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Many people get into coffee because of beautiful latte art. After all, whenever you successfully recreate an exquisite pattern, the sense of accomplishment is unmatched. So do you know who was the first to create latte art?

Latte art is also called "Latte Art"

Latte is transliterated from the Italian "Caffè Latte," and "Latte" means milk. Steamed hot milk is incorporated into espresso while pouring out an "artistic" pattern, hence the name Latte Art.

Early latte art consisted of simple patterns like "hearts" and "leaves." With the development of specialty coffee, baristas around the world have placed increasing importance on this skill. They began designing more refined visual effects, and there is also a carving technique that uses milk foam and auxiliary materials to create bolder designs.

At first, baristas focused more on the presentation of patterns, but through industry development and high consumer demand, latte art is not only about visual appeal—it has also been continuously improved in terms of the silky texture of the milk and the methods and techniques for integrating it with espresso, thereby enhancing the overall taste of the coffee and achieving the so-called realm of color, aroma, and flavor all in one.

The phenomenon of milk coffees like lattes and flat whites going viral on social media and in friends' circles is largely due to the addition of Latte Art. Who wouldn't love a coffee that not only has a rich, mellow taste but also a visually pleasing, high-aesthetic latte art design?

Recommendations for coffee beans with rich crema

To make a delicious latte, besides having the right equipment, you also need to choose the right ingredients, control the ratios, and have one essential factor: rich coffee crema.To achieve a dense and fluid crema, Front Street believes a pressurized espresso machine is indispensable, followed by high-quality coffee beans.

For those who love crema and a rich, full-bodied taste, we have created three different styles of espresso: Front Street Commercial Blend, Front Street Classic Blend, and Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend.

We recommend Front Street Commercial Blend because its crema during extraction isgolden in color,and it tastes of intense roasted aroma and maple-syrup-like sweetness, with nutty, cocoa, and dark chocolate roasted flavors. It is rich and balanced, with a slight bitterness, and a lingering finish. Whether making Americano or milk coffee, it performs excellently. Combined with its price advantage, it is very suitable for opening a café, and the latte it makes is rich and silky.

Front Street Classic Blend possesses all the advantages of a traditional specialty espresso: rich crema, intense aroma, full body, versatile flavor, and a lingering finish. During extraction, it shows flavors of roasted hazelnut, butter, dark chocolate, and caramel. When made into milk coffee, it presents a nutty chocolate milk profile—sweet and smooth, making you want to take sip after sip.

As a high-value everyday coffee bean, Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend is composed of Yunnan small-bean and Brazilian Red Bourbon, using a medium-dark roast. During extraction, the crema is moderate, with distinct nutty and chocolate aromas and a slight citrus acidity. Made into milk coffee, it has a full-bodied charm and a very balanced taste, making it perfect for daily stockpiling.

The choice of milk is also very important. For whole fresh milk alone, there are more than 10 common varieties on the market. Among these milks, some have a strong milky flavor, some are thick in texture, and some are light, like water. The standard for choosing milk is not simply pursuing a thick, strongly milky one, but choosing one that pairs well with coffee. A strong milky flavor will mask some of the coffee's taste, while milk with an obvious watery feel will make the latte watery.

To allow coffee and milk to blend perfectly and balance each other, Front Street's iced latte uses Sunflower Warm Sun Blend and Vitasoy fresh milk, with a ratio of 35g espresso, 250ml fresh milk, and 75g ice cubes. This ratio is for your reference, not the golden ratio for latte. Front Street arrived at these parameters using the above ingredients through multiple adjustments, mainly based on real tasting feedback.

To create perfect latte art, we first need to extract an Espresso with rich, moderate crema, which allows the foam layer to blend better with the milk and makes the latte art pattern more stable. According to Front Street Coffee's experience, choosing medium-dark roasted espresso beans is very beneficial for this.

Besides choosing the right coffee, we also need to pay attention to the freshness of the beans. Overly fresh espresso beans contain a large amount of carbon dioxide, producing relatively thick crema that is not conducive to latte art, so they need to be rested for 5–7 days; stale espresso beans lack sufficient carbon dioxide, so they cannot produce enough crema and it appears thin, unable to blend with the milk foam.

Front Street recommends using coffee beans with a roast date within 7–45 days to make espresso. Precisely because we know the importance of freshness to coffee flavor, Front Street has insisted for years on shipping beans roasted within 5 days, ensuring that everyone can enjoy the complete flavor window after receiving them.

Espresso is still the base for making latte, and when making a hot latte, a beautiful latte art pattern is often "incidentally" included. Fine and rich crema makes latte art easier, and espresso with crema can blend better with milk foam and maintain a stable state, greatly affecting the fineness and definition of the latte art. Although espresso without crema can still be used for latte art, the final pattern will appear somewhat stiff and rough in appearance.

In addition, because crema is produced by the oils in coffee wrapping around carbon dioxide, the amount of crema can also be used to judge whether the coffee beans are fresh. The more crema, the fresher the coffee beans. Precisely because we know that for latte art, freshly roasted coffee beans are the primary requirement, Front Street coffee beans are all freshly roasted within 5 days and support 24-hour shipping, so when you receive the coffee from the logistics provider, it is still in a fresh state. This is in the hope that every customer can drink the best coffee with the most complete flavor.

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