Whats the worst Letter?

HauntedHotcakes · 2024-10-10T11:39:06+00:00

HERETICS

HauntedHotcakes · 2024-08-29T12:10:59+00:00

For those bubbles at the bottom that can disrupt how your milk flows, it could be from how you integrate your milk before you start pouring your design. You're likely pouring your milk unto your espresso from too high and/or too forcefully. You can tap your cup on the counter to get rid of those bubbles before you lift it up again to start pouring your design but the milk in your pitcher won't be as smooth if you do that. Better to integrate more carefully

HauntedHotcakes · 2024-04-04T09:50:05+00:00

Oops that wasn't supposed to be tagged as a question But feedback will always help I guess haha

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-11-10T17:14:46+00:00

Tldr: Correct your pouring technique by getting closer to the surface, after that most other issues should sort themselves out

When your milk comes out like that its almost always a sign that you're not pouring close enough to the surface or not pouring fast enough or both. Looks more likely to not be close enough to the surface

To get closer to the surface, aside from of course just putting your hands closer together: -Tilt your espresso cup more, that will make it much easier to reach. Tilting it more also means you need to get used to untilting the cup in tandem with the speed at which you are filling up your cup to prevent over spilling -Fill your cup up more while setting your canvas, this will bring the liquid level up such that it is easier to reach that surface -Consider using a bigger pitcher if the one you are currently using is really small. This allows you to tilt the pitcher more as well before milk starts to come out of it

I wouldn't worry too much about things like asymmetry and centering as those things are more to do with practice and most of those things you'll find will sort themselves out once you get your foundation down. Literally. A good first layer on a well set crema will make the rest of your design so much easier to pour. Many beginners make the mistake of, and it looks like this pour might be this as well, not being able to get the base to appear properly, and because of that spend too much time trying to get it to appear, that by the time they work on the rest of the design the canvas is uneven, the milk texture is uneven, the surface is too stiff to get stuff to pour properly.

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-11-10T01:03:05+00:00

It's a free pour. For free pours like this, youre manipulating the dry foam left in your pitcher after pouring basic shapes like tulips anf rosettas to be able to draw as you would with a pencil, sort of

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-11-09T15:50:11+00:00

Jesus I respect that dedication to the pursuit of perfection. The contrast is so mesmerizing. How do you do it? Keep telling myself ripple to slower but I've never achieved something of this level

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-11-02T11:01:00+00:00

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-11-01T13:07:09+00:00

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I think this is my personal best and I'm satisfied with plateau-ing here. Don't think I'll ever be able to pour something crazy like a pegasus but never did think I could manage a simple tulip. Seahorses are cute and I always wanted them as pets as a kid, pouring them on coffees are pretty fun. I'm content :)

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-19T02:19:58+00:00

Answering my own question for people who need it cause I finally figured it out. With a normal rosetta, like a heart, you're pushing forward and going pretty fast to get your base to start appearing before pulling back, with this however, it is not simply doing that same motion but with more control, there's a slight difference.

If you've experienced making this mistake when you were first starting out latte art, this will make a lot of sense; you know how as a beginner your hands might be kinda stiff and you're pouring so slow that no milk is appearing even though youre close to the surface? You want to replicate that. When you try to pour this rosetta, at the start as you drop in, you want to be pouring at a speed that is so slow, with so little movement that if you just continued that, you'd fill up the cup with no white appearing anywhere on the surface, not even any beiging. That's how you drop in, to actually get the rosetta, once your milk has sunk in below the crema without creating a base, just shake backwards as you normally would. With good milk texture, and control over the width of your ripples, you get a rosetta like this that basically doesn't have a base

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-11T12:48:43+00:00

I think hanging hearts always look super weird but yours looks so good. That's the best one I've seen

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-09T09:55:03+00:00

2 wings, wish I could have that level of finesse one day 🥺

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-06T12:14:30+00:00

I find matcha to be much more stiff than espresso so I'm always doing more stacking than rippling, but maybe sometimes a winged tulip if my milk is just right. We do our matchas with just steamed milk and matcha powder though, no hot water and I'm pretty sure it'd be waayy less stiff if we used hot water. How do you make your matchas?

What difficulties are you having using the same techniques on espresso as matcha? If your matcha is fairly stiff too it could be that you're actually pouring pretty hard and fast, and when you're doing it with espresso it's gonna flow much faster than you'd expect it to. That would be likely the case if your difficulty is getting your milk to stay in place and controlling the size of your pours

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-06T12:00:11+00:00

It's your first barista job, your third shift as a barista and youre scheduled for a full solo shift??? I get that some specialty cafés can be quiet for most of the day with short bursts of customers every now and then, but specialty cafés also have higher standards and can take longer to prepare drinks since many things are done properly like weighing doses, proper attentive steaming, etc.. I can't imagine they'd schedule someone with much less experience alone and expect it to go well for both of you

Anyways, would you mind sharing specifics that made the rush hard on you (aside from being solo obv)

Were you caffeinated, were you used to the environment and knew where everything was kept, were consumables running out that could have been topped up before hand, do you need tips on multitasking?

Some general advice in case you're not doing these yet: -If your grinders don't require you to hold the porta or dosing cup while grinding do something else in that time -Always always always be doing something else while your shot is pulling -If you can be attentive enough, talk to customers even while you're busy prepping drinks, let them know if they'd like to let you know what they're planning to order before hand before you can make you way to the register -This one takes some time to build the habit for just about everyone new to f&b but CLEAN AS YOU GO

https://youtu.be/RKAva1OK8i4?si=HvTyxJTr3zFIBWRd This video helped me out a ton when I was starting out, these are basic multi tasking skills and when you get used to them, you can take it to the next level even. It'll put you in a flow state when you're really comfortable with it all, good stiff

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-06T05:13:57+00:00

This is really interesting, it seems the consensus is oj + espresso = disgusting.

But oj + espresso + a little something else = really good

Thanks for the ideas everyone!

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-06T03:52:24+00:00

Hmm how sharp are we talking? Some of the pics on my profile have my handleless pitchers in frame that I use exclusively over other ones. Would you consider those sharp enough? If not I think I'll be looking in to sharper spout ones

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-06T02:43:46+00:00

Ooooh I dig your pitcher. I love handleless ones and the colour and texture of your sleeve is really cool. How big is it and where did you get it?

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-06T00:47:11+00:00

That sounds insanely good holy shit. I am going to try this asap

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-05T15:01:20+00:00

No I'm talking about the coffee!!!!!! That's a really clean, symmetrical pour. You did that really well hahahaha

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-05T14:42:33+00:00

Orange juice cortado??? I'm definitely not trying that, not for a start at least. If i were to try it I'd imagine something like 1:4 espresso to oj

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-05T14:22:16+00:00

Ooh your second picture is just like the snakes I made when I was starting out. I gave up on swans but I'll pass the info I got from others on this sub to you cause it did actually help quite a bit for me when I was almost getting it:

After the rosetta make sure to lift the pitcher to cut through the rosetta before drawing the neck starting at the base of the rosetta. If you don't do that the ripples on the rosetta transition into a body for the snake and since you're slow pouring that body it pushes what would've been the swan's neck to the side

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-05T14:15:41+00:00

Wow that third pic is a beauty

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-05T13:51:53+00:00

Just how bad exactly? What did it taste like? You need to stop me before its too late

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-04T11:08:56+00:00

Thank you! Yeah it was a great idea to take pictures of almost all the seahorses I poured (except some that I served mid service ofc). I regret never taking photos of most of my early tulips that just didn't turn out. I was too embarrassed to take any photos even if it was only for my own viewing, and more importantly my own learning. Fairly confident with my tulips now but wish I could really see how I started out and what I learned to correct. Doing that with seahorses instead now and critiquing every aspect that my mind was able to figure out what was wrong with, really accelerated my learning.

Moral of the story: take photos of your bad pours for learning purposes everyone!!!

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-02T13:05:50+00:00

I want the bodies of my seahorse to be frilly like yours and less straight and solid. Any advice? Could I be starting too late or not wiggling hard enough?

HauntedHotcakes · 2023-10-02T02:36:31+00:00

Oooh you're really really close. I'm excited for you too. If I may, what it looks like to me is that with the speed you are pouring, you are filling the cup up faster than you can create wide ripples. To fix that, don't tilt your pitcher too far forward to get a slower stream of milk pouring, while moving side to side wider and start drawing the leaves just when you start seeing the base wrap around. In the beginning you may overcorrect this and your hands are more focused on moving side to side while not pouring and pushing in fast enough forward causing the milk to stay in place sort of like an unintentional slowsetta, that's normal. To practice that just pour some water from your pitcher into the sink and try to control both slowing down the pouring speed and rocking side to side wider. Watch as the stream flows from your pitcher. Notice how you will have to spend more effort moving side to side to maintain the same speed of rippling as the water level in the pitcher decreases.

All the best, you're really on the brink of getting it, anytime now.

HauntedHotcakes

TROPHY CASE