The Double Heart

In this tutorial, you will learn how to make a familiar latte art design that will get people very excited. We call this one the Tulip Man because you have to use the same techniques you have learned in creating a tulip in order to get this one right. If you already know how to pour a tulip and a heart, this one shouldn't be much more difficult. It's an interesting combination of both. So great ready. You are going to pour a person!

All respectable latte artists understand the importance of properly steaming milk to create the correct microfoam and texture that makes latte art possible. You're going to want to angle the steam inside the steam pitcher as you near the end of the milk steaming process. This gets the milk swirling around the pitcher and gives it the correct texture. Don't skimp on your espresso too. It's very important both for taste and excellent art.

We highly recommend you have a look at the tulip tutorial before continuing further. It's very important to know how to use the steam pitcher to push milk foam around the edges of your designs. The tulip design requires you to do this and to become a total master of it. You will begin the Tulip Man pour as you would begin a tulip pour. Get a small apple-shaped dot in the center of the cup, just like the beginning of the tulip shape. When you pour the second part of the design, it will actually cause this first part to bend and become the arms of the Tulip Man.

So, with your dot in place, you're going to begin pouring Tulip Man's legs. The legs are a sort of elongated heart shape with a dot at the bottom that will cause the arms to bend around it. Start the elongated heart shape about 1/4 the distance to the edge of the cup. As you pour the heart shape, start to lift up the steam pitcher to get the sucking motion that will create the top of the heart (or Tulip Man's feet, depending on your perspective). Move the pitcher closer and closer to your first shape and watch as it bends around the bottom of your heart. Don't finish the leg shape as you would finish an ordinary heart. Just tilt up the steam pitcher and leave it as a dot instead of a point.

By now, depending on how you're looking at it, your design should look like a headless person. If it does, you can pat yourself on the back because the hard part is over. All you have to do now is pour the head. Some people like to make this step even easier by getting a spoon and simply placing a dot on top of the headless body. If you're more hardcore than that, just remember to avoid pouring the shape the same way you would pour a heart.

And that's it! The Tulip Man isn't as hard as the tulip, although it does require a bit of technical savvy. Once you figure out how to get the elongated heart shape for the legs, you're set. You can paint in eyes or make the legs look even more defined with a sharp metal object of some kind. Take a picture and show us some of your variations on the Tulip Man. If it's really good, we might be compelled to write a tutorial on it.

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