Triumphant Return?

I realize it HAS been a while since I last blogged a good latte art. I have been more interested in facebook, origami, and most recently candy making?

But my love of coffee has never wained... just my ability to make a good pour and get the crema and microfoam just so.

Hope everyone had a great turkey day and gets all their Christmas shopping done in time - and please... no more shopping horror stories! It's just stuff... relax and enjoy the season!

-Naug

3 back to basics

I've really been having such bad latte art recently that I pretty much gave up even blogging any of my attempts. I have been more addicted to origami and somehow lost touch with the preparation and technique of a good pour.

Then I read again how to properly create microfoam and how to pour. The foam is SO important. So much so that without the right consistency you might as well just not even bother. I've been frothing the milk FIRST recently and when finished have made sure to continually tap and swirl the pitcher while I'm both cleaning the steam wand and cooling the machine down to pull a shot. I also am swirling during the 25ish seconds to draw the shot.

I have been getting better crema recently but it too has a fine line. Over pack the basket and the water barely comes out producing more sludge than caramel colored crema. Slightly under pack and you've got a real mess of a thin watery shot.

The pour has to start slowly and right in the middle letting the milk (hopefully) cut through the crema and only when ready can you slowly shake the pitcher to get the rosetta started.

I feel like I'm back on track to perfecting this art but the success is in the details. Keeping the pitcher in the freezer before frothing gives me more time to create good tight foam. Also bleeding ALL water out of the steam wand until you have only the driest steam possible has been VERY beneficial to producing tight foam with no big bubbles.

I'll keep you posted if I have more good pours. (I'm not sure who "you" refers to since no one subscribes to this blog.

-Naug

Could they be more different?!?

This is my 2nd belated post of September. I had 4 decent lattes to post but have not had internet/power for the past few days (my town had 660,000 ppl without power this week and mine finally came back LATE Monday night). The top pour is one of my favorites of recent. I only wish the crema was a little darker near the bottom, but the overall rosetta is pretty nice.

This second attempt from yesterday had potential. I got a lot of detail in the "leaves" but did not get good contrast - too much of the foam slipped under the crema. Again, this is all in the pourer's abilities and mine are far from perfected. So I will continue my quest to hone my skills as a master barista. Ha!

Pour it again, Sam.

-Naug

Been slacking on my blog...

...not that anyone reads it anyway! These are my 2 previous attempted pours. I have not posted in a while because I have had both a power outage and just haven't felt like I was getting anything worth posting. I will also post a 2nd entry with my most recent 2 from this week.

As you can see, neither is a very good example. The 2nd has a heart design - purely unintentional I'll admit. My crema has been pretty good with the home roasted beans, but my microfoam is still all over the map and don't even get me started on my pours. Ugh.

Thus concludes post 1 of 2...

-Naug

Not much luck these days...

I'm having issues getting the microfoam right. As you can see there are many larger bubbles which are affecting my pours and the latte art in general. I think I'm doing something fundamentally wrong. Oh well. Back to the drawing board.

Sadly lacking in style.

-Naug

Neverending...

I don't see any foreseeable conclusion to this hobby of making latte art. There are times when I think, hey... a couple more days and I'll have everything just so, but there are SO many variables that I'm surprised baristas DO master the technique. I'm sure it helps having professional equipment and doing multiple pours on a daily basis. My 3-4 pours a week does make for a steeper learning curve.

I tried frothing the milk FIRST today then pulling the shot to see if I could get better results in this order - what I used to do back in my Saeco Classico days. The milk seemed to froth really nice and even without too much steam pressure. I then purged the machine and pulled the shot.

The end result is fair, but it still seemed as though my microfoam was a little thin and didn't hold up to the much thicker crema and so my overall pour wasn't very great. Back to the drawing board I suppose. But at minimum my brother can't critique my lack of good crema. I've currently got an excess of the stuff. :-P

Until next time, pour like you mean it.

-Naug

Hello my pretty

This was my Saturday attempt. Pretty nice. I think it was my 2nd because my first had SO much steam that I ended up with some ridiculous frothy foam that I just couldn't make any art with. This was made for my sister-in-law's husband and I even did the pour after adding syrup so the crema MUST have been good.

I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing at the start of my pour, but one day... one day my perfect pour will arrive.

But until then, I pour, I drink, I impress only my own ego.

Cheerios.
-Naug

OH NO! I rushed it.

Sometimes everything starts so perfect... great crema, lots of powerful steam and then the moment of truth - the pour! I suppose my microfoam wasn't the best but I definitely rushed my pour and ended up running out of cup at the end to get the rosetta made. I'd give my effort a C+ mostly because the execution was poor even though the end result is better than average.

Man. I MUST be my own worst critic. Perfectionist Latte Blog is what I should rename this thing. Oh well.

Happy Weekend and keep on frothing all!

-Naug

The crema my brother was buggin' me about

So I FINALLY got those darn beans roasted and this is my first REAL attempt with the extra crema that I now obtain. I made a couple lattes for my wife and myself yesterday but trying to froth milk for 2 lattes AND get art is a bad idea. Both looked horrible (but with good crema). So today I concentrated on just one cup and got pretty good results. As usual the end pour is better than the beginning so I need to work on my technique a bit more.

Not to make excuses, but I was rushed because the man (an old scouting buddy) who is tiling our kitchen floors showed up right as I finished frothing and I had to pour "with company". Oh... the pressure.

Anyway, the taste is very good - strong but smooth. Maybe next post I'll get a little better definition in the leaves of the rosetta.

Until then... making it "Good to the last drop!"

-Naug

Best yet?

So I'm not sure this is my best ever, but it's my best in some time. This may be the last latte I make using the free beans that came with Miss Silvia. I just roasted my blend of Brazil, Colombian, and Nicaraguan this morning so I will probably have another entry on Monday if I get a good pour - hopefully with nice dark CREMA!!!

The free "Super Crema" espresso beans (as they are dubbed) did have better crema than any vacuum bagged beans I've used prior, but nothing like what comes with a fresh home roast, especially one with 15% robusta to give a nice crema boost.

So, hopefully next post I will have some nice dark crema as a starting palette to work my "magic". ;-) THEN my only excuse will be my ability to pour!

Ta ta.

-Naug

No crema but decent pour

This pour from this morning just goes to show that you can get fairly good art EVEN IF your crema is plain awful. I actually did my shot into an espresso mug and then decided to try a pour so I transfered that into my cup - something I never do. As a result, I lost most of what little crema I had to begin with.

I'm still a little unsure how to start the pours because I get really undefined lower leaves of the rosetta but only toward the end of the pour am I getting a good light and dark contrast in the design. I'm sure having better crema and fresher beans would help. Maybe I'll roast some on Saturday... I've been SUPER lazy recently.

Have sooperdy dooper day!

-Naug

Bottom 3

These are my last 3 latte art attempts. I guess I'm exaggerating when I say bottom 3 because I've had many worse pours than these. I didn't even get very good pictures of them - mostly because I could tell they weren't so spectacular. I am about sick of the pre-roasted espresso beans that I still have a half bag of which came with my Silvia. The sad thing is that I HAVE all the green beans to iRoast it up AND a new digital scale to weigh them out, I've just been preoccupied recently and can't be bothered to roast them.

As an aside, my old digital scale now displays EEE no matter what I do - even with fresh batteries (which were 2 of the CR lithium type that cost over $6 and weren't even the issue). My advice? Don't waste your money on a Salter scale. :-)

Rant over.

So I will trudge on and hopefully have some better, less-watery crema soon and maybe a beautiful pour in the not so distant future. This is DEFINITELY not a good hobby for a generally lazy person with perfectionist qualities... it's very easy to get frustrated.

Hoping your lattes are always tasty...
-Naug

Someday

Yes, someday. Someday I will truly know what it means to create the perfect latte art. I am not complaining too much about where I'm at now. I mean a couple of months ago I couldn't pour anything like what I can today. Maybe only one out of 10 pours I'd even want to put on the blog due to their lack of anything "blog-worthy".

So, I shouldn't whine or complain too much about not having perfected my art yet. I do wish I was a bit more consistant. I knew that on this one I had too much foam and it wasn't forming a very tight froth in the pitcher. Once again I sort of circled the milk in initially and then slowed my pour near the end with the shake, but since the foam was lighter and too "foamy" I knew I wouldn't get very good detail in the rosetta.

The good news is that it DOES look like an actual rosetta, just one from a distance photographed with an out-of-focus telephoto lense or something. Ha ha.

Well, at least the coffee tasted good as usual and that IS all that matters, right?

Cya next time
-Naug

I love you too!

Well... It seems that I can make a heart now. :-) My wife will be happy since she's been asking me to do some other type of design. I pretty much over packed my portafilter and the espresso was barely dripping out - this is a pretty hard thing to do on the Silvia with all it's power. I also frothed the milk first since the machine hadn't heated up its usual 30 minutes in advance and I wanted coffee bad!

I had a really dark small shot in the cup and with the milk frothed already I only had to swirl the pitcher for about 15 seconds and tap it before I was ready to pour. I again poured kinda quickly circling the outside of the cup trying to slip the milk in. Then I did a little bit of a shake but this time ended up more with a heart. I think this was because of the vigorous pour at the start. Either way, it's really pretty and tastes good and I'm quite satisfied with the results. I will have to try to replicate my result and pour the heart again.

I suppose if I ever lose my day job I could pass for a minimal barista at some non-Seattle non-Italian cafe. Ha ha.

Y'all come back now, Y'ear?
-Naug

A nice artful thing...

...but what IS it exactly. It's kinda leaf-like but also rather featherish. I do think I'm starting to get used to the whole pour technique thingy. It's almost like you have to kinda pour around the cup to "slip" the milk through the crema leaving it rather undisturbed. Then at the end the foam begins to settle along the top and you begin to shake to form the art.

My problem is that I can only practice 3 times a week or so which makes it hard to remember what techniques work and which don't. But I suppose this is the nature of the home barista vs the full-time barista.

And so I trudge onward. Seeking a perfect pour to one day impress my big brother.

Till next time,
-Naug

Now we're getting somewhere

So I had to rush to get this one made. I didn't have my larger brown latte cups clean and didn't FEEL like cleaning them so I used my smaller 7oz cups and frothed my wife's soy latte first (life would be easier if she drank milk) then frothed mine. The smaller amount of milk heated almost too quickly and I had to try NOT to pull too much air into the milk to make a nice microfoam. I was worried that the foam would die when it hit the espresso since I had less than 20 seconds of froth time, but it held its own and when I did the shake I realized I was going to get a good pour.

I darkened the photo slightly to show the crema - yes, still using the preroasted free beans. But the result speaks for itself. Pretty darn nice. It was drunk in record time too cause it was so small - a good excuse to make another before work if I ever heard one.

-Naug

ps... my wife asks when I'm going to learn some other design. uh... when I perfect this one... so, never probably. ha ha.

Hmm...

This is proving to be more difficult than I had first thought. I miss my home roasted super crema beans, but I should still be getting better by now. I am mostly having difficult with getting the microfoam just so as well as the start of the pour. The finish is coming along better and this is a pretty decent example but my foam is just a tad off.

As a side note I also was making blueberry/blackberry whole wheat muffins so I was just maybe a little distracted? OK, I wasn't, but just was hoping for an excuse.

See you folks latte! :-)-Naug

Afternoon is better

It seems like my latte art ability increases in the afternoon. I still am using free roasted beans and hope to soon get some more green to do my own roast. Again I JUST started to blog and my wife decided to give me our little baby to hold. I'm surprised she isn't freaking out just yet.

Anyway, I don't have much else to say. I will keep at it. And maybe soon have a bit better crema to work with.

Naug... out!

HEY! I'm WORKING on it...

This is NOT an easy thing making good latte art. In fact it is quite a challenge and no matter how good your crema is (and mine is very lousy with these free roasted beans I got) you have to have your microfoam JUST right to get a good pour.

I read a bunch of stuff last night and even watched a few videos but my first latte today was STILL bad. I went for a mid-morning cycle, came home, then tried again. The resulting latte above isn't too too bad. I mean it looks sorta like a tulip yet I wasn't trying for one mostly cause I messed it up, again. The pour is SO touchy as to when to start shaking the foam in and getting a nice smooth rhythm without rushing yourself.

So, enjoy as I will enjoy my 2nd latte of the day before I head off to another fun day at work.

Peas (and beans) out!

-Naug

(p.s. - I rode about 21 miles if anyone is interested and I'm out of practice for sure.)

Still trying to work Miss Silvia's magic

When I look at this briefly, it reminds me of the Rebel insignia from Star Wars. In fact it is just a good pour finish with a bad start. The Silvia definitely has more steam power, but I have less time to control it than with the Saeco. This means I have to be careful not to pull too much air into the froth to get a good microfoam.

I also have to remember to keep the milk swirled while pulling the shot so that the foam doesn't form a thick layer on top of the milk and make for a difficult pour. I did finish well, but as a whole I give myself a 4 out of 10.

I should call this blog "Rate My Latte Art" but since no one visits, there would be no votes.

I have been using the free roasted beans that came with the Silvia package. They are decent but I miss my fresh roasted beans for their crema content. I hope to purchase some green beans soon and once more have my own fresh roast.

Anyway, happy tamping and visit soon!

-Naug

My competition...

Seems my brother has decided to try and oust me as reigning latte-art-newbie. You see, he just recently had a birthday and I sent him a Toroid pitcher and some nice new latte cups. So what does he do? He makes a pretty good pour. Since I'm all about the art (no matter the source) I figured I would display it for my many readers. Ha! Many readers... who am I kidding?!

Let the battle begin! (Iron Chef America - love that show)

-Naug

Quick pic...

...before I head off for work. I just got my Silvia machine Monday, and this was my 2nd morning latte attempt. The SUPER POWERFUL steam made way too much foam and I got no art from yesterday's coffee, but today's wasn't too bad. Still a lot to learn about this new powerhouse of a machine.

I actually had better art in my wife's soy latte but didn't photograph it. I have a baby on my lap right this minute... so I am tired of typing with one hand - and she's about to FREAK on me!

Thanks for reading and thanks for all the fish. -Naug

Last best attempt

So it seems this may be my last attempt with my old Saeco Classico machine. I have had many great drinks from its innards but its eminent retirement is nigh. Also, I just missed the UPS truck (I was upstairs with my sleeping newborn when it came). Fortunately, they are going to redeliver my Silvia as I write this.

I'm not sure exactly what you'd call this design... a leaf-heart? I like the way it looks, but it's so frustrating that I only get usually one chance per day to practice this challenging art form. A true barista (coffee person) can make several 100 lattes a week - talk about time to practice!

But I plug away and hope that someday I'll perfect this fun but frustrating art form. After all, shouldn't coffee be enjoyed in all its various dimensions?

-Naug

As a side note, the amazingly talented Katie Reider passed away today. She will be dearly missed and I am fortunate to say that I knew her and was able to enjoy the voice that blessed many an ear. What a loss.

Two wrongs don't quite make right

It's currently Sunday night and my Silvia machine is due to arrive UPS tomorrow. I'm excited about this, but also a bit apprehensive. I SHOULD be able to create much more consistent microfoam with this new machine and get better pulled shots and crema. My fear is that if my lattes aren't better then maybe I just can't improve. I'm sure I'm overthinking something as silly as coffee, but it's a hobby that (thanks to my latte-loving-brother Glenn) I've become rather passionate about recently - yes I'm a bit odd.

Besides the Silvia, I've also had to order a new tamper (my 49mm Reg Barber is no longer helpful with the Silvia's 58mm basket). I couldn't justify a $71 RB replacement (they were closer to $50 a few years back). I'm going with the Lava Tamp (~$22) but not the LT Deluxe which runs >$50. I also considered the Bumper Tamp $40 but instead went cheap with the optional upgrade to a Reg down the road.

Since I didn't plan my orders well, I will probably have my new machine before the tamper arrives. It will be hard to NOT give Miss Silvia a test run, but with its stock lame plastic tamper, I may just pass. :-)

Above are my last 2 art attempts. I'm not sure what was going on with the microfoam on the 1st - probably more of a MACROfoam if anything. Ha! The 2nd example is decent but I didn't time my pour very well and got a pretty small leaf but it was ALMOST the start of something good.

Happy 37th Birthday Big Bro!!

-Naug

Oh happy days!! :-D

I've made the leap!!! I just ordered a Silvia machine and it's to arrive on Monday. I've held out ever so long because I couldn't justify the expense since my Classico still produces decent shots and ok microfoam. But the Silvia is in another class altogether. Not quite as expensive as dual boiler machines, it is about as good as you can get in a single boiler home user espresso machine.

Why did I finally break down? I was dreaming and shopping around online when I noticed the price of the Silvia at $699. I thought... what the heck? This was a $499 machine just 2 years ago or so. The more I looked I kept seeing this $699 price. Then I noticed a site that stated order before July 1 to get the $599 price. I couldn't believe it. It was July 9th and I missed a major price increase (obviously due to the strong Euro and weak Dollar at the moment - the machine is made in Italy).

Luckily I found an espresso site that still offered the machine at the $595 price and asked my wife nicely if I could order it (she likes the soy lattes I make for her). She agreed and I quickly placed the order before their price increased as well.

I'm excited to see how my art will improve. I think I will get much stronger crema and more consisitent microfoam with the Silvia. I'm also sure there is a learning curve, but I did make a nice leaf art when using my friend's Silvia some months back.

I will keep you updated when I get the machine. Now... to find a 58mm tamper deal. My super nice and super $$$ Reg Barber 49mm tamper will have to be retired - or ebayed.

-Naug

My problems with pour-centric art

So this may be my best pour since the inception of this blog. It's a bit off-center and still doesn't have the best white froth to truly show good contrast with the crema, but MAN did it taste good! My friend Mike is also trying to make some latte art and I'll include some of his pours should he send me pictures. (He has the Rancilio Silva machine I long for, so he should have no excuses making nice art.)

Happy cupping! -Naug