Quest for Coffee (8) | 7 Mistakes Killing Latte Art Magic

In my few months learning to brew the ideal cup of Joe and master the magic of latte art, believe me when I say I’ve made plenty of mistakes. Here are 7 mistakes killing latte art magic, all of which have been made by yours truly. In fact, some of them more than once (oops).

These mistakes are common and practically universal. It’s part of learning, so don’t get flustered just because you see bubbles all over your coffee. 

So why can’t you avoid these mistakes? Well there’s knowing the mistake and knowing the technique to prevent it, then there’s actually nailing the execution. 

Execution comes with practice: the price of mastery. 

Failing to get it on the first try is normal. Whoever said you must get it right the first time is nuts (I mean, seriously, not even Doctor Strange mastered his magic the first go). 

So if you’re failing at brewing coffee and wondering what on earth is wrong, let me share some of my failures. Embrace the mistakes; they teach you more than you know.  

As the wise green Jedi reminded us:

“The greatest teacher, failure is.”

– Yoda, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Disclaimer: No, you will not become a master after learning from my mistakes. Luke Skywalker did not become a Jedi just because he saw Yoda lift the X-Wing. 

He still had to learn, practice and believe. 

You must believe you can do it, even if you don’t see any progress. I’ll explain in a while. 

Mistake 1/7: Tamping The Puck Too Hard 

The Hulk will not be able to make good coffee. 

Tamping ensures that the coffee grounds are packed tightly, neatly and ready for pressurised hot water to flush through.

However, tamping is a delicate step where finesse supersedes strength. 

Finesse is key: it can’t be done too lightly, or water simply washes through. It can’t be too hard, or insufficient water gets through. Using too much strength causes the puck to be really tight and gives much greater resistance to the water than is ideal. 

There’s just not enough space between coffee grounds for water to seep through. 

The outcome is under-extraction – basically ‘wasting’ the essence of coffee. 

Your espresso is bland, acidic and incomplete in flavour. Honestly, it’s just a cup of insecurity. 

I’ve made this mistake several times because my strength was different each time I tamped. I have since moved to using a machine to tamp, creating equal pressure every tamp. 

Mistake 2/7: Steaming Milk With Poor Pressure Control

When I first experimented with steaming milk, I immediately placed cold milk under the tip of the steam wand before turning it on. You get that awkward 10s pause while pressure builds up before some steam gets spat out in bursts. 

When you have bursts of air and fluctuating pressure, the milk cannot be steamed consistently. 

The more even the pressure that is injected into the milk, the more evenly the milk will incorporate air. This prevents the rising temperature of milk with insufficient air being whipped in. 

The trick: let the pressure in the steam wand build up and run for a few seconds before placing the milk under the tip of the wand.  

Mistake 3/7: Pouring Milk Too Quickly

Pouring the milk too quickly stems mostly from anxiety or ignorance – both of which are to be expected for beginners.

My many attempts at controlling milk streams mostly ended with strange blotches of white foam on my coffee. 

I was anxious that the milk would not flow out fast enough to create the pattern, so I neglected finesse and went for volume. 

The thicker the stream of the milk, the more foam stays on the surface. The faster you pour the milk, the faster the foam will spread and the less control you have over it. 

I was also ignorant. I never learnt how the thickness of milk streams can affect the design. 

After all, whoever told you that pouring slower (and lifting the pitcher higher) can narrow the stream of milk foam on the coffee surface? Well, I just did (you’re welcome). 

If you nailed every other step in the journey of mastering latte art magic, controlling your pour and handling the milk with intention would be the toughest.

To truly pull off any magical latte art design, the speed at which milk is poured has to be controlled.

Depending on the size of your pitcher, volume of milk and the size of your cup, the speed and volume of milk used would vary. To err with caution, pour slowly first to test how much finesse you have over the pitcher. 

It doesn’t matter if it looks ugly at first. It’s just an experiment. 

Eventually, once you are ready to create your design, start with bold, thick streams of milk to form the basic “pool” of white foam before slowly transitioning into a thinner stream.

Mistake 4/7: Watching YouTube Tutorial Repeatedly

Yes, we all do that. We think watching some YouTube video repeatedly is going to change the way we execute the particular action or improve our skill. 

Well, I can say with certainty that the only way you pull off that magical heart-shaped latte art is by actually practicing the pouring techniques. This means repeatedly making coffee and failing.

Again, and again, and again. 

Watching YouTube videos gave me the knowledge and the ability to course-correct and refine the techniques. But it did not give me the ability. 

I watched the same video thrice but to no avail because I had not done the practice. I tried several times since to create some heart-shaped magic on my coffee (it didn’t go so well) but when I rewatched the video again for the fourth time, I saw how my technique could be improved. 

Knowledge helps you with correcting the practice, and deliberate, continuous practice awards you the ability to create magic with milk in a cup. 

Mistake 5/7: Incorrect Positioning of the Steam Wand

Something a YouTube video can easily help with is showing you exactly where to put the steam wand. 

I thought that I could just put it somewhere in the middle and randomly tilt the pitcher. 

Again, it didn’t go so well. 

It turns out that the positioning of the steam wand varies slightly with the amount of pressure being injected by the machine. 

I used to put it in the centre and slide it slightly to the left while tilting the pitcher to the left as well. That gave sub-par results. 

I have found that the best position for my machine is to have the steam wand somewhat in the centre, top left quadrant of the pitcher, while I tilt the pitcher slightly to the bottom right. 

How do you know the steaming process is well underway?

A tornado with a clear vortex and disappearing bubbles should be seen in the pitcher, all while the temperature gradually rises until it gets too hot to comfortably keep your hand on it. 

Mistake 6/7: Tamping Unevenly

If you have read the other chapters in this Quest for Coffee, my journey has taught me that tamping is a step that cannot be rushed. 

Patience is the salient ingredient here. 

Tamping evenly and delicately gives the right amount of resistance to the water flowing through the coffee puck. 

Uneven tamping leads to uneven extraction. Uneven extraction causes blandness, tartness, sharpness and unsatisfactory flavour profiles. I don’t really want that. 

It’s like how an even cut of meat will cook evenly in the pan (something I picked up from watching several seasons of Hell’s Kitchen last time).

Similarly with tamping coffee grounds, the “even surface” theory applies. 

The best way to achieve an even tamp is to use an even amount of strength to tamp every time. Tamp once and once only. 

Mistake 7/7: Wrong Amount of Coffee Beans Used 

As I researched how the beans and weight in each puck affected the espresso, I kept seeing the “18g for 36g” and “I stretched a 16g to pull a 36g shot” comments. Basically, wrong amounts of coffee beans can kill the espresso.

Fortunately, unless your ratio of coffee to water is wrong by a ridiculous margin, the difference between 1g or 1ml of water makes a negligible difference. 

We are making coffee, not colonising Mars. 

If you’re an expert, knock yourself out with the math here. 

I did not bother measuring the weight of coffee beans. I placed explicit trust in the machine to grind the right amount of beans. Turns out, you could do with some situational awareness of the machine. 

You can choose not to weigh the beans, but you must ensure the beans-to-water ratio is roughly right. To do so without weighing, an estimate can be determined via the portafilter. 

The portafilter basket should come with a rough engraving or indication to show what the ideal amount of coffee grounds should be once it has been tamped.

It’s like a ruler but with only one marking. 

You can trial and error on the amount of beans you need to get the portafilter packed to the designed volume. Afterwards, the machine does the rest. 

Alternatively, you can use time. The back-of-the-envelope guide is for espresso to be brewed in 30s from start to finish. Essentially, vary the amount of coffee beans to hit 30s of brew time.

From there on, you are no longer an amateur and can begin exploring the nitty-gritty details of pulling an espresso shot with weight and grind size etc. 

All interesting knowledge, but not for the faint-hearted. To learn what experts know, you must first learn what amateurs know. Practice and then practice again. 

Bonus Mistake: I Believed I Was “Special”

I believed I was special; different from others. It’s the same mild hubris everyone has occasionally, for a moment.

To face the truth requires courage to track your progress and judge your work objectively. This means acknowledging that it takes time to learn something new and wild like the magic of latte art. 

Something so artistic and refined like latte art magic takes time, patience, practice and discipline. Since the steps and tips mentioned above (and in my other chapters) come as close to the “formula” as anyone else might describe, your practice determines how fast you can pick up the magic ability of latte art. 

You have to believe that you can achieve a decent magical outcome in the coffee cup some day.

Even if it takes practice every weekend like myself, or a cup of Joe for practice every morning. 

Knowing that you will keep trying and practicing and refining your ability pushes you onward in the field of all the failures, ugly designs, frustrated moments and any other challenges you might. 

Remember, I had all these failures at some point and some more than once. It’s just part of learning. Keep on practicing the magic and one day you might just conjure an X-Wing in the cup of coffee. 

Hold you back, does fear? Awaits you does my Quest for Coffee.

Courage, you must have. Click below, I’ll see you there.

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