Chapter 04 : Section 02 How to hold the Pitcher and Cup
Hello, everyone at Unspecialty Edu
I am barista Ji-yu Lee and I'll be leading this latte art class
Nice to meet you. We have met several times already, haven't we?
Last time, we talked about the structure of the body. If you create a good posture beforehand,
Now let's talk about how to hold the hands and position the fingers
So, one of the things I want to mention again is,
Instead of doubting yourself if you can do is or not
Drawing based on your feelings and emotions is not necessary in this class
Because when we do well, our feelings and emotions might help
but when we're trying to build the foundation it is important to follow me and synchronize with me
So, as I mentioned, we are debuting as dance singers
Today, I will show you how to accurately position and move the five fingers
So you can always check as your own observer and supervisor
and see if anything feels weird, if your fingers are in the right positions
when you are practicing alone or when you are trying to film yourself
Then let's proceed with today's class
Today's class is about pitcher placement and cup placement
You should hold it the same way as me so that it's easier to find errors
I think the style I'm using right now is the most comfortable way to use
It doesn't hurt my shoulders much, and it seems to be the least tiring when using for a long time
so I'll share that method with you. Starting with the pitcher
You're probably holding it in various ways as you’re watching the video
But is that method still a good one even when the difficulty increases in the future?
This is something you should check
If you have any existing habits
It might be annoying to change this habit, to be honest
But if you change it once, you can continue using it
So, in the beginning, when you keep going back to your old habits, please cheer yourself on
You are trying hard enough right now, let's do our best today too
You should start from this point
You can do this! I'll be cheering for you too
If your fingers hurt too much, something is actually wrong
Think of awkwardness as something natural
Once you know this method, you can practice it at home while watching TV
You can have your pitcher with you and when it's ad time
Do a lot of lifting and releasing, and you will become familiar with it
Like for me it feels so natural just like I'm using my chopsticks
It doesn't hurt much and I use them so naturally
Because we don't always wonder how to use the chopsticks every time we use them now do we
If you get used to it, you can just hold the pitcher instinctively
You won’t be thinking about how to hold it and stuff
Let me explain this method again in detail
If you see, when the pitcher is like this, you divide it in half
Think of this as the lower body
Because all the milk is at the bottom, right?
And think of the upper part as the upper body
This part where the pitcher milk comes out is the mouth
The handle closest to the mouth becomes the neck
And this part next to the lower body is like the buttocks
When you look at the structure of the human body,
People with strong lower body may also live longer and healthier lives
If we want to have a long and successful career in latte art, we also need to strengthen our lower bodies
Then take a look. This part is responsible for the lower body
First of all, it’s important to have a good grip
If you look at the pitcher structure,
The pitcher looks like this, but I only have five fingers
Although I only have five fingers, you can hold it equally on both sides
In order to hold it with the feeling of moving it,
That's why we hold the pitcher in various ways
Some people hold it like this, and some hold it like this
I've also tried holding it in various ways before
But when I try to increase the difficulty while practicing,
Other ways besides the grip method right now are a bit distracting
So we don't know what we will be doing later, you guys
So it would be better to start off with a good method
Well then, let's see. We need to grip the lower body well
So when we look at this pitcher again, when we look at just the handle part
The first side of this handle is the thumb position
But how do you place your thumb? Align it with this line
You just need to place your thumbnail here like this
And then place the thumb to the side like this
So what happens then? It forms a slightly triangular shape here
Look. Hold it like this, aligning it with the nail line
It'll get hot if we do this so if you need to be in a close position
Look. It forms a slightly triangular shape here
If you ask why this should be aligned with the nail line,
it's because this goes up more. So you would want to fold it
But if you fold it, there are many cases where the left and right sides become asymmetrical
So what should you do? Think if your thumb comes up more than this, it'll get chopped off
If it comes up it'll get chopped off. With that determination,
please align it with the nail line and make it straight
But how far should you go? If the handle is this long, hold only half of it
Let's look at it from above
Divide it in half, and only one side has the thumb, right?
Then the thumb should touch one side aligned with the nail line
Now, look. When you look at it from the opposite side, it's not just touching to this part
But one side is completely touching here. Right?
So this part of the thumb plays the role of a finger
When they meet like this, here should act as the role of a finger and be touching
Then the thumb's partner is the index finger
But the index finger is very long, right?
So what we do is, this finger needs to be considerate
and become the shape of an open rectangle
But don't attach it completely like this, just make it into a open rectangle shape
Looking at its length, it matches the position of the second knuckle
So here, the second knuckle of the index finger is touching, right?
Then how does it work? Since the knuckle is shaped like this
This becomes the shape of putting the thumb here. Making it into a open rectangular shape
Make the index finger like a open rectangle so that the second knuckle touches the pitcher
Then, look. The thumb is paired with the index finger, so after making it like an open rectangle,
the second knuckle is touching the pitcher to face the thumb like this
If you see my whole finger isn't touching the pitcher because if it does it put pressure on it
So, after making it into an open rectangle, they are just facing each other
Do you see? They're facing each other
If you completely lower it like this, it will create a space like so
Then, the thumb will push like so
So, they must be facing each other. Okay
Now, there are three fingers left. What do we do with them?
We make a light fist. Hold the light fist and make them into scissors
By making them into scissors and then making them into a open rectangle shape like I just mentioned,
It becomes this shape. Now, if you look at the fingers,
they are all made into a open rectangle shape
So where do I put this rectangle?
The pitcher looks like this a little bit. If you look at the side, it looks like this
Do you see the endpoint of this corner? You should put the ring finger here and the middle finger here
But say I'm a guy and my hands are too big
So if I put both fingers in, it's too tight
Then what should you do? Let me draw just the handle again
If it's like this, you just need to put the middle finger here
Then you place the ring finger here next to it. Let me explain both
Put both fingers in. What happens is,
The middle finger and ring finger go in like this. Can you see it?
If it goes in like this, it hangs flat even if you let go
So you have to put it at the end because if you lift it up, the buttock drops like this
Making sure the buttock isn't dropping so at the end
Then how do you handle the pinky finger?
After the nails naturally fit in like this,
the nails are positioned like this
Now, don’t let the fingerprints touch here
When the fingerprints touch, the hand looks like this, right?
You make the open rectangular shape and place it on the tip of the nail like this. Can you see it?
Then, these two fingers pull this area towards the palm
Pulling it like this, the thumb is next to it
If the index finger is facing each other, and it is held like this
But as I mentioned earlier, if the space here is too tight, what should you do?
I extend the ring finger outward and place the middle finger on the edge
Then, the nail of the ring finger touches the corner like this
Look. If you create the same shape and place the middle finger at the end,
Even without thinking, the nails meet naturally
Then what does the middle finger do?
It plays a role in pulling up the palm with this surface
After pulling it up, the thumb should cover the side and the index finger should face it. Can you see it?
So we make them straight like this and handle like this
Even with both fingers inside, we hold them like this and move them like this
The middle finger, ring finger, and pinky finger are all the same shape, right?
But at the corner, the ring finger is placed above the middle finger
But if my hand is too big, then
I can pull the ring finger out and place the middle finger at the corner, like this, right?
The pinky finger doesn't have a significant role
No need to separate or pull it out separately
Don't put pressure on the back of your hand like this, and don't keep it straight
It's good to think of folding your hand in half like kneading dough
This shape and the shape that is opened like this are different, right?
Fold your hand to the side like kneading dough, that's how you should think
The thumb is straight to the nail. If you look from above, it's holding the half
The index finger is paired with the thumb. It's holding it like this in an open rectangle shape
If I hold my fist like this, the ring finger and middle finger are at the end here
At the end of this corner, it's not the front that you see, but the side
The pinky fingernail automatically lines up here
If you press against your palm like this, the thumb comes in like this. Right?
So, holding it like this is the most ideal way
If your fingers keep touching here
Turn it towards the thumb. If you turn it towards the thumb, look
It's loosely held. Right?
But if you can't fit two fingers in
Just remove one to the side. Place the ring finger where the pinky finger was earlier
Then put the middle finger in that position
Then there will be more space here, right?
If you lift the palm in the same shape and cover it with the thumb, like this
Look again. It will be loosely held like this
So when you open it all and focus on the ring finger
The side of the ring finger's nail is held like this, the skin of the thumb. Can you see it?
And the middle finger is just supporting like this
These two are just holding each other facing each other
if you want to apply force, then apply force to the back part that you are holding
There's no need to exert too much force on this
When you hold chopsticks, which finger do you apply force to and how?
It's the same as this question
You want to hold it comfortably overall, but no matter what, when it’s your first time, you tend to grip it tightly
When riding a bicycle, you end up gripping the handlebars tightly
But the truth is, gripping the handlebars tightly actually makes it difficult to ride a bicycle
When you first start driving, you tend to grip the steering wheel tightly
But as you become more used to it, the feeling of force gradually diminishes
Rather than how to grip it,
when riding a bicycle, you first see which path to take
When driving, you think about how to maintain your lane and focus on what's ahead
For me, after grasping the pitcher, I can see the directional indicator on top of the espresso cup
I can see the path ahead of me, but if this is really uncomfortable,
Then I won't be able to see the path anymore
I call that being blind
Although it seems like I'm looking at it but my focus is here
Then what do we need to practice from now on?
If you look to the side like this, place it on top of your other hand and practice grabbing it and letting go
Grabbing it and letting go is what we need to practice
If this pitcher was placed on the bar after it was steamed
It’s uncomfortable to bend like this, so fold your knees like this at first
The thumb is here. Just practice getting up by positioning it like this
Right now, even if I just grab it, I can position it correctly when lifting it like this
This needs to be comfortable first. And there are some common mistakes that are made here
because the grip method changed it's uncomfortable
So say if I finished steaming my milk here
The reason why I call this dance is because they have beats in everything
We use ingredients that have temperature
So if you go off the beat, the song becomes wrong
So there was an error in the dance
You have to grab this, get up, and do something at this beat, but you grabbed this but it's uncomfortable
So you put it down and grab it again
And then if you draw, the espresso has been waiting for a second or two
So state of the espresso might have changed a bit because of the temperature
So when you grab it and it's uncomfortable, you just have to do it. Why?
If it's uncomfortable right now, you probably won't be perfectly comfortable even if you hold it again
So even it's uncomfortable, you have to focus on the next step
Hold on a sec. Let me hold it again. There's bubble. If you do this, it's already ruined
This has a beat, and it's like if you're just trying
to follow yourself while the other you are dancing away
So that's why you need to practice how to grab this
Then as we went through the structure of the body last time
We said that the pitcher will be placed in the pit of the stomach with the back of the hand
This is the position we are talking about
If this is how we position ourselves, this is what it'll look like
So if you move your arm, the handling is like this
We don't do this or move like this
So if we hold this well, it becomes like this
Let's say you relax your muscles at the back after grabbing like this
Then it'll come down like this
What happens when it comes down is that it looks like a tunnel
If this move, it moves separately
But if you hold this part too tightly? Then it's totally the opposite
The back needs to be held
The back of something must be held in order to send the object forward well
You can hold it here and draw. If it's not too hot
But you can't hold this part and draw. Why? Because the center of gravity of a liquid is in the back
You get it right? So we have to hold the buttock
Rather, holding it like this will be better for milk to come out
But if we want to continue to enjoy latte art in a variety of ways
And to move to the difficulty levels
It's best if you get this gripping method right
So we've got all the positions set, correct?
Practice this again with a mindset as a observer and as a supervisor
And ask yourself if you are holding it right
And if something hurts, you might be doing something wrong so double-check yourself
So have this kind of mindset when practicing
One more thing. When holding like this, I'll open my palms
When I open it all, the tip of the pitcher touches the middle of the palm like this
Touch the tip of the pitcher like this and point it toward your index finger like this
Then if you attach your thumb, it can automatically align with your nail line like this
If you leave the middle end of my palm and raise it towards your index finger and cover your thumb
This might make it a little easier to hold
When it's lowered, if you grabbed it at once
Then you need to give yourself a lot of compliments
On that day, order what you want to eat. Got it?
Let me show you how to hold a cup
The cup that I am currently using is
a basic round cup
This cup is an 8-ounce cup that can hold 240ml of liquid
For left-handed and right-handed people, the method is the same
We should hold it based on the handle
If you look at it like this and draw a cross based on the handle,
You can see that this is the center and this is the center
So for right-handed people, the handle should face inward like this
Because I'm a leftie. The handle should face inward for right-handed people
Place your thumb on the handle and your index finger on the opposite side, and hold your fingers together
And place your pinky finger like this at the base
If you take it out and see, the shape is like holding it half in the side
With your pinky finger, if you place it here without holding onto anything
It might scare you because it'll feel like the whole thing will fall off
That's why some people hold it like this or hold the handle like this
but it'll be too difficult to draw in all directions later if you hold the handle
Also, it's difficult to use the wrist when placing it on the palm
So, placing it sideways like this is a signal that you will use your wrist
So from here, you can slightly have your finger in here or in the handle part
Place the pinky finger base parallel to the opposite index finger like this
If you place it on the side of your body like this,
When you tilt your shoulder, the cup will naturally stand like this
You don’t want the cup to stand by deliberately raising it like this
Because if so, the pitcher has to go up
But we need to roll along the shoulder and go down in that shape
If it's like this, the sensor is on the shoulder
So when we roll the shoulder and go down, then the cup will stand
We only need to go this much from here. It's not a big deal
So if you get used to it, it becomes a really good skill
For left-handed people, just hold it the same way based on the handle and have this one go outwards
Hold it with the thumb, index finger, and pinky finger
If you look at it based on the handle, this is 6 o'clock, so this is the point where we should tilt
What should we do? Since this sensor is attached to the shoulder
Just let it go down, and it will automatically go up from the 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock direction
So as it automatically goes down from the 6 o'clock direction to the 12 o'clock direction
it becomes very symmetrical
The symmetry of the picture is one of the thing that baristas
stresses about when doing latte arts
If you fix this posture and use your upper body to roll together, it becomes symmetrical
So it'll help with that problem
It is a very good skill to give yourself a lot of self-compliments on both shoulders
Then let me show you. I'm holding the cup on the left
Hold the pitcher like this and the whole posture like this
When we draw the picture here, the flow is controlled by the shoulders
If we go like this, it includes forward movement to the side here
The cup and the pitcher are a set. The teamwork between them is important
Once we start like this, have them go together just like this
then milk flows nicely, the cup is positioned well. It works out great for everything. Do you get what I mean?
So if you hold it with your right hand with the handles inward, it'll look like this
Then the tilt is in the 6 o'clock direction. We go down to the 12 o'clock direction
So as a set and stay in the middle, all we need is to do is go down
So in general, the flow and the symmetry align
So you need to bring that observer part of you
to check if you are holding the cup right
And also the supervisor part of you to correct yourself. Do you get what I mean?
And in our next session, with the same movement we learned today
I'm going to show you how to make the layered heart, and a heart
But before I show you how to do that
You need to align with me when it comes to body posture, how we hold the pitcher, and how we hold the cup
So we can dance together to create that layered heart and the heart
We're almost there so don't give up
I'll see you next time