Recently we looked at pouring a heart. The next step up the latte art ladder is the tulip. The good news is if you can pour a heart, then you are very close to pouring a tulip. Lets take a look!
Here are the three steps to pouring a tulip.
To start with, to pour good latte art you need silky, paint like milk. See our previous article on milk texture. Let's assume you have a jug of smooth glossy milk ready to go.
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The Setup.
We use the same setup as we did for pouring the heart. We want to fill the cup to around ¾ full but keeping the colour of the coffee surface an even brown colour.
To do this we need to pour from a “high” position around 10cm from the surface of the coffee to the spout of the jug. With the extra height the milk foam breaks through the surface of the coffee/crema and fills from underneath.
Pour into the centre of the cup in a gentle, circular motion, around the size of a ten cent piece.
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Pour the shape.
What we are aiming for is a three leaf tulip. To do this we want three spots of milk that we can pour through.
We get the three spots or blobs by:
- stop pouring after our setup.
- give our milk jug a good swirl to get the milk and milk foam mixed in.
- On the side of the cup furthest away from you pour fast and “low” until we see a nice circle of foam on the surface of our coffee.
(Low means the spout of the milk jug is close to the surface of the coffee)
Move to the center of the cup and pour another spot. Move closer to you and pour another spot so you have three spots in a row.
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Finish.
The final cut is to put the finishing touch on your latte art.
We use the same finish as we did for the heart. It involves pouring a fine stream of milk through the spots of milk to cut the tulip shape.
Two approaches.
The plane taking off. Run the jug spout across the cup surface, starting close to the surface of the coffee and slow. Build height and speed as you go.
The helicopter. Lift the jug up, about 10 cm from the surface of the coffee and run it across the cup pouring a fine stream of milk as you
As always, it takes practice and try different jug shapes. Some work better than others, a wider spout works better for tulip shapes.
Next month - pouring a rosetta.
