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