As usual, the best moments often go undocumented.

There’s a British guy who comes in from time to time for a latte. He doesn’t add cream or sugar, and I have the feeling he’s used to having good coffee. Anyway, today he ordered one, and since he was sitting for a while, I offered to make it in the ceramic mug (same one I’ve been posting pics of). My first shot of espresso pulled way too fast, so I cut it off, dumped it and started over. The second one pulled WAY slow, but I’d already started steaming the milk! Once I got my perfect foam and the perfect temperature, I quickly pulled another shot, waiting through the painful 25 seconds of brew time by swirling the perfect milk around and around in the pitcher, hoping it wouldn’t lose its wonder.

Shots done, I put to action the moves I’ve been practicing (and documenting) this week… and what happened? SUCCESS! Now, this was a single-shot latte — I’ve been practicing with doubles — which meant a little less coffee and a little more milk. The whole thing came out a bit light, but the form and flow and thickness were fabulous — DEFINITELY the best Rosetta I’ve made so far. The rub is that it had taken me so long to make it — about two full minutes, perhaps — that I didn’t even think to take a picture of it.

Oh well.

There were other good ones today, though none as good as the one that got away. But here are the highlights… and the lowlight, which I’ll offer up first.

I call this one “Depresso,” as the attempted Rosetta came out looking more like the skeletal remains of a leaf after sitting in tepid muck through a scorching, humid summer in the Deep South. I’m pretty sure that when you die, if you go to The Bad Place (and dear reader, I hope you don’t!), you see this on the way there.

This one was pretty good, definitely better than most of my attempts thus far. The leaves are starting to look more consistent and more graceful; problem is, my drawing milk ran out too soon, so the forms sort of faded as I got near the top. (Have I mentioned that pouring this drink, one starts at the “bottom” of the flower pattern, wiggles his way to the top, and then drags back down to form the stem? I really should’ve explained this already.)

Definitely the best I’ve been able to document, and possibly better than The One That Got Away (although absence of evidence makes the heart grow fonder). Stopped just a tad bit short of the top, and those leaves should really be bigger down near the bottom. But hey, for Day 5 of a journey that will likely last years, it’s not too shabby.

Someone asked me if I’m drinking all these practice attempts. No: In fact, I really prefer espresso straight to a latte. But that’s just me. Anyway, aside from my first day of intense practice, I’ve done no more than 5 of these double lattes per day. I’ve gotten a little extra practice when customers order theirs, but since most want them in paper cups — and since my practice so far is consistently staying in 10 ounce widemouth ceramics — I’ve felt no need to document these. There’ve been a few nice ones, and I’ve thrown in a heart or two for a change of pace. But my obsession right now is the Grand Rosetta, and I won’t rest until I’ve nailed it.

Tags: latte art, rosetta

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 6.47 pm and is filed under coffee. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.