Foamy Fine Art
Local baristas explain how they turn your latte into a memorable design… that you almost hate to sip
A hiss of steam, and the dance begins. Steady hands raise a small, metal pitcher near a steaming cup of espresso. Blink and you might miss the delicate movements—all in the wrist—as the creamy stream is pushed under the dark liquid, then, as the pitcher draws back, a few gentle wiggles precede a steady whip, following through, turning a roasted beverage into a work of art.
People love their caffeine, but today’s coffee shops offer much more than a mere fix. Increasingly, cafés have become artistic hubs for the community (Lynchburg has no shortage of “it” joints serving up some mean java). Of course, the coffee has to be good. But customers also want an experience, something “snapworthy” to share with their digital community.
“I would say, especially in coffee, presentation is important just because it is a science and an artform combined,” Becca Laughlin, a barista at Third Wave Coffee, said. “If you go somewhere and you see latte art … it is a good sign that the person making your drink cares, or at least to some degree knows what they are doing.
“Customers, they love [latte art],” she continued. “Even if I pour something and I am like, ‘Oh man, that is terrible,’ people get so excited. They are like, ‘That is so cute, oh my gosh.’”
Golf Park Coffee Manager Haylynn Gaunt said that as Lynchburg’s scene is growing, so is the expectation that comes with personality-driven businesses.
“When I came to work in Lynchburg, people were surprised when I would hand them a latte with something pretty in it,” she said. “When I was introduced to coffee, it was mostly in bigger cities [like Baltimore, New York, and Washington, D.C.], so every barista is pouring good latte art consistently. I just came to expect that.”
With the right equipment, and practice, adding that artistic flair atop a homemade drink is possible.
Haylynn Gaunt, manager at Golf Park Coffee on Bedford Avenue, has been creating latte art for a little over two years.
“For the most part, anyone can do it; you don’t have to have this special talent or necessarily be good at art to be good at it,” Gaunt said. “It is a lot of attention to detail. You have to be paying attention to the point that [during] each pour you do you can adjust yourself.”
“You want to be relaxed,” Laughlin added.
“If you are tense, it is going to make it a lot more difficult. A lot of it is muscle memory and just learning what that feels like. You can practice pouring with water with the pitcher in the sink.”
To create art with a latte or cappuccino (the difference being the amount of milk; lattes have more), one needs to be able to pull a shot of espresso and steam milk properly. Alternative milks tend to not pour as well as whole milk.
“It’s the fat content that makes a big difference in the milk,” Laughlin said. “The fat percentage in whole milk seems to work the best. It is possible with alternative milks, it’s just much, much, much, more difficult.”
Both experts said to get a really great drink with really great art, it’s best to invest in your equipment. As it relates to the espresso, a fresh shot is all you’ll need, but it probably won’t taste as good from a low-end machine.
To get started, Gaunt explained: “A big part of it is having a good foundation—hot espresso with that crema on top. The crema, the foam on top of the espresso when you pull it, is what allows you to sink the milk underneath and give that contrast as you pour.”
Laughlin stressed the importance of properly steamed milk to both taste and the process. “The way that you steam the milk also has to do with taste, even down to the temperature that you steam the milk,” she said. “If you burn the milk, it is not going to taste as sweet. … If you don’t steam the milk properly it is pretty much impossible to make any kind of art.”
Place the steam wand close to the bottom of the pitcher, she said, tipping the pitcher to allow the milk to aerate. When the milk is done, it should look like wet paint when you swirl it around. This is called microfoam—the steam has created tiny, unseen bubbles that texture the milk when you swirl it around.
From there, it’s all about getting the mechanics of pouring down. And having a good pitcher will make all the difference. Pitchers vary in the amount they hold and how wide the spouts are. Baristas differ in their preferences, but typically a narrower spout is better when pouring less milk, such as for a cappuccino.
“When you pour, it is different between the height, the flow of how you are pouring,” Gaunt explained. “You start up really high so that the milk is a thinner stream and sinks underneath the crema, so you are hiding it but it is keeping the same color while also diluting the espresso. Then, it will raise up as you pour more in and then you can actually do the art.”
Holding the cup in one hand, aim the pitcher for the deepest part, at first.
“After you kind of create a good base,” Laughlin said, “swirl it around to make sure it is all even. Once you are ready to start pouring the design, you bring the pitcher down closer to the espresso. Then, it is this very delicate—very small movements. You would kind of start with the pitcher close to the milk and it is kind of a push, depending on the type of design you are making.”
The most basic design is a monk’s head, a circle. If you pull through you get a heart.
For a rosetta, another basic design, Laughlin explained: “You would start with a push and then a very, very light wiggle. It is not aggressive. It is not your whole arm. It’s all in the wrist. Little wiggle and then pulling back at the same time.
And then when you get to the end you would hold it and then pull it up a little more. That is what creates the heart on the top. And then it is a pull through, evenly.
“Tulips are layers,” she added, “so you would push-push-push, so you are pausing instead of pulling through.”
Bolder designs often come from combining mechanics of others.
“You are trying new movements but they are all building on those foundations,” Laughlin said. Seeing those designs on top of one’s drink adds more than a layer of cream; it adds a flair that invites appreciation.
“If you pour latte art and it isn’t great, it is going to taste the same as if you were pouring it pretty,” Gaunt said.
“Art kind of adds a touch and makes people remember it more. It’s marketing, really. For the coffee industry presentation is important. People want to take photos of it and get more excited about it.”
Norman Ogden: When I was in school, we had FFA (Future Farmers of America) and the last semester we had to work in the shop. You had to make a toolbox by hand using a handsaw and all of that.
SB: A lot of people (including me) may not really know much about tobacco sticks. What’s the history there?
NO: Sometimes when you start out you have a big idea. Then you get into it and it has to be changed (laughs). I make coffee tables, shelves, cupboards with tobacco stick doors, dining tables, all kinds of things.
NO: Every single day.
When Chris Nelson took over Liberty University’s radio drama about five years ago, he knew he wanted to take it in a new direction. The drama had previously focused on adapting plays for radio, but Nelson wanted to do something more philosophical. “The main questions I wanted to deal with were ‘What is truth?’ and ‘Is there absolute truth?’” he says. “I gave the writers a prompt with the idea of two mountain peaks: the Peak of Reliance, a place that used truth as a weapon, similar to a legalistic society, and the Peak of Defiance, a place where truth was relative to time and circumstance. That led us to a semester of world building.” This process led to the creation of “The Encounter,” which presents a dystopian world outside our time in which the listener accompanies four characters on their adventures as they encounter truth.
“‘The Encounter’ has brought a new sense of creative fulfillment to my world as an artist,” adds Jamie Cloutier, administrative assistant for Liberty’s Department of Theatre Arts and voice actor for the series. “Voiceover work is a relatively new form of performance art in my career and I have fallen in love with the unique challenges that go along with delivering a vivid storyline through the use of voice acting.”
Although he is glad that things are running more smoothly now, Nelson is also grateful for those early days of production. “We moved so quickly; we were still very green,” he notes. “But you know what? I’m happy for that learning process because it’s important for students to see that the process doesn’t have to be perfect before you start creating. I wish it was, but I’m 40 years old; I know life isn’t perfect and you keep moving, keep creating.”
George, Baker, and the Reverend Dr. Keith Anderson began thinking about creating a Lynchburg Freedom School a couple of years ago, but the Charlottesville rally of August 2017 spurred the team to turn plans into reality quickly. “After white supremacists created a tragic moment in our neighboring town of Charlottesville, we looked at each other and said, ‘Now’s the time’,” Baker recalls. “‘People need a tangible way to express love in the face of this kind of hatred.’”
“It may be our mayor, our school board superintendent, a librarian, a custodian, or a barber who does a reading, tells the children a little bit about him or herself, and does a question-and-answer session,” Baker says. “The readings will end with a chant in which the children will thank the reader for taking the time to come and share. I know that every single person who comes in to be a guest reader is going to want to find a way to come back and help in some way because, in my experience, there are not enough opportunities out there for that kind of hands-on, tangible expression of love.”
Your store revolves around your gorgeous handcrafted jewelry. How did you first learn to crochet fine silver?
Spearman Artisanry is also a “fair trade boutique” selling accessories, home goods and clothing. Why is being fair trade important to you?
What’s next for you in your journey?
Jacinto (featured in the March/April 2018 issue of Lynchburg Living) says he immediately caught Arbusto’s vision of the “vintage postcard look” but also saw obstacles with the selected wall’s two windows; reconfiguring the layout made it possible to accommodate them into the spelling of “Downtown” by using each window to form the “Os” and still left plenty of room to sketch in the larger and more elaborate spelling of “Lynchburg” with block letters.
Fortunately, other business owners are already coming along on both ends of the corridor. At the northeast corner of 5th and Federal, a mural of a caffeinated coffee drinker faces the traffic circle, beckoning them to join at 5th St. Grind.
Jacinto says Vector Space “promotes an amalgamation of art, machinery, and robotics” which has led to him focusing on the expansion of his “Rollerbot world,” a creative endeavor that really kicked off during the “Art on Main” event in 2017. Now, Jacinto has plans to include underwater and outerspace elements as he continues to develop the Rollerbots.
Sarah, you’ve been creating with pastels since 2003. How did you first get involved with this art form?
They are a part of the Arts Fusion program—a joint offering by the local chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and the Maier that’s inspired by a similar program launched in 2006 by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. According to the Alzheimer’s Association’s website, music and art can enrich the lives of people with Alzheimer’s by allowing self-expression and engagement, even after dementia has progressed.
Then, her memory problems became just a little worse, so they went back to the doctor. Finally, in June of 2017, they had an official Alzheimer’s diagnosis after a second MRI revealed lesions on Amy’s brain.
Right now, you are focusing on your Canvas Collection, on display at Riverviews Artist’s Co-Op Gallery.
What types of things inspire you to create?