The Evolution of My Thinking About Latte Art (May 17, 2025)

We should care about latte art.

Latte art matters. It really, really matters.

When I first started out on my coffee sojourns, I didn’t factor latte art into my rankings. What mattered to me the most was taste, and latte art seemed merely a fancy extra, almost a frivolity that simply was not at the heart (or rosetta, get it?) of the matter.

I now think differently. While taste still matters the most to me, I now take latte art more seriously and do factor it into my rankings.

However, as it turns out, even though I wasn’t paying much attention to latte art originally, subconsciously I actually was, and it has factored into all my rankings all along.

What I mean is this: Great latte art requires correctly steamed milk, which is one of the keys to a great-tasting latte. So, there is a strong relationship between latte art – having it at all, and having it look good – and the taste of your drink. But it doesn’t stop there: Great latte art also requires properly extracted espresso, another key to a latte that tastes amazing. So if you can create great latte art, you’ve probably steamed the milk well AND extracted the espresso well, increasing the odds that your latte comes out right. Bam!

So, I do pay more conscious attention to latte art than I did before. Another reason why is that a great latte should fulfill its ultimate potential; if great latte art is a possibility, why not go for it?

Also, baristas who do great latte art are people who take their craft seriously. They were willing to acquire the knowledge and training they need to do latte art, to put in the time to practice it, and to put their expertise into action for their customers. Those are the kind of baristas who make the best drinks.

About that education and practice: It’s incredibly hard to do great latte art! It’s not something you learn just by practicing for an hour or two. Considering the time it takes to become a master latte art-maker, as well as the expense – all that milk you have to go through in order to practice (though there are workarounds for that) – it’s probably not realistic to expect great latte art at every cafe.

But now, if I come across a great-tasting latte but the art is not great (or even attempted), while the drink can still get a very good score based on taste, it won’t be as high a score as it otherwise could have earned. We need to aim high!