Latte Art is Profitable!

I made these cortados for a couple of guys during lunch last week.  They were sitting outside, so I didn't talk to them during their meal, but after they were done they came up to the coffee bar.  They said they were so interested in the latte art that they wanted to order two more drinks just to get a mini-demonstration! 

Video on Patch.com

 

Check out the video segment that Patch.com did after the writer, Ashley, came in for a lunch and loved the latte art she and her group got in their coffee drinks!

How-To Tuesdays: The Bear - Video

Here's a video of me pouring and etching The Bear design.  I already gave a step-by-step description of how to do the design in a previous post.

 

Update (2/8/2011):  I've started to put dark dots in the eyes of the bears I etch.  So much more personality now!  Here's the new video, with a slightly better angle to see the etching as well...

The Bear

This is an etching design I like to do a lot. It's pretty easy to pull off, it looks like it's got a ton of detail, and it's got maximum wow-factor. I have to admit, I dig it when I serve one of these at my current place and the customer goes "SHUT UP!!!"

It starts out as a half-finished tulip and then the etching:
1. With the etching tool, drag some brown up into the nose.
2. Pick up a lot of brown and dot the nose.
3. Pick up tiny bits of brown and make some bear freckles.
4. Pick up a lot of brown and make each eye.
5. Pick up some white to make the eyes and a little mouth.
6. Drag out the white to make the ears.

Don't forget to wipe the etching tool in between each step.

And this was for two customers who ordered cappuccinos - one decaf and one regular:


One day I served up a bear in a cortado, not knowing that the customer was a food critic for Creative Loafing magazine in Atlanta. She dug it so much she wrote a blog about it.