The Machine or Me?
Can I do latte art with my cheap machine?
Three weeks ago, I signed up for latte art classes at the only local cafe that offers it in my city. Apparently, before the COVID-era, at least three other shops offered barista classes. But right now, this is the only option in the area which is kinda crazy to think about because I live in a major city.
I went in with the purpose of learning the basic principles of steaming and pouring milk that I could then take home with me to keep practicing. It was a two-hour class with a maximum of 2 students. To my luck, the other student was a no-show so I got an incredible 1-on-1 experience. I also begged him to teach me with oat milk because it's what I use at home. The class was great! The barista was incredibly thorough. And perhaps because I was the only student, he didn't mind answering dozens of questions. I went from doing blobs to actually doing tulips in just under two hours. It was pretty encouraging.
Then I went home to my Breville machine and could not reproduce any of it, while following the same things I learned in class. Turns out, the steaming power of my machine compared to the La Marzocco machine at the cafe requires some significant technique adjustments on my part. It was a bummer, but three weeks (and many cartons of oat milk) later, and I feel like I'm getting the hang of my machine's limitations. Just in time for my new one to come in.
Some of my more successful pours
I really wanted to prove to myself that I could do it even with less than ideal gear. The inconsistency was very frustrating, plus the inability to do back to back milk drinks, which is what I want to do when I host people at my house. The steam wand, after 3-4 consecutive cups of coffee, needed rest or it would just not work anymore so it wasn't possible to do a long practice session. It also clogged incredibly easily regardless of how diligent I was about purging.
So despite "figuring it out" with my Breville, I'm extremely excited for my new one to come in. In the end, my conclusion is this: yes, skills matter more than the gear, but it wouldn't hurt to be better equipped.
