Latte at Home Without Machine

How to froth milk: If you have a French press for making coffee, it’s great for making foam! It makes a nice frothy foam with bubbles a little larger than the frother.

Making heart-shape latte art: Tap the milk container on the counter and swirl it to break down any large bubbles. Hold the jug a few inches above the coffee and pour in enough milk to fill the mug about halfway, swirling to incorporate the milk. Then lower the jug all the way to the surface. Tilt the mug 45 degrees towards yourself. Pour the milk into the center of the mug while jiggling the jug left to right to make the heart design (for the leaves), then lift and make another heart design on top (the tulip flower). When the mug is almost full, lift the jug and draw a line through the center to make the stem.

Layered heart-shape latte art: For a full heart shape that fills up around 80% of your latte’s surface area, you want to start at the edge closest to the lip of the cup. If you start further into the cup (i.e. towards the center), you will have less space to draw the heart shape. With the cup still tilted, lower your spout to about 1cm away from the surface and begin pouring into one spot. As you pour in the steamed milk to make your design, you need to gradually un-tilt your cup in a smooth motion so that its angle is parallel to the floor again. This helps speed up your pour rate, which is necessary as your espresso builds more viscosity from the milk. As the blob of milk that you’ve poured grows bigger, it’ll come to a point where it will dimple in. This is your cue to finish off with a pull-through to create the pointed edge of a heart.

How To Pour A Latte Art Swan: The Swan is created in one pour. Start by making a rosetta on one side of the cup. However, instead of running the milk through the middle of the rosetta waves like you usually would pull the milk alongside the rosetta. This creates the wing. Next, when your jug reaches the bottom of the wing, hold your jug still while shaking the jug side-to-side like you would when making a heart. This creates the body of the swan. Make sure the shakes are small as you only want to make a small circle body. Also, nudge the jug forward a little like you would when making a tulip coffee design. Once the body is complete you will hold the jug still and ‘drag’ it towards you to make the swan’s neck. When you reach the top of the cup, bend the swan’s neck down in a ‘U’ shape motion. It is important, to keep the jug close to the cream of the coffee when making the neck as you want the foam to drag behind. Finally, hold the jug still and shake it side-to-side to make a small circle like you would when making a mini heart. Lift the jug to create a thin and steady stream of milk and follow through with the milk through the circle. This creates the swan’s head and you complete the coffee design.

Matcha Latte: Whisk the matcha: Carefully pour hot water into the bowl with matcha powder. Using a bamboo whisk (holding it vertically from the top) stir a few times to make sure all the matcha clumps are off the bottom and side of the bowl. Then whisk very briskly back and forth in a straight line for about 20-30 seconds. Combine with honey: Stir the honey in a mug. Pour the foamy matcha into the mug and stir gently. Steam or froth the milk: Steam the milk with an espresso machine or froth the milk using your method of choice (milk frother, French press, or whisk). Enjoy!

Red Velvet Latte: Add Red Velvet latte powder to warm water and whisk well. Heat up your chosen milk on the stove and combine your water mixture with the milk. Stir well. Add your choice of sweeteners like honey or stevia. Stir and enjoy.

Dolphin Blue Milktea: Add one teaspoon of butterfly pea powder and pour into boiling water. Pour in coconut milk, stir well and serve.