My name is Mike Jones, and I'm a barista at
Third Rail Coffee right by Washington Square
Park in New York City.
I'm going to teach you some basic coffee-making
skills.
Alright, I'm going to talk to you about latte
art.
Latte art is kind of the exciting part of
making espresso drink.
It's what gets a lot of people really pumped
about making coffee.
It's not necessarily a representation of a
quality beverage, but it definitely shows
that the person who made it cared—it's the
mark of a professional, similar to plating
with food.
Now, the first thing you need is a good shot
of espresso.
You need the milk steamed properly with good
micro foam, and then you have to pour, keeping
a few things in mind.
This is velocity, so basically how fast you're
pouring.
And then where the milk is going in the cup,
and where it's flowing outwards.
It's kind of something you have to feel out
and you really have to practice it many many
times to get down.
So we're going to start off by doing the heart.
This is sort of the basic latte art design
and then the other one would be a rosetta
which is a fern, and then a tulip.
So heart, rosetta, tulip are the three basic
designs you can do with latte art.
So I'm going to start off making the heart,
pulling a shot, steaming the milk and then
pouring.
Alright, so when you're starting to pour latte
art, the first thing you want to do is pour
from a greater distance up, or from a greater
height so that way the milk is actually going
to go underneath the espresso and then as
you get closer and start pouring faster, the
foam rises to the top and this is when you
start controlling it.
So to make the heart, you're basically just
going to be pouring into the center until
you see it's about three-quarters full.
So I'm pouring into the center there.
Then as I get closer, the foam will rise to
the top and you just kind of shake it, and
then you lift it up at the end to suck it
in and cut through.
So again, pouring to the center, getting close
when it's three-quarters full, pulling up
to suck in and then cutting through.
That's a heart.
