Six ways to improve your latte art skills

Rohan Pitumpe, La Cimbali barista trainer and runner up in the UK Latte Art Championship 2016 is naturally a bit of star when it comes to milk prep and here he shares six top tips to help you develop your own latte art skills: 

1    Espresso – use a fresh shot of espresso. It will be hard creating a nice pattern without a nice thick crema.

2.    Quality of the milk – use fresh, cold milk. You can control the formation of foaming milk better if you use whole milk.

3.    Milk texturing – position the steam wand within the milk. Getting that whirlpool motion correct when steaming milk will create fine, silky micro foam.

4.    Milk temperature – 60 to 65 degrees is the perfect temperature for steamed milk. Above 70 degrees not only causes the milk to lose its sweetness and flavour but also affects the texture.

5.    Pouring technique – controlling the pour is key to creating good latte art. The position of the pitcher and speed of the pour all affect the end product.

6.    Be creative and practice,  practice and practice!