In this guide you will learn how to make a latte art heart. So get ready to pour some love!
The latte art heart is a basic coffee design that forms the foundations for many advanced latte art techniques. Luckily, it’s a very easy design to learn and it always impresses customers and friends that receive it in their cup.
Below you will find a video of me pouring a heart along with a step-by-step guide on how to make it.
Difficulty | |
Prior Knowledge |
How To Latte Art Heart
Below is my step-by-step guide on how to pour a coffee art heart. Make sure to also refer to my video above to follow along with the steps.
1. Rest The Spout
Rest the spout of your jug against your cup and then rock the jug side-to-side at a constant pace until an circle or apple shape starts to form. Try to introduce the milk into the center of the cup while holding it on a slight tilt – I find this helps a bit. You don't want to move the jug while shaking back and forth. The milk will push to create the circle shape.
2. Lift and Suck The Milk Down
When your circle has formed, pull your jug directly up to create a thin steady stream of milk. This will create a suction that will arch the top of the circle in order to create the love heart curve.
3. Follow Through
When the cup is almost full, keep the flow of milk steady and then follow-through the milk from one side of the cup to the other to create your coffee art heart.
4. Done!
And you’re all done! Super simple wasn’t it? This is a perfect design to bring a smile to any customer (or significant other).
Side Note: In the video I did a double heart. Where I made one circle then another within it. You can make a heart like this too. However, begin with the basic one of making a single heart with just one circle.
More examples videos
Once you've learnt to pour a basic heart, then you can start pouring some more advanced hearts. In the below video I start of with pouring a basic heart, then I do a wave heart, before finishing off with the double heart.
Heart coffee tips and tricks
Below are some tips on how to make a better heart:
- Make sure you have a good shot as espresso is the canvas. The better the shot the better the contrast.
- Swirl your espresso shot before pouring in your milk. This makes sure that the espresso canvas is an even color.
- Tilt your cup when pouring in your design. This allows you to get closer to the espresso to make your pattern.
- Pour into the centre of the cup and keep it there and shake! Once you cup gets full then create the thin stream and follow through!
- I find keeping the milk a little cooler than normal helps with latte art.
- Keep practicing! Once you master the heart you're well on your way to learning more difficult designs.
Keep learning! More latte art guides below...
Level | Latte Art |
|---|---|
Essentials | |
Basic | |
Advanced | |
Expert |
The trouble with the Gaggia Classic is that it come with an “assisted steam wand” (the plastic bit around the wand) ) instead of normal metal one. This makes it much much harder, although not impossible, to make good latte art. I recommend switching out the wand if latte art is your goal as it’ll allow you to make better milk, here’s a good video tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWoNXAq2Kus
Also proper milk steaming technique is usually more important. As you have to texture the milk properly to be able to make latte art. I wrote a milk steaming guide you can check out for this: https://www.latteartguide.com/2013/02/steaming-milk_22.html.
Re. the classes i’m from Melbourne, Australia so i’m not familiar with the latte art classes in SF. But coffee roasters and some “third wave” cafes tend to do classes. Have a google for “barista training” and see if you can find a half-day course that teaches latte art. For example here’s one I quickly found although I have no experience with: http://fourbarrelcoffee.com/class/espresso-milk-preparation-16/
Hope I helped and don’t give up! It just takes time, practice and repetition. It took me 3 months to properly learn latte art but this was at a commercial cafe where I was making 300+ coffee dockets a day. You’re only making 2 or so coffees a day at home.