Salon.com > Great coffee art

The art of judging latte art

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 01:00:00 +0000

My husband manages a coffee shop, and we actually met in a coffee shop. As you can imagine, our kitchen has an espresso machine, an industrial grinder, a home grinder, two coffee pots, an iced coffee maker, a french press, a pour over kit... Needless to say, we're well-equipped in case there is an apocalypse and the new currency is coffee beans.

My first introduction to the merits of latte art was through him. I actually dislike recognizable shapes in my cups, but I have come to love the pen and ink McSweeney's quality of rosettas (the shapes you see etched below). Not quite flower, not quite feather, just a Rorschach blot crowning my morning cappuccino.

When he started judging latte art competitions, I obliged by glancing over his shoulder and rambling things about line quality, since of course I felt this was in my area of expertise as a designer. But I had no idea how extensive the actual criteria are. For instance, at the World Latte Art Competition, there's both a technical judge and a style judge. (Perhaps design competitions could employ a similar model.)

Salon’s Great Coffee Art contest: The winners

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:01:00 +0000

In the world of latte art, there are two main camps: Team Free Pour and the Etchers. Free pourers are the traditionalists: They make their designs by pouring heated, "stretched" milk into espresso, creating beautiful designs where the milk and coffee don't quite want to dissolve into one another. It's a test of how well they've aerated and textured the milk, and, of course, of how well they understand the motions and physics of the pour. Etchers, though, are the tool users: They will draw into the milk, dragging coffee into the dense foam, and boom! You have patterns, designs and the occasional portrait of Stockard Channing.

While they may battle each other for primacy and respect, Salon's team of coffee lovers decided to stay away from the fray and go with another, utterly subjective criteria: How happy do these cups of coffee make us? It was hard to choose just five winners, but we did ... and we're showing you our 36 other favorites besides.

To see them all view the slideshow.

Special congratulations go to our winners, who will receive fabulous prizes courtesy of Bodum. They are:

Salon’s coffee art contest: Our daily shots!

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:01:00 +0000

When we kicked off our little latte art contest last week, we thought it'd be fun ... but we had no idea how many responses we'd be getting! So, to keep inspiring great shots, pours and pictures, we're going to run one of our favorites each day until the deadline of April 6. Fun fun! And keep them coming!

Today:

From Jesse Raub, from Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago, with a note: "Latte art is created mainly by two different methods — free pour, and etching. Free pour relies on the flow rate and textural quality of the milk to create a design, while etching involves using an implement to draw designs in white foam with dark coffee stains. The three main designs people associate with free pour latte art are the rosetta (pictured here), a heart, and a tulip."

Jesse Raub

Jesse Raub, Intelligentsia Coffee, 4/5/11

To enter your own ...

Snap some pictures of your favorite baristas' latte art skills and send them to us. We'll pick our favorite shots, and the top five entries will win fabulous prizes from Bodum, makers of super sweet, design-y coffee gear.

Salon’s coffee art contest: Our daily shots!

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Today: From the barista himself, Jonathan Pascual of Empire State South in Atlanta, GA, Snoopy!

To enter your own ...

Salon’s coffee art contest: Our daily shots!

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 14:02:00 +0000

Today:

From Elizabeth Gray, a barista at Muddy Waters Coffee Shop in the appropriately-named Elizabeth City, NC. This piece of latte art caused a Salon editor to exclaim, "By God, it's Stockard Channing!"

To enter your own ...

Snap some pictures of your favorite baristas' latte art skills and send them to us. We'll pick our favorite shots, and the top five entries will win fabulous prizes from Bodum, makers of super sweet, design-y coffee gear.

Salon’s coffee art contest: Our daily shots!

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 21:47:00 +0000

Today:

From JJ Heldmann: "Latte purchased midway through a weekend morning bike ride, at St. Honoré Boulangerie, Lake Oswego, Ore. The barista saw my helmet and gave me a latte appropriate for the occasion. It tasted as good as it looked!"

To enter your own ...

Snap some pictures of your favorite baristas' latte art skills and send them to us. We'll pick our favorite shots, and the top five entries will win fabulous prizes from Bodum, makers of super sweet, design-y coffee gear.

Salon’s coffee art contest: Our daily shots!

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:01:00 +0000

Today: From Andrew Lynn, a beautiful photo of a coffee at Patisserie Valerie on High Street in Oxford, England, made by a barista named Francesca. And, in a pleasing bit of film geekery, Andrew notes, "I was packing my trusty Nikon and, judging by the grain, it must have been Kodak T-Max 400 film."

Andrew Lynn

Coffee made by Francesca at Patisserie Valerie on High Street in Oxford, England

To enter your own ...

Salon’s coffee art contest: Our daily shots!

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:31:00 +0000

When we kicked off our little latte art contest last week, we thought it's be fun ... but we had no idea how many responses we'd be getting! So, to keep inspiring great shots, pours, and pictures, we're going to run one of our favorites each day until the deadline of April 6th. Fun fun! And keep them coming!

Today: From Gabriel Kory, a lovely photo of classic latte hearts taken at Madcap Coffee in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

To enter your own ...

Salon’s coffee art contest: Our daily shots!

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:01:00 +0000

Today:

From Stephen Graham, a photo taken at Urth Coffee House in Santa Monica, CA.

Stephen Graham

Made at Urth coffee house in Santa Monica, CA on March 10, 2007

To enter your own ...

Salon’s coffee art contest: Our daily shots!

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:01:00 +0000

Today:

From reader Ben, a photo taken at The Treehouse Hotel in Santa Elena, Costa Rica

To enter your own ...

Salon’s Great Coffee Art contest

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:01:00 +0000

Update: So sorry if the entry you sent to coffee@salon.com bounced back. Everything's fixed! Please give it another shot.

Latte art, pouring "textured" milk into espresso to create designs -- and in some cases full drawings -- is one of the branches of the barista's discipline. We've enjoyed our milky coffees topped with hearts, roses and leaf shapes for years, but a recent smiley bear face finally got all of Salon to wonder, How does that work?

"The point is to learn to control everything at the coffee bar -- the beans, the roast, the right grind, the water, the timing, the machine -- everything. So part of that means learning how milk behaves, and how to control it," says Ken Nye, owner of Ninth Street Espresso, and the man many credit with popularizing latte art in New York City.