Chapter 04 : Section 01 Posture for Latte Art
Hello, everyone at Unspecialty Edu
I am barista Ji-yu Lee and I'll be leading this latte art class
Finally, now we will be practicing the latte art
But first, let me show you what kind of art
we'll be making by following our practice method
All the practice we do is to achieve that result
So, let me demonstrate it
and we will officially start practicing today, so let's go!
The grinder I am using is the Anfim SP2. Level your coffee
I'm sure some of you might doubt yourselves
if you can do latte arts
But you should start this class without thinking that you have to do well
Rather than saying that I have to do well or badly
Because we are trying to follow the rules that I set, you don't have to be good at it
How you should use your body, what methods you should use,
just by doing that, you can build a solid foundation. Let's give it a try
If you take this class, you will learn how to do latte art in this style
Let's try starting with the basic layer heart
I will pass on all the methods I am currently using to all of you
The reason how I can steam my milk while I'm talk
is because of the method I am currently using
Would you be able to make latte art with ease like this?
Let me show you up close
If you follow this class, you will be able to draw this kinds of latte art
Very naturally, without being artificial
We will practice together to match the choreography of this method
Isn't it beautiful? And you should remember
I didn’t put in too much effort
Then let's start together with this method
The reason I made layer heart first is because
I also need to grab your attention with this method
As I need to tell you that this is the right path
I have been making coffee for over 10 years as well
I have been participating in latte art competitions for 9 years
These methods have accumulated over time
That's why I can deliver it like this
Actually, these tips will save your time
That's why I said I will do it because I have that confidence
Now let's really begin, you're ready, right? Let's start!
The first step to be better at latte art, you need to adjust your basic body posture
What I mean by this is, for example, let's take sports as an example
Even if it's not a sport I'm good at, let's take golf as the first example
When playing golf, everyone is not just swinging the club, but they have to adjust their posture
That's how important posture is in latte art
Just like adjusting your starting position when running, this posture is important in latte art
It helps to maintain symmetry and allows you to do it even more easily
We will first learn how to use our body effectively
You can think of it as
Now, with me, you will make your debut as a dance singer
So since you have to dance with me, you need to match the choreography
If you copy my moves and synchronize our dance
If our moves are the same, the art will come out
So one more time. Don't worry about doing well.
You can't concentrate if your feelings and emotions are involved
You want to do well, you feel a certain way, you feel overwhelmed
Because of this, it actually becomes a distraction
Just think of it as a dance class
I just showed you how to draw latte art, but you couldn’t see my posture
In most videos, you only see the drawing part
That’s why it’s harder to follow along. Now, let's match our postures
First, we'll start by matching our legs
Your legs should be about shoulder-width apart
And when you take this posture, you have a hand holding the cup, right?
You should extend the foot on the side where you’re holding the cup slightly forward
Why do we do this? It's because the weight of the liquid in the pitcher shifts to the cup
So, the side that receives the weight will move downwards, like a scale
So, if you slightly support on the side that receives the weight
It can prevent the upper body from shaking
And one more thing, think of your face as a weight
and drop it forward a little bit like this
The principle of this is like when we ride a bicycle we lean forward
That way, it feels more stable. Even car engines are placed in the front
The more the center of gravity is in the front, the more stable it becomes
We will slightly drop the weight of our head forward
Also, your eyes, as you have one on each side
It would also be helpful to look at the cup head-on
Now, after dropping your face forward like this
If you let your arms hang comfortably like this, it should be about this level
Place the hand that will be holding the pitcher upwards around the pit of your stomach
When you look at the shape of the arms, you don't have to straighten it too much
It can be slightly slanted, but don't go too far back
If you try to position the exact center of your body, it will go to the side
Pull it slightly so that it is in the center, the back of your hand is in the center
And think that the center bone is looking up at the sky like this
And the cup should be next to it
Looking at it like this, this side I didn't fully extend the arm
So here, there should be about the size of one fist
Now, the pitcher will move back and forth like an iron
If I turn my body and like this,
As this is almost parallel to me, so
it moves like this. Now facing the front again
By doing this, the width here is about one or two fists
Why am I mentioning this? Because if it folds, it bends the wrist too
Then you end up using your wrist a lot, which disrupts the consistency of handling
So when it becomes completely straight, this part becomes tight
It's should be apart about two fists. It should be in the middle
And this posture, which is sideways like this, is the basic posture of latte art
We were flat like this at first
After making it shoulder-width and slightly pulling it out, lower your shoulders and place your hands in the middle
This is the basic posture of latte art
So this is what we practice. It’s like dancing with me
Because you're debuting as a dance singer with me
You need to go to this posture right before the music starts. Like this. Do you see it?
Well, I'm not good at drawing, but I'll try to draw it
And the reason I'm telling you this is not because you have to do it well
You have to think if you lowered your face, made your legs shoulder-width apart, or lifted one foot
You need to observe your body like this and monitor yourself
You should clearly ask yourself whether you did this or not, a simple yes or no
And naturally, as you follow this path, you’re going to be able to do layer hearts and even rosettas
If you try too hard to do well, you stop caring about posture
Then in the end, it doesn't come out well, you might draw with your emotions but you won't be satisfied
You need to keep in mind that we should become observers
You have to play the role of monitoring your body. You shouldn't become an athlete
So, today's mission is to create the structure of my body
To create a body structure that makes you good at latte art, and additionally
you need to become a good observer of yourself
And you need to become a supervisor who determines whether it has been done or not
This is our goal for today. So, we will start by creating the structure of the body
I will try to draw what I just explained. There was a face here
But since I have two eyes, there will be shoulders like this
We decided to place the pitcher by placing back of your hand up to the pit of your stomach
Then the pitcher will be located in the middle of the body like this
Back of the hand in the pit of the stomach then the cup will be placed next to it like this
If the arm holding the cup is like this, this space becomes about the size of one fist
So, instead of extending the elbow, fold it naturally
you slightly drop it like this. It's not like this
And the hand that’s holding the pitcher is placed it in the middle, so if you look at the shoulder
About two fists can fit in here. Like this
And the foot of the hand holding the cup is one step forward
Here, the side you’re holding the pitcher is going to be the pitcher foot
The two feet are should be shoulder-width apart
But if I stand up too straight, I face forward
and as I need to lower my eyes to see the cup, so
You have to slightly bend forward so that you can see the cup straight on
Then the face is lowered, so the upper body is slightly bent
This is how it is. Do you understand up to this point?
Then, if you hold the pitcher and hold the cup like this
As the foundation of latte art, the problem is who will consistently pour the milk well
The flow rate of milk
In terms of singing, it's about how well the voice comes out
So, we need to produce a good sound to add that vibration as well
You don't make sound by vibrating first
Among the basic elements of latte art, flow rate is the first
How well does the milk “produce sound”?
So, by moving that good sound to create a vibration
Is like ‘how good is the rhythm’? This becomes the second element
The third element. Singing a song is about the rhythm and pitch
If these two don't match, it's called offbeat and off-pitch
So, the third element becomes the interval responsible for the pitch, the high and low notes
These are the three basic elements
You'd say it seemed easy letting the milk flow steadily while moving, but turned out difficult
Well, there's a reason behind it
Because it is really difficult to do this without using the structure of your body
You may think to yourself, isn't it all about using your hands the right way
When we hold the pitcher and lower our upper body as so
The body part responsible for the milk flow is the shoulder, not the wrist
Because just by rolling the upper body like this
The body is performing a forwarding movement
Which helps to maintain a steady flow
So try using more shoulders from now on
If you stand straight, the shoulders move back like so
then this is how I would draw
To prevent falling backward, I place my legs diagonally
And lower my upper body so it can roll sideways
So as said, it involves upper body rolling
Shoulders roll, and rolling equals milk flow
This shoulder holds the cup, while the other holds the pitcher
So moving them means this goes down and the cup is upright
This can happen simultaneously
The cup and pitcher goes together as a set
So when you hold them, you move your shoulders and go down like this
You shouldn't be using your wrist thinking about holding the cup upright and tilting the pitcher like so
The reason why we keep the wrist straight like this in the first place
Is because the wrist will likely be used
If it goes down, gets bent, or twisted in the other direction
This is because when our joints are bent, the body takes it as a signal to use
So here, it is straight when the joint does not bent, but rises slightly
If we make this part straight, it actually ends up bent like this
The slight rise is what makes a straight form. And while holding the pitcher,
the back part here, about where my bracelet is
That is what moves back and forth controlling the pitcher handling
If the hand itself which holds the object moves like so
You are influenced by the amount of milk left in the pitcher
To avoid that, the back part here holding the entire object
Should move together, which reduces the impact
And as you see, this descends along with the shoulder
The pitcher descends on a gentle slope
Moving while descending will help to maintain a consistent flow
Sounds quite reasonable, right?
So we need to have the mindset of using our body this way
And now to the part where we struggle the most
the inconsistent handling
and how great it would be if we can keep it consistent
For the handling to be consistent, so should the flow of the milk, which will then create a consistent rhythm
So this goes down with the shoulder like this
And the arm here holding the whole thing is responsible for the handling
Does it make sense? As for the handling, look here at my hand
It isn't a dull movement like this
But rather, it's as if someone is holding half to the left and the other half to the right, making it move back and forth as so
so moved as a rebound not like this
It's not moving like this but in a rebound ‘thud thud thud’
Or ‘swish swish swish swish’
But the term 'rebound' itself
The center of gravity needs to be lower for a rebound to occur
For us, that center of gravity is the material called pitcher
Although there was a lot of liquid inside, as it flows down
The weight is concentrated here
Because this weight gathers at the bottom like a wall clock pendulum,
It only performs the task of supporting the movement of the pendulum
If I apply force to move, this milk actually loses its strength
Why? If the pitcher, silver, moves a lot the white loses its strength
To move the white, the pitcher needs to move slightly
So one of the things that generally corresponds
So if I say that the movement of my pitcher is very big, that means
It's somewhat similar to saying that the milk doesn't have much strength
So you need to think about reducing the strength of the pitcher a little bit
Why? Because that way the strength of the milk will increase
But if you say don’t quite understand this, I’ll explain one principle
Let's imagine doing ribbon gymnastics. I've never tried it before
Then there must be a ribbon stick and a ribbon, right?
If I move forcefully like this with my own strength, then there will be no strength at the end of the ribbon
But if I hold onto this ribbon stick and move it lightly from here,
Won't the ribbon move more dramatically?
So what I want to move is the white milk that goes on top of the espresso
But if you move the silver that contains the white a lot, the white won't be able to move
So if you think about it, we're not "exercising" the pitcher
Instead, we need to base the milk "exercising" method to get that milk moving
If we build the structure of the body, it helps to increase the strength of milk
This has influence on the strength of milk, so we must follow it
Rather than saying you're good at it, there are many things you've learned for the first time, isn't there?
Then let me summarize this once again. How?
You have already become observers with me
But now we need a supervisor
I will hand over to you the matters that I am checking
So you don't have to do it well, just have a little effort and dedication
One more thing, there's no one in the world who wants to do badly, right?
You should cheer your body a lot
Until now, latte art probably hasn't been going well
And you may not have known how to use your body correctly
And even though something feels strange, you might not have known what to check
So that's why I'm helping you find that
and check all those points
So you doing this structure and actually standing shoulder width, putting one foot forward
Bending your upper body and leaving the pitcher here and the cup here
is not the most difficult thing to do
But when it's time to steam your milk, would you be able to get in the position quickly?
That’s why we practice
But let me summarize it one more time for you guys
First, you'll lower your head
Now, the supervisor will check if the head is down
On your right, in case of lefties like me on the left hand you'll be holding your pitcher
The right hand is for the pitcher. Designate your right hand
as a hand that holds on to the pitcher
Left hand, left hand's job is to hold on to the cup
Allocating the work to use your whole body
And fourth, the feet on the left hand grabbing the cup, step that forward
And both feet should be shoulder-width apart
And overall of the upper body needs to be slightly bend
And shoulder, as its in charge of the flow
therefore shoulder should roll. Roll to one side
Is how you should remember. Shoulder is there to roll
And last but not least, this arm is in charge of the handling
You should get past the wrist bending. That's how you don't get to use the wrist
This arm is in charge of the handing
Like this, first off you need to summarize it
So see if your face is down, if the right hand is holding the pitcher while the other hand is holding the cup
That's how while we draw our art, the shoulder rolls
This part of the arm oscillates, and the momentum results in the handling
This is the first basic element
Since I'm explaining with this drawing, there shouldn't be any parts where you particularly don't understand
But let's try this one more time
Open by shoulder width. If you happen to have a full-length mirror, you can look at it in front
But I can see myself with my eyes
You will step in front and bend you upper body a little bit, lowering your face
Place the arm grabbing the pitcher in the tip of your stomach, palm upwards, this to the side
From here if you gently move you arm as your shoulders are rolling like this
This enables handling
This is the basic body structure during latte art
You should think as such. Understand?
I always pose the same way while I do latte art
Then let me once again show you the layered heart again
You should check out if I am really posing the way I explained before
And I will show the resulting drawing accordingly. Step by step
Then I'll pour the milk in first
You've already listened to the big picture of the lecture, how to use the body
And now if I'm actually really using the structure
You'll be the judge if it's yes or no
On your own, rather than quickly drawing
When you don't have anything with you, check if you're in the right position
Always remember being in the position is the first
It's similar to a dance class
Please observe. Paying attention will do
As some might think even though that's what I say I might not follow the steps
And also observe whether you've ever talked to your shoulders and arms during the process
Whether you tried to observe yourself
And for steaming your milk, as I mentioned in the previous lesson
Rather than getting stressed by this
Maybe not being able to dance is the reason why you're under a lot of stress
As soon as you synchronize this dance with me, there is bound to be something coming out of it
Trust me, if you want this class to be fun, don't try hard, just follow the rules
Watch. Hold your posture like this. Like this, see?
Mix it here and see if your shoulders move. Milk is pouring
Roll your shoulders and move your arms back and forth like this, then bring it down
If we do it like this, shall we see how the result turned out?
Let me come closer and show you
It's like this, right?
Because I use my whole body structure, I use the big bones of my body
That's why it looks smooth
If I set up everything and only moved this, you would only see this
Since I used my whole body
Why does it seem like I'm not doing much, but the results are good?
That's because of this reason
And because I used this arm as the center,
There is a distance from here to reach this milk,
So, even if I move a little, it becomes a larger movement
If I move quickly from here, it moves less,
Since we’re holding something long and moving like this,
remember that we shouldn't just move like this from here,
So today's homework is to check if you are
building the structure of your body
And since I have determined the position and purpose of each part of the body,
Please promise me to keep that in mind and focus on this posture
Then the next step will be much easier,
So I'll see you in the next step