Chapter 04 : Section 03 Handling Mechanics & Troubleshooting
Hello everyone at Unspecialty Edu
I am barista Ji-yu Lee and I'll be leading this latte art class. Nice to meet you
Today, we'll find out if your handling(pouring) skills
are being used in the right method and if you are practicing it right
How can we check if your handling skills are on the right track?
Let me show you how you can do that, so let's get started
Today's topic is, Am I doing it right with my handling skills
This is how to check your handling skills
Now you know how to hold the pitcher through our last lesson
And you also know how to hold the cup
but strangely, you might experience your art not turning out right
even though you wiggle your pitcher
And you could start doubting yourself
Here this is the basic theory
The milk dropping from the pitcher meets the cup
Then when should handling skills come in?
It should be the point where the espresso and milk meet
The place where milk meets espresso
Handling skills should be performed there
This is the part where handling takes place
But if you ask me why it still doesn't work for you
The milk would be filled to this much
But before the milk meets the espresso
and not in this point but instead before the milk drops
or when the milk is just sliding in the spout if you start handling your pitcher
Nothing will happen on top of the crema
So, handling doesn't happen as soon as the milk falls
But rather as it falls and when it floats on the espresso
is when the you should start creating your latte art
and some kind of shape like this would form
But if you start to move the moment milk hits the coffee
Then think this as a submarine unit
If you start moving when it's inside, it'll only lead to going deeper into it
So, when we do latte art, it's important to become your own observer
to see if the milk has hit the espresso
and if it's floating on the top of the creme is something that you should observe
wiggling the pitcher just because it is titled is just a mere personal thought
Therefore, that could be one of the reasons why your handling skills isn't working well
So if we look here again
Where the milk meets the espresso
it becomes steady depending on what drops more consistently
But because we're trying to drop it at the same time
Rather than having the cup lifting upward and pushing me
the cup and my body should both go down together
to maintain that steadiness
So I go down, and the cup go down
The shoulder holding the cup and
the shoulder holding the pitcher move together
to adjust the flow is what I mentioned before
And the reason why we have to do it like this is
the milk inside the pitcher decreases as I keep using it
Right? But my cup only has a small amount of espresso
But it keeps pouring. And what happens? It fills up
To create a stability for the increasing and decreasing ones
It's not about pouring them separately
They need to move together in order to keep this point consistent
So when there is a lot of milk
For example, starting from here to this point
There must be some weight since there are a lot of milk
But because the milk is gradually decreasing
The center of this weight will move forward like this
So in the end, it'll end up with only the tip of the spout being up close to it
The reason why we practice
handling skills and using our shoulders
to move our milk is
to basically move an object with a fixed weight
This is the more professional way to put it
But if you think this is too difficult
This is why I mentioned
We need to use our shoulders, just move the upper body
Then flow of the milk won't be any problem
When the shoulders move, don't worry about your hands, move your arms
Then left, right, left, right
In this way, you can handle something consistently
Don't shake your body too much
Nothing happens down there if you do that
But one more thing. I said that it is a way to check your handling skills, right?
This is just an explanation, so how can we check it?
I'll help you check by using water
for an example
Since I have a lot of pitchers
I will prepare two pitchers
If you don't have two
Then just bring this kind of mug that you have
You can check by dropping like this
Let's check it out
I told you how to hold your pitcher, right?
When you grasp it closely
Drop the milk like this here
Instead of using your wrist when you drop your milk
Since it's pouring, roll the shoulders
I will pour it steadily like this
So when should the handling start?
It will meet the espresso at 1cm in front
But instead if you wiggle your pitcher because the milk is already pouring
then this is how your milk would look like
But what should it originally look like?
As it falls, the thickness in front of that 1cm
needs to move steadily like this
with that constant strength of milk
It turns into this layered u-shapes
If you think because you're pouring milk you're going to wiggle your pitcher
If you do that, it falls quite roughly like this. Can you see the difference?
You can see the clear difference between both, right?
So, why does this happen?
First, you need to see if you are
starting from the shoulder
and pouring that milk using your arm
and smoothly lowering it down
But at the milk gathering point
there are a lot of people who tend to wiggle the spout
Then what happens is
Espresso moves only when the milk drops into it
So basically it means you're moving at this point here
How? By moving around at this point
Then this is what it'll look like
If you're practicing at home
and if your water stream comes out like a beautiful jewel
then this is not what we call good handling skills
It's basically ruining all that crema
But good handling skills looks like the milk has a lot of strength
Watch. It's pouring, using the shoulders, roll
wiggle, wiggle
If it becomes this shape until the end, that's a good handling skill
Watch again
Pouring, starting with a gentle wiggle
but as the milk decreases instead of following the flow you start to wiggle drastically
Then this is what will happen
Then you might ask what impacts it has when you're doing latte art
You see with the milk, I frothed it
I inflated the cold milk by adding air to it
Air is light, so I need to provide an angle of inclination
So that my air bubbles and my heavy liquid get tangled like this
so it drops together
But if I don't lower the pitcher along my shoulder
And keep moving in that position, the lighter air is on top
And only the heavy liquid falls
But if I want to make them fall together, I have to keep lowering them in one direction
is the best way to drop perfectly
So when I started this latte art class
The reason why I told you don't try to be perfect is
If you try to do well, you'd end up keep wiggling this
But that's not it, instead
you need to play the observer role and see if you have
rolled your shoulders and and if you did when you see the milk
you need to smoothly wiggle your arm is something you need to observe yourself to become more familiar with it
If you want to do it well and try your hardest you'll be wiggling your arm a lot
and in that situation you have to think am I doing it right
Milk is pouring, rolling the shoulders and gently wiggling the arm
and check if there are any big changes in the stream
If your stream is flowing quite roughly
if it's everywhere and when the thickness of the stream is inconsistent
and if you're wiggling a lot like this means
You're "exercising" your pitcher. Don't move that metal thing
you need to "exercise" your milk to create a nice art
Now with these two skills
Moving the pitcher or moving the milk
I'll show you how it looks when I'm doing my latte art
I'll show you what these two skills create
And why you shouldn't be doing it that way so make sure you always use your shoulders
to create that consistent and smooth stream
You have to lightly give a signal to your arm
Arm is the only thing that moves, this means that the hand and the fingers are there to just hold on to the pitcher
you have to keep checking yourself as your own supervisor
Then I'll compare the two
For the first cup with the milk. As I mentioned earlier
you have to let the milk float on top of the espresso like this
then if you push it from left to right, left to right like this on the side
The crema creases and creates that beautiful layers of patterns
But one of the method you shouldn't do is
moving when the milk is pouring
because the milk hasn't floated on top of the espresso yet
and if you wiggle way to much you'll end up having a blurry latte art
that's because most would drop to the bottom and only handful will float on top of the crema
So let me show you that
But if you get blurry latte art just like I told you
when practicing it at home with your French press
You have to check with yourself
if you are either wiggling your pitcher too much
or if you are moving too much. Then try it with water
in the sink and to see what you're doing wrong
Then you'll see what's wrong and if you can't
than get a tripod from a dollar store and record yourself
Then you'll see it straight away if the stream is moving like this
or because of the harsh movement from the pitcher, you'll see the watcher splashing around
There's no way you would miss that. Let me show you
To be honest, I'm itching to show you how to do latte arts right now
So that's why I'm going to explain this as easily as possible
And I hope you practice
I really hope you guys do. Okay, let me show you
As we are learning how to handle liquids, this doesn't happen overnight
Don't forget to compliment yourself for practicing after today's lesson
You're already on your path to success
After learning all this, all you have to do is invest your time
It's a matter of who keeps investing their time on this
I'll show you when the handling goes well
More than anything, I'm the happiest when I'm steaming my milk and seeing that espresso being extracted
You see I put my feelings and emotions into it
Because I'm so used to this now
But the reason I've become good at this
is because I followed this rule, and that's why it always turns out nice
Let me try it. Get in position, mix it like this
And instead of wiggling it, pour the milk over the espresso
It's going back and forth smoothly
Lift it and when the tip appears, like this
You can see, I didn't wiggle vigorously
but how come is my art so sharp?
Now, let me show you
why most people struggle with making their latte art
You might say that you tried hard but like I said that's not what you should be doing
This is the most difficult part because we all want to try our best
But let's practice a little more wisely
When using the body, the art comes out well and it makes us smile
But when we frown?
Then it probably won't come out well
Why does it come out like that? You got to stop frowning
If you can feel yourself frowning, then put your pitcher down and take a deep breath
Relax. Don't try too hard. Let's make the structure and follow it, that's the first thing you need to do
I'm thinking right now. About what?
Since I'm showing this to you guys, I need to wiggle vigorously not like I usually do
Okay let me show you
And if this is one of the things that you stress about
this would likely be the cause of it
so the first thing is to get into that position and let that flow first
Wait and move your arms smoothly, this would be the key point
If you're tightening your body and trying your best means you're basically "exercising" your pitcher
I'm talking to them, 'I'm going to wiggle you hard'
'Sorry, but I have to show this to my students'
Even though these are beautiful materials I'll wiggle vigorously
See how it comes out, be in position and mix then going down
and now wiggle as soon as the milk is poured. Vigorously wiggling it
And then, wow I still tried my best in making a heart
There's a huge difference because I wiggled vigorously
look how not pretty the white is on top of the brown
But if you wait for the white, some work happens on the surface
making the art look sharp
With this one, it messed around with the surface
meaning the milk has sunk into the crema
I put too much force, I didn't put much force. I moved smoothly, I moved vigorously
I observed the milk first, then you'll see so much white
if you didn't, then there isn't much white. Like this
I showed you the simplest but fastest way to check it
When you are wiggling your hand try checking out your pitcher as well
You need to do this before hitting the espresso
So you don't freak out when the milk pours into the espresso
So the rule is set. First, I check my posture
You should be an observer and a supervisor. You shouldn't be a player
You shouldn't put your feelings and emotions into it to make it nicely
We are practicing to follow the rules
You should check if you have the right posture
Check if you are holding the pitcher and cup properly
And check if your shoulders were rolled when milk was poured
When you roll your shoulders, something will definitely be visible
You need see the milk flowing forward
Please watch the layered heart that I drew before
I waited and then started pouring when I saw my milk hitting the espresso
You should check if you have seen the milk moving
Since the white color appeared on the surface, the movement should be very obvious
But I moved without seeing that
the instead of working on the surface
You should remember that it sinks to the bottom of the espresso
Did you observe the milk flowing?
Did you sway your arm in a soft movement like this?
Did you make a consistent rhythm while moving your arm gently?
These are the things you really need to check
And here, this is what you check when you're doing your art
Try checking your handling skills with water
Check if you are moving the same way continually
1cm in front of the milk stream
One more thing, when you grab the pitcher, it's not about moving the whole thing
The milk that falls from this spout, this is the area
this is the area where you should give a light wiggle, as it's liquid it will move without a doubt
So down along the shoulder when you just move the front part of the pitcher the back would move with you
So you don't have to think you have to move the whole thing, do you get what I mean?
Okay, I'll give you a lot of great tips today. There's one more
When we draw something on a cup, as you can see in this video, we tilt it
Why? Because, as I mentioned earlier,
The reason you need to start drawing when milk flows
and floats on the surface of the crema,
is because we pour the milk, tilting the pitcher from the side
We use our shoulder on the side to maintain that position continuously
As a result, the espresso is tilted to the side
and it looks as if someone is blowing wind from the side
As a result, the surface creates waves and wrinkles
When I wiggle it first, it is not the same as blowing from the side
but it's the same as blowing from the top
As the milk need to sink first to float to the surface
this causes significant interference with drawing a sharp art
The picture will appear smaller than the amount of milk I use
One more thing, the symmetry is also not right
The layers become inconsistent. Do you understand?
Today we have learned how to check your handling skills
You need to make sure to check if the water stream remain consistent \
when you are practicing your handling skills with water
To keep the handling consistent, you should roll your shoulders and use upper body more from now on
If you stand too straight, you will fall backward. You should slightly bend and be able to roll sideways
Your arms should be only supporting, it should not become the main focus
Think of wiggling as 2 and rolling your shoulder so the milk flows straight as 8
It should not be done in reverse