Café Lomi — The Complexities of Latte Art in the 18th Arrondissement

Latte art is not as easy as it looks. Until my class at L’École Lomi, I had expected a slow swish of the hand, coupled with a concentrated gaze could result in an artfully curated coffee beverage.

Having been presented a unicorn cappuccino at Fondation Café the day before (see below), I thought — How hard could a simple pour be?

I blame my quick typing fingers — the result of years in academic and professional settings  — for the disaster that ensued. My first attempt was a marbled, swirled mess. The second was a lopsided curve. Undeterred, my kind barista instructor encouraged me with the following tips:

1. Focus on the interior from high above and don’t disrupt the edges of the crema with the milk. For the first stage of the design, after eliminating bubbles from the frothed milk by hitting and swirling the jug against the counter, he advised me to slowly pour a steady stream of steamed milk around the inner part of the coffee rim, stopping once the cup was halfway full.
2. For the second stage of the design, he recommended I rest the spout of the milk jug against the coffee cup rim and push out the frothy part of the milk with a controlled, side to side waive of the wrist before pulling it back through in the opposite direction.

I hadn’t realized I had such speedy and energetic wrists until the barista repeatedly pleaded with them to slow down. Like baby giraffes taking their first steps, my wrists made their unpredictable and unsteady amble above the rims of the coffee cups — and I looked down perplexed and completely unable to control them.

After my afternoon at L’École Lomi — a charming slice of Parisian, hipster coffee culture in an edgy outskirt of town — achieving a rosetta design seems like absolute alchemy to me.

One handy tip from my barista instructor is you can add a drop of dish soap to a container with water and froth it up with a steam wand to create a texture and color just like steamed milk, allowing you to practice at your heart’s content without wasting 100 kilos of milk.

Cafe Lomi
3 ter Rue Marcadet
Paris, France 75018

Unicorn Cappuccino from Fondation Café