The Tulip

The tulip is the next step in your latte art progression. It isn't quite a rosetta, and it's not really a heart, but it uses some techniques from both of them. The tulip sort of looks like a fatter rosetta with concentric leaf rings that wrap all the way from the bottom of the design to the top. The highest leaf on the tulip is actually a heart shape, and it is bordered by the other leaves in the design. If you can pull off this pour, you are certain to not only impress your friends but perhaps a few familiar faces in the latte art world.

All great latte art depends on how well you brew your espresso and how well you steam your milk. Make sure you angle the steam wand to the side of the steam pitcher to get the milk to swirl around to give you a nice light and frothy texture. This is absolutely essential for any latte art creation. If you mess up your milk, you won't be pouring anything interesting.

The best way to think about the tulip design is to envision it as a series of hearts that are broken up and spread out from inside. You will begin the pour as you would for creating a single heart, but with one key difference. As soon as you pour the base of the first heart-like shape, you won't strike through the middle of it with the steam pitcher. You will instead lift up the steam pitcher and move it a few centimeters toward the near side of the cup and above the top of the first heart-like shape.

We say it's a heart-like shape because you aren't specifically making hearts. If what you have in your cup looks more like an apple without a stem, you're doing the right thing. By now, your steam pitcher should be a few centimeters out from the top of the apple-like shape. The language can be confusing here. We don't mean the pitcher should be elevated high above the first shape in terms of vertical up. We're talking about "up" in terms of the cup. If the coffee cup had X and Y axes, "up" would be moving along the Y axis in two dimensional space, not up above the cup in three dimensional space.

The next apple like shape you pour will come from a few centimeters above the first apple. You will slowly move the steam pitcher toward the top of the apple shape as your pour the second apple shape. This effectively makes the second apple shape "push through" the first apple shape, turning the first apple shape into a concentric ring.

If you have been doing everything correctly, you should have one appleish shape surrounded by a single concentric ring that is open at the top. The rest of the tulip creation process is accomplished by repeating the same steps that "push" a new apple shape through the one just before it. You can do this process as many times as you like to see just how complex your tulip shape can get.

When you are ready to finish your design, you can pour the last shape as you would pour a heart while finishing it off as you would finish a rosetta. By this, we mean you will want to strike through the center of the tulip design from top to bottom with a single line that will bend all of the leaves upward. When you are finished, you will have yet another floral design under belt. This is likely to be the most complex latte art creation you have made. Try to see if you can make it even more complex by adding in extra concentric rings. Take a photo and post it on our site to compete with your friends. We're excited to see what you can do!

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