Latte Art Tutorial, The Swan

Amaze your friends with a swan pour. Although it may seem difficult at first, it's just a small modification of the rosetta pour. If you have created a wave rosetta before, it's even easier. You will be using the same principles, getting the milk to swirl around the cup before you start to pour the rosetta and create the swan's elongated neck. Finish it off with a small heart, and you'll have a special treat.

Every pour starts with excellent espresso and milk. Remember to use a burr grinder for your espresso, and pick a qualified espresso roast. When foaming your milk, remember to angle the steam wand toward the side of the steam pitcher near the end of the steaming process. This will get the milk to swirl around the pitcher and result in a delicate foam perfect for creating latté art.

The start of the swan pour is the most complicated part. Once you figure it out, the rest is pretty easy. Just like the wave rosetta pour, you need to start by moving the pour in circles around the cup. This causes the coffee in the cup to start swirling, either in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. You are going to use this swirling motion to get your rosetta to swirl around the cup and conform to its walls.

As soon as you get the coffee in the cup to start swirling in one direction, you can begin to pour your rosetta in the opposite direction. The continued motion of the coffee in the cup pushes against your rosetta and causes it to curl around the bottom of the cup. Think of the curled rosetta as the swan's abdomen and chest. The swan's neck will come out of the bottom of the rosetta, and its tail will be the top of the rosetta. As the rosetta continues to swirl around the cup, its tail becomes more defined, and it sticks up. If you remember to pour this like you would pour a wave rosetta, you can't mess up.

Once you reach the tip of the rosetta (the swan's tail), bring a thin line of foam back through the rosetta on top of the swan's back. Take this line back through the middle of the rosetta and back out of the bottom of the rosetta to create the swan's neck and head.

Finish off the head by making a small heart. This is sort of technical, but if you have enough mastery to pour a swan, it the easiest part. And that's it. So long as you can pour a great rosetta, and you understand how coffee swirling around a cup will get your rosetta to swirl with it, you're set!

While you're at it, take some time to upload your best swan. We would love to see it.

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