Latte Art 101 and the Joy of Teaching

I had the honor of hosting my very first Latte Art 101 class this week and, honestly, I’m still grinning about it. I love teaching people. I genuinely love the fact that I could pour years into learning a skill that I can then teach others about. Everyone loves latte art. It’s honestly what most people go into specialty coffee shops hoping for, second only to really delicious coffee.

Every single person that attended was excited, ready and willing to learn how the science and magic (mostly magic) behind latte art. We started with some example pours and then I explained the finer points of control and formation. Their first pours were…well. They had a lot of spirit. I mean A LOT of spirit. But, over the course of the class, those blobs transformed into hearts. It was apparent that people’s confidence was forming with their latte art as well. I was not only proud, but I was inspired by their efforts and I found myself looking forward to the next class.

My method for teach latte art, and for most things in general, is to ask yourself “what did I do wrong and what did I do right?”. Most people are very quick to the first part (what you did wrong) but, are entirely barren in the second department (what you did right). It’s always important to analyze what could have been done better but, if you’re never looking at what you did right, you’re constantly trying to improve everything, instead of focusing on what you need to. I saw some people who simply needed to aerate less or control the pitch of their pitcher. When asked what they felt they did wrong and right, they were all over the place trying to list off the many things they did wrong. I pointed out the one area they needed to improve on, and applauded the areas they were extremely strong in. In only five pours, they improved exponentially.

I don’t say this applaud my teaching style, merely to suggest that maybe, just maybe, you’re ridiculously hard on yourself when you shouldn’t be. I know, you’re thinking “hold on! I didn’t come here to look inwardly! I came here to read a recap”! Well, tough cookies. You may be way more excellent than you realize and way harsher on yourself than you should. You may see a mountain ahead of you but, the simple truth is, you could only be a mere five pours away from improvement. And then five more. And five more. And then you’re there. Better than you were before. Better than you thought you could be.