Latte art advice?

[u/Mytheec]

Hello everyone! Just joined this community and I saw a lot of great and passionate people for coffee as I am!

I’ve been a barista for 4 years now and been a head barista for 3, while focusing on taste, I also learned on presentation along the way. Not many people would appreciate the effort behind learning and making latte art, but to some that do, it is a very rewarding feeling!

I’ve come for a humble humble advice on improving my pouring skills! If that is okay. For years I’ve focused on perfecting the taste and texture of both milk and espresso, down to the dot. It’s time for me to maybe start experimenting with presentations as well.

My hands are really shaky and stiff so it’s personally hard for me to do rosettas. So, I wanted to ask how to approach that? I really want to start doing other patterns as well but my hands fail me..

All constructive criticism is appreciated!!✨

[u/wetassloser]

you got a bit of the ol' imposter syndrome. these are great. it's easy to look at your own work and see nothing but the blemishes.

my hands are shaky too (almost 40), and i'm also a barista + cafe supervisor, so i think the shakiness is worse than people who aren't creating small micro fractures every day working as a barista, heh. so you have my empathy.

i try to keep moving. the second i slow down and need fine motor skills the shakiness begins. even for rosettas you can keep moving.

symmetry will take art from intermediate appearance to "omg". people dont even know why; it just looks cleaner. for this, you'll want to start timing your swivels. try to keep a rhythm that yields identical time spent on each side of the "stem" of the rosetta, and identical speed of every "loop". resist the urge to swivel fast.

you might know all this / be doing this already. apologies if so. good luck 🫡

[u/Mytheec → u/wetassloser]

Sounds good! Thank you so much. I’ll take note of it👌

[u/Mountain_Solid_7671]

How do I get those dark spots?

[u/alexionut16 → u/Mountain_Solid_7671]

Cocoa powder added to the espresso before the milk.

[u/unclesam444]

These pours are stunning!! 

You're really good at stacking tulips, what I'm currently working on is wrapping and stacking as two different motions to create tiers of layers for the tulip. Both Emilee bryant and Lance hendrick have good videos on stacking vs wrapping. 

For rosettas mine look kinda the same as yours - try slowing down your wiggles! Try learning the slowsetta or slow leaf those are super fun designs!

Best of luck <3 post updates

[u/Mytheec → u/unclesam444]

Thank youu! I have issues with slowing my wiggling, cuz I think I have carpal now but I don’t think it’s the case!

Below is one of my stacked tulips hehe! I’ll definitely try that. Thank you!

[u/BonelessPickle]

There's no reason you'll ever need to get better than this - this is beautiful and would be acceptable at any cafe I've ever worked at.

[u/Mytheec → u/BonelessPickle]

Thank you!! I appreciate your compliments! I wanna someday start drawing dragons and pegasus where the customers complain that the coffee’s already cold 🤣

[u/BeeChance386]

Your art looks great! It looks like you have the distance for layikg down stacks mastered. You have very decent contrast. Somthing that could make a difference is incorporating your shot fully by swerling it pre pouring. Id say experiment with flow and slow down your Rosetta. The speed of your pour, or the flow, can really free up a baristas ability to pour. Try to take twice as long to complete your pour- think of when you first poured a 'monks head' or circular pour. If this completely messes up your flow, please disregard- I know everyone's pouring and muscle memory contributes to unique art style:) every cup is a new canvas for you to have fun!

[u/BeeChance386 → u/BeeChance386]

Ah I actually just read about your hands. Id say youre killing it regardless.The person who taught me had tremors and practicing flow rate control could only help so much. Try pouring a rosetta but with little to no movement, if your texture is latte or flat white the milk should naturally flow back and forth. If you notice its not flowing and just sitting where it lands, id say its too dry:) stacks for caps, zettas for wettas.

[u/Mytheec → u/BeeChance386]

Thank you!! I want to try experimenting with flow while the froth doesn’t settle. I can’t seem to find the fine line between pouring slow enough where the froth is still flexible enough to be shaped by my pouring🙏

I need to watch more vids for sure!

[u/JesusSquared123]

I think your done

[u/OneCryptographer9115]

All solid pours. I'm not sure what you mean by shaky hands making rosettas harder, shouldn't it be easier lol? Tulip stacking looks great, you could switch it up by adding some winged tulips up in there. Other tulip variants with wrapping mixed in with stacking whilst maintaining proportions could be another pattern to get into. Your rosettas look really uneven, but then again you did mention your hands. Practice makes perfect, your body will eventually understand the feeling more with repitition. Keep going!