Today, I aimed for one rosetta, one heart, on tulip. The rosetta came easily enough (imperfect though it was); the heart a sort of happy, minimalist accident; the tulips not even close.

We’ll start with the good stuff, and work our way down.

I quite liked this rosetta, the only one I poured for photo all day. Foam a little spotty, and the espresso pulled too fast, making the whole thing a little light in color. But it’s got a good aura.

This is a little heart. It is great. I’m not sure how I managed it, since none of my other heart attempts today came anywhere near mediocrity.*

This one made me giggle like a schoolgirl. I was attempting a tulip — the mechanics of which are to pour a heart, then another on top, then another, and ties them through with a stem. But what I got was a heart/bird (see the obvious beak on the right?) with a rosetta-ish bloom out the top. Happy accident, indeed!

In the spirit of transparency, here are three god-awful tulip attempts. No explanation given, because none exists — except that I don’t know how to pour tulips.

*I suppose I should explain the mechanics of the heart pour. Briefly, it’s like the beginning of the rosetta — pour silky foam in the middle, wiggle a bit for stripy contrast — but instead of wiggling back late to form more little blooms, you simply pour through while raising the milk up to thin out the line. Most people learn the heart first, then the rosetta; most of my employees can pour good-looking hearts consistently, while I’ve only poured a couple mediocre ones in my latte-art existence.

Tags: latte art, rosetta

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