How to make a rosetta (latte art) in 3 steps


Dany Marquis

I'm pleased to share with you this foolproof method to make a rosetta on a latte . The popularity of espresso based drinks is indisputable and I have many customers who want to make a rosetta at home.

First, here are the steps to make a rosetta :

- Pour espresso into your cup

- Steam your milk to make micro-foam

- Assemble the milk with espresso by slightly jiggling your pitcher to form the rosetta

I invite you to watch this video that was made this morning at the workshop. 

 It's not more complicated than that. Sincerely, this is how to do a rosetta. I admit that the video is not perfect and we lose a part of it when the barista’s hand return to the center to cut and shape the rosetta. She was holding the camera between her teeth as she assembled the latte, maybe we should have chosen another. Anyway, it’s very easy, once at one end of the cup by doing the kind of Christmas tree pattern, you come back through the center. You can also do a search on youtube to look at a thousand that show the same thing. Once you have made the rosetta, you can work the other designs like the tulip, or swans. Be creative.

But here, unlike many trainers, let me be honest with you. Make rosetta is really simple to do ... for those who are able to do so. It's been 10 years since I train baristas. I had more than 100 employees who went behind my workshop’s bar, some of which remained with me until 4 years. Be barista with us, especially during the summer, is to make up to 150 drinks per hour, and I would say that a barista full-time for 1 year should do about (5 days x 45 weeks x 7 am x 5 latte) 7800 espresso based drink per year to 5 per hour on average during working hours. And if the barista stay with me for 4 years, it will make 31,500 coffee. You probably think, after all these lattes, the barista has become a ninja in latte art? Well, no, because I discovered, with experience, to make a successful rosetta depended on two factors: hours and hours of practice specifically dedicated to latte art (because it is possible to learn to do it) and those that are favored by nature. Yes, you did or you did not have it. I know it's cruel. And to the hundred barista with whom I worked, we can count on one hand those able to make a rosetta. The reason? Beyond the technique, I would say the ability to relax his arm, shoulder and wrist to control the flow of milk pouring into the coffee.

Taekwon-do

You see, make a rosetta, it's like doing the split. Theoretically, everyone is able (except those with clear physical limitations) but concretely, few are able. And I want to talk to you about my friend Michel, Taekwon-do training partner. We train as often as I can despite the distance that separates us. Why am I talking about this, because at in Taekwon-do, flexibility is very important and my friends know how many hours I dedicated to stretching, for years, using a method that could compete to some medieval torture machine. And in training, Michel sit next to me, and without any kind of warm-up, is doing the split of all possible sides to blush a yogi master. And I am perfected the art of stretching, theory, understand muscle relaxation mechanisms, etc. And I came to the fact that our bodies were different and that Michel had a predisposition to flexibility. That's all.

For me, it is the same thing for the latte art. It's not as simple as it looks like.

Of course, we can practice, but nevertheless, that does not remain accessible for everybody, despite of what we can find on Web.

On my side, my rosettas always looked like a little deformed sexual organ... then I stayed at the more humble level : the hearts. 

And my coffees are made according to our pursuit of excellence, my espresso extracted well, perfectly textured and silky milk and I check my parameters constantly.

Do I make rosetta? No.

Do I make Split?

Either. That does not prevent me from making of excellent coffee as barista, and to live my passion for the martial arts.

If you spend time to try to make a rosetta, and whom in spite of your technical knowledge, the good equipments and some good milk (good texture and temperature), you don't still manage to bring out of rosetta, I recommend you to close the file and become an expert in the tasting, the manual preparation, the roasting, or other sphere relative to the coffee business. There’s a lot to learn and work about it.

Long live to the diversity!

And tumb's up to the baristas who don't make rosettas! 


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