Foamalicious

December 14, 2009 2:49 AM

White, one and arty-farty. Art in My Coffee is a showcase of foamy milky creativity.
posted by gomichild (17 comments total)

Latte art. More latte art.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:59 AM on December 14, 2009

Art created using only espresso. (Flash required.)
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:08 AM on December 14, 2009

I appreciate the artiness of a good pour but it seems like a different thing altogether to take tools afterwards (as in BP's second link) and then draw something as if it were any other canvas.
Seems to lose the spirit of the thing for me...
posted by vacapinta at 3:13 AM on December 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

John at the bar is a friend of mine, he gets me my drinks for free,
And he's quick with a joke or to light up your smoke, but there's someplace that he'd rather be.
He says "Damn, I'm a fucking perfectionist" as the smile ran away from his face,
"But I could be an abstract expressionist, if I could get out of this place".
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:19 AM on December 14, 2009 [6 favorites]

"Art? In my coffee?"
It's more likely than you think.
posted by Rhomboid at 3:27 AM on December 14, 2009

Damn, some of those are really very good. I'd like to see someone doing skulls, though. I like skulls.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:27 AM on December 14, 2009

Skull in Foam
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:42 AM on December 14, 2009

twoleftfeet, you are an internet god. If you ever come to Tokyo, I'll buy you a latte.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:51 AM on December 14, 2009

Thanx flapjax. I'd opt for subtlety heated sake instead. In the steam of a sake bottle one can see a million nascent ideas, like the faces we see in clouds, but less so.

At the sake bar they don't make pictures for you. The sake does that.
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:59 AM on December 14, 2009 [2 favorites]

I had some dreams, they were art in my coffee
posted by autoclavicle at 5:29 AM on December 14, 2009

A couple weeks ago, I received a heart atop my latte from a very cute barista. It was abstract enough, and I am naive enough, that I thought it was possibly a happy accident. I smirked, took a twitpic and went back to my laptop. An hour later, I went back for a refill. This time, a perfectly formed heart made of brown sugar had been sprinkled onto my latte foam.

I'd like to say that I winked at the barista, and we hit it off and became a gay coffeehouse powercouple. But I'm already seeing a great guy who works at a chocolate shop. And I'm shy. So I crept back to my laptop and giggled at the foamy flirtation.
posted by greekphilosophy at 7:55 AM on December 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

I appreciate the artiness of a good pour but it seems like a different thing altogether to take tools afterwards (as in BP's second link) and then draw something as if it were any other canvas.
Seems to lose the spirit of the thing for me...

This. Anybody can etch. All you need is a toothpick and a blob of foam. Free-pour latte art is another thing althogether, because it requires milk that's properly textured; in fact one point to latte art is to allow the barista to demonstrate that as much care went into milk steaming as into the preparation of the espresso part of a cappuccino/macchiato/latte/flat white/piccolo/gibraltar/moccaccino, etc.

You can't do free-pour latte art with the sort of overstretched crap they make at Starbucks.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 10:59 AM on December 14, 2009

Hmm, some of these are definitely templates (which I kinda think is cheating). I have no problem with etching - it's a way to quickly add to the surface of the coffee, and when I want my coffee, I want it fast. If I want proof the milk's good I, you know, look at the milk and drink it. Agree on Starbucks, though.

The real problem is that several of these clearly have very poorly steamed foam, and I'm sort of amazed there are still places that get away with that. But then, I'm still disappointed by the long black I had at Les Deux Magots in Paris, so take that for what it's worth.

Also, I scanned past the thumbnail of this one and thought something had gone terribly wrong. Then I realised it was in black and white.

Here's a thing.
posted by Dandeson Coates, Sec'y at 11:58 AM on December 14, 2009

Overhinking a roasted set of coffee beans used to then produce pour-foam art.
posted by cavalier at 12:44 PM on December 14, 2009

But then, I'm still disappointed by the long black I had at Les Deux Magots in Paris, so take that for what it's worth.

Les Deux Magots is a well-known tourist trap. Also, you can get a much better long black or flat white in London than in Paris thanks to all the Australian coffee shops there.
posted by vacapinta at 3:52 PM on December 14, 2009

I have no problem with etching - it's a way to quickly add to the surface of the coffee, and when I want my coffee, I want it fast.

Etching takes WAY longer than free-pour. In fact pouring a drink, with or without latte art, takes longer than the amateur spoon-assist thing they do with, say, a cappo at Starbucks.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 5:31 PM on December 14, 2009

I meant free-pour takes LESS time than spooning out foam.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 5:32 PM on December 14, 2009