What does the Manner latte art dispute say about coffee making skills?

During the Christmas season, Manner Coffee's Christmas tree latte art drew customers in, and a blogger complained of differential treatment after ordering one and receiving an abstract pattern instead. The complaint split opinion online. Some readers shared the disappointment, while others noted that a deep, narrow personal cup and a busy bar make latte art hard to pour consistently.

The episode raises a broader point about coffee making skills: latte art depends on milk texture, cup shape and available time, not only on barista willingness. Manner's custom latte art has a following, and customers have brought their own cups to test staff. That makes the balance between consumer expectations and real bar output the practical issue behind the argument.

During the Christmas season, the Christmas tree latte art introduced by Manner Coffee became a reason for many consumers to check in. However, a blogger complained about Manner's differential treatment because they didn't get the Christmas tree latte art with their own cup, sparking heated discussion among netizens. Some understood the blogger's disappointment, while others pointed out that factors such as the deep and narrow shape of the own cup and the busy staff made latte art difficult to achieve. In this controversy sparked by latte art, who is more justified? What does latte art actually mean for a cup of coffee? This article will take you through the events and explore the balance between consumer expectations and baristas' actual output.

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Since the Christmas season began, coffee shops have been coming up with creative ways to attract customers, and one trick that doesn't require much investment but gives customers a strong Christmas atmosphere is Christmas tree latte art.

For baristas with latte art skills, a not-too-complicated Christmas tree latte art can bring customers a better holiday experience and earn praise, so many coffee shops offer customers a Christmas tree latte art during the Christmas season. This is especially true for Manner, which has always been responsive to customer requests. "Manner Christmas tree latte art" once became one of the reasons netizens visited Manner.

However, some time ago, a blogger complained about Manner's differential treatment because their latte didn't have Christmas tree latte art. When this blogger visited a Manner store, they communicated with the barista that they wanted a Christmas tree latte art. When they got their cup back, they didn't receive a Christmas tree but instead received an inexplicable Picasso abstract-style... pattern.

Manner's custom latte art is very famous, and many consumers have been won over by Manner's latte art. Some customers even bring their own cups to Manner to "challenge" the staff into making latte art for them, so this blogger communicating with staff at a Manner offline store about wanting Christmas tree latte art wasn't an unreasonable request.

Netizens with similar experiences empathized with this, believing the blogger's anger was unavoidable, but some netizens had different views on this.

Netizens who know about latte art explained that latte art requires getting close to the liquid surface to create patterns, and the blogger's own cup was a small-mouth, tall-bodied cup, which is a difficult cup type for baristas to make latte art in. "Your cup is too deep, even a world champion couldn't make latte art in it." Therefore, it's understandable that the Manner staff couldn't fulfill the blogger's request for Christmas tree latte art.

Other netizens noticed that the blogger mentioned in their original post that "the barista said they were very busy at the time," and believed that the blogger shouldn't have made a latte art request when the staff was busy. A netizen who had previously gotten Christmas tree latte art at Manner said they chose to discuss it with staff when they weren't busy, which wouldn't put staff in a difficult position and would also get them the latte art pattern they wanted.

Other netizens explained on behalf of the Manner staff, "Manner's latte art was never an output requirement—it's the staff's creation during free time," and not every Manner staff member knows how to make Christmas tree latte art. They believed the blogger was making a mountain out of a molehill by escalating the lack of latte art to Manner's differential treatment.

On the same day the blogger expressed their dissatisfaction, the store manager of that Manner location also explained and apologized about the matter in the comments section, saying they could remake a cup for the blogger.

For baristas with some latte art skills, when time permits, they generally respond to consumers' latte art requests, but if the current situation doesn't allow it, consumers who get a hot latte without latte art don't need to dwell on it.

After all, latte art is more of a decorative function for a cup of coffee, and whether it's there or not won't have much impact on the taste of the coffee itself.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.