Let's talk in depth about the most seek out skill of new baristas, especially the young ones, and coffee enthusiasts in general. Is it becomes unpopular now? Is the trend is going down? Let's take a moment and give the spotlight to it, hopefully you'll get a new perspective of this barista skill.

Barista & Latte Art When I started to work as a barista in a specialty coffee shop, I did not understand how to make latte art at all, nor I had the interest to have the skill. But I need to have the skill, as it was part of the job requirement. I remember that latte art was the fuss between the baristas, where I worked. Everyone was very enthusiastic to steam the milk and do the pouring. Along the time when I was learning, I remembered my senior barista taught me that, latte art is a bonus. He said that in the end, the taste of the milk beverage is the most important one. I found it hard to learn latte art compared to my peers at that time. I was the slowest of the bunch. Learning about this saying kind of encouraged me. As someone who was still starting my journey as a barista, I just took the word as it is. So it means it's okay that I serve a not-good-looking pattern to the customers, as long as I make a good espresso. But still, when I made a good latte art, it gave me a great satisfaction of my achievement, especially if my creation was posted by the customer on the Instagram. Only years forward after that I understand, what the saying "latte art is a bonus" really means.

I believe this experience of mine and my fellow new barista at that time, in the latte art craze of state, was not ours alone. Later I found out when I worked my way up my career, the same interest were still applied. For someone who is starting to work in a coffee shop, as a barista, the first skill in general, and I strongly believe whenever you are in the world (in my case, based on my observation in Jakarta & Doha) the one that they want to learn first, enthusiastically, without a doubt, is latte art. Not manual brewing, or even making the espresso itself, the base of the art.

Why not manual brewing? Maybe it's because too much of a hassle. Maybe it seems not cool, or maybe they think it's too much of a high level in brewing, as it requires tasting of the result, to know whether it's good or not. Of course, it needs a lot of experiences to learn to taste. Espresso making itself seems easy, push button in the grinder, tamp the coffee, insert portafilter to the espresso machine, and finally push the button. Voila.. you got yourself an espresso. Now, for latte art, why do they want to learn it first and enthusiastically? I believe it's because the final result is visible, as simple as that. You could take a photo and post it on social media and share your new acquired skill to your friends, even the ones who are not a coffee people. The coolest skill of all, if I may add.

I'm not saying that this is wrong. This is just simply the fact and it's very human and natural to do so. Because latte art uses our eyes to see, or vision, the most used human senses compared to other senses like tasting (gustation), smelling (olfaction), touching and hearing. But sometimes, we are just too focus on making the art, that we overlooked the most important part of the beverage, which is the espresso and the milk itself. The understanding of making a good espresso, is still a rare find for me among the baristas, even though it is also crucial to know as a part of making a good latte art. My assumption is that they are mostly blinded by the coolness of it from the social media, overlooked or maybe uneducated about the importance of it. The latte art result will always be a priority. Making a complicated pattern is the goal, until at some point along their journey as a barista.

Latte Art is Art with Limits If we are considering latte art as an art, we could find similarities between latte art and painting. Let's say when you're painting, you need paint, brush, and the paper. All of these three items will affect greatly on the result. Now if we're talking about latte art, it has its own different items: espresso is the paper, the milk is the paint & the milk jug is the brush. Both of painting and latte art have similarities but of course, the most different part is that latte art is made on a surface of a beverage, which in this case is coffee, something to be consumed, not just to be looked at and appreciated. The life of the art is, of course, not forever, as we need to drink the coffee, hence disrupting the art. It will disappear eventually.

Not just that, latte art itself has its own limits, which is the time of the execution has to be on the spot and takes only minutes or even seconds to made. Unlike when you're making a drawing on a piece of paper, which you could pause on drawing it and leave it in the future to continue. You don't have the eraser to clean if you made a mistake, you have to make a new shot of espresso, and steam another milk, and start from the beginning. Don't forget that you ought to have the espresso machine, grinder, and coffee making equipment as the basic requirement; espresso coffee beans and milk as the supplies that you always have to buy again when the stock is running out (fast). Yes, it has its own very challenging part.

When I was at school, there are several of my friends who like to draw. Some of them like drawing doodles on the textbooks, just for wasting the time, bored at the class for sure. But there are also some who really, really like to draw and have to admit that their drawings were really good. I notice that they like drawing so much that they do it whenever they can, not at the classes only. These two categories of drawers are actually the same like the relationship of barista with latte art. There's some who just want to know how and there's some that really likes it that they want to go further.

Maybe at first, as a new barista, they are very eager to learn latte art. Something new is always fun. But based on my observation so far, not all wants to learn further. They just stopped the learning a new pattern at some certain point. Truthfully, this is applied for me too.

I think that the basic latte art patterns, heart, tulip, and rosetta, are enough service-wise. For me, latte art is (still) a bonus. Plus, the basic patterns are fast to make, which is good when the traffic is high. Yes, I wanted to learn the higher difficulty of latte art, like seahorse for example. I really do. I tried to make it several times, not yet successful. I did it just for fun, like a side quest in a game, not a big goal that I have to achieve and that's just me.

As the level of difficulty gets higher, means that a lot training have to be done. Remember again latte art is an art with limits. With that in mind, I salute to all of the barista who is perfecting the craft.

World Latte Art Championship and its Impact Competition wise, on the judging side, latte art competition is the only competition that does not require tasting of what is served on stage, unlike barista, brewers cup, etc. The visual judges, just like the name, need to judge the result of the pattern presented by the competitor. The judges have to use their sight or vision only, have to be detail oriented, to judge based on how the latte art is presented, very quickly.

Let's have a little exercise. When you get this kind of latte art on your cup, what your comment will be? Probably you will say, "This is a good drawing/latte art." That's it. On the other hand, the visual judge of the competition would mostly comment something like this: The latte art has a matte milk foam, some micro bubbles visible, slight washed based with the pattern and the base are still contrasting. The pattern is centered, but the elements are not symmetrical, and the handle is not at 3 o'clock.

The irony part is even though we always see it on our cup, we rarely comment it to this extent. Even when you're getting a realistic pattern, like a rabbit, for example. If you get a rabbit pattern in your cup, you will be most likely very happy already and take a picture of it. The part of not tasting the coffee, may seems like it is the least favorite competition. The uncool competition, even though making latte art is the coolest when you become a barista. Hence, some of the people say that the prestigious level of latte art competition is lower that the others. Well, I must say the other way around. Judging in a latte art is the hardest one compared to the others, especially if you are not visual and detail oriented kind of person. Not all people has that eye for details, observing and judging in a very short amount of time and plus of course, describing it on the scoresheet to be read by the competitor later on.

We must give thanks to the world championship though. What you see nowadays in coffee shop, pattern of a lion face on your cup, and others like monkey on a tree, or flying pegasus, is thanks to all of the barista who pushed the boundaries during competition on the world stage. The patterns presented on the championship has inspired other baristas, to do not just the basic latte art. Bringing something new to your cup of cappuccino or flat white. Enliven your day.

The Meaning of Latte Art is a Bonus I have not answered about the meaning behind "Latte Art is a Bonus". My understanding about this saying is supported with my experience behind the machine and being a sensory judge for the World Barista Championship. What does it truly mean?

For the World Barista Championship, the barista who compete, needs to make a milk beverage for the judge, there's also a scoring for the visual of the latte art, but it's not as detailed as the ones for the World Latte Art Championship. The taste experience of it is emphasized more in the scoring. The judge will look out for a harmonious balance between the milk and the espresso, that includes the texture, the temperature, and a new flavor created from the mixture of the two.

I believe this is very true and applicable in a daily operation of a coffee shop. Sometimes latte art is not number one for the customers. Especially if you are working in a high traffic coffee shop or where mostly the coffee is for take away. Sometimes the taste of the coffee and milk matters the most. That's why latte art is a bonus.

In Conclusion Let's sum up and go back to our first questions about latte art. Is it becomes unpopular now? Is the trend is going down?

I think that latte art skill will always be the first love for all customer who loves to drink coffee, and of course, new and young barista. It's actually one the mandatory skill that has to be equipped by barista too, as customers will look for it in their milk beverage order. Yes, people judge a book by it's cover, so do coffee.

If you think that it becomes unpopular, maybe you're not just that into it into latte art. You have reached that certain point of don't want to learn further more. The irony of it. You have got passed the first love phase, which is fine.

Based on my observation, latte art will always be the famous first skill. But of course, a good professional barista cannot just depend purely on the art, but they need to understand more than that, which of course, related non other than tasting the coffee itself, to make a good cup to the customer.

Remember, coffee is a beverage. It will be consumed in the end, not only to look at, or to be played around like for example making a splash and take a photo just for the sake of good photo for Instagram post only (hopefully not, please don't make this a trend anymore).

Latte art will always, forever be, the bridge from customers in general to the barista. That in the end, hopefully could introduce them more to the coffee, specialty coffee in this case, its traceability, and the craft that goes behind the cup.

As someone who doesn't know how to make latte art and how to assess it in details, just your ordinary coffee lover back in 2013, for me this is a good pattern and instaworthy to be posted. I believe this opinion is still the same until now for common coffee lovers in general, even though it's already has been 10 years. But it cannot be denied that the popularity of latte art is getting higher, and customer demands more now, "Could you make a pegasus for my latte art?" a request that I sometimes hear while I was still working in a coffee shop. It's becomes "more dangerous" now as a barista.

Let me know your thoughts about this beloved skill by the young new barista. Do you still think that latte art is still cool? Are you still anticipating in the World Latte Art Championship every year?