The Skull

Most of the latte art tutorials on this site are meant to inspire a sense of awe and beauty. The next latte creation strikes fear into the heart of the pourer. The skull can be made in a variety of ways, each of which is up to the one with the metal stirrer. It helps if you have poured a rosetta before. Otherwise, all you need is a vision of the macabre and a desire to create a monstrous masterpiece.

As with all latte art, it's very important to use the right espresso roast and to steam your milk properly. Remember to finely grind your espresso before brewing. Also, be aware of how long it takes to brew your espresso. Ideally, you should be somewhere between five and seven seconds. When you're steaming your milk, tilt the steam wand to the side of the steam pitcher as you near the end of the steaming process. This creates a rich and delightful foam, perfect for scaring people with your skulls.

You will begin the skull pour as you would begin a rosetta pour. Start near the opposite side of the coffee cup, wiggling the steam pitcher side to side as you pour. There is one difference, however, between the rosetta pour and the skull pour. When you pour a rosetta, you tend to make wide wiggling movements to differentiate the leaves. When you pour a skull, the wiggling motions should be about half as wide. You basically want a rosetta-blob shape that can then be given more human like features.

When you pour a skull, there is no need to strike back through the shape with the milk in the steam pitcher. Simply pour the shape and leave it as-is. At this point, some people like to add a chin at the bottom of the design. If you want to do that, pour a little dot about one centimeter from the bottom of the shape and leave it as-is.

To recap, you should have a rosetta-like shape with a dot underneath. That's the only part you will pour for the skull design. After that, it's time to get out the pointed metal stirrer to give some definition and real life creepiness to your skull design.

Start with the eyes. Place the metal stirrer into the brown crema foam and pick up a small dab of it. Then, paint some sideways eyes pointing in a downward diagonal fashion. This tends to indicate anger. Remember to clean the white foam off of your metal stirrer every time you paint an eye. You don't want to mix the with foam with the brown foam on the outside of the design.

The nostrils of the skull should be thin and at a slight diagonal as well. At the bottom of the skull, you can create teeth by moving the brown crema foam at the edge more inward. Make the teeth skinny and sharp for a dramatic effect.

If you decided to go with a jaw, use your stirrer to draw some of the white foam from the dot outward to form some sharp bottom incisors. This can also be accomplished by drawing some of the brown foam inward.

And that's it. You've just created a latte art horror. It's perfect for Halloween or just for fun. If you've made a skull that you think really stands out, post it on our forum. We want to see it!

Learn more about making Latte Art in our Latte Art How To!