegant. The stencil is placed over a cup, the surface of which is covered with milk foam, and grated chocolate, cinnamon, and ground nuts are poured onto it. On a dark surface of espresso, it will be interesting to look at the image from powdered sugar- for example, a swan, a bunny, a deer.
Technique for creating patterns and images
Latte art, as if on three whales, stands on three basic design elements, these are:
- heart;
- Apple;
- rosette (rose).
It is imperative to learn how to perform these particular drawings, then other, more complex ones, will be easier, because they, as a rule, are a kind of combination of basic techniques multiplied by the performer's imagination. Here's how it's done.
Heart: a circle is mentally drawn on the surface of the coffee and filled with milk through the pitcher's nose (it should be directed to the center of the circle), at the final stage, the pitcher is lifted, the stream is made very thin and crosses out the circle filled with milk in diameter.
Apple: they begin to draw it from the wall of the cup, depicting a small twig, and then, sending a stream of milk to the center of the cup, create the fruit itself.
Flower (rosette): the surface is mentally divided into 4 sectors and first the two upper “quarters” are filled, then, shaking the pincher slightly, they fill the lower left and lower right, the last portions of milk are poured out in a zigzag motion. They complete the work, as in the case of the heart, lifting the pitcher and crossing out the picture with a thin stream.
Tulip: at the heart of this image are several hearts that are crossed by a milk strip-"stalk".
The following video will help you consolidate your skills:
What kind of coffee foam is needed to make a drawing at home
Pessimists argue that without professional equipment, patterns cannot be drawn on coffee. Optimists try and succeed. The goal is to prepare a foam of such density that it retains the pattern for a quarter of an hour. To do this, the foam should consist of the smallest bubbles. If they are large, the mass will be loose and will settle very quickly, dissolve in the drink along with the pattern.
You can get the foam of the desired density using:
- hand mixer (whipping cream should be while heating them to 70 degrees);
- manual milk frother(He will complete the task faster).
In any case, coffee must be brewed in advance, because the milk foam will not wait, it must be put into operation immediately.
In an art like latte art, not all baristas are willing to divulge their deepest secrets. But even if they share them, beginners have to train for a very long time in order to reproduce the "handwriting" of the master. Here are some tips that might be helpful:
- to direct the image in the right direction, the line-jet is drawn with a sharp, fast movement;
- the heart pattern performs not only a decorative, but also a taste function - the foam goes down from the center to the edge of the cup, enhancing the aroma of each sip;
- to make multi-colored drawings, you can use syrups, in which a little starch is added for density;
- be sure to heat the cup so that the coffee and milk foam poured into it remain hot longer;
- if sugar needs to be added to coffee, it is better to sprinkle foam on them, if rum or cognac - pour directly into coffee.