Pac-Man Latte Art

Hi, my name is Nicolas Taylor. I make people’s day by creating beautiful latte art, and in 5 easy steps, you can too. Coffee is the best way to jumpstart your day as it’s the 2nd most popular drink in the world behind water. 400 million cups of coffee are consumed in the United States each day.

Supplies needed:

1 Espresso machine

1 Gallon of milk

8 Grams of coffee beans

1 Metal steam pitcher

1 Cup or mug

First, pour enough cold milk for one cup into your steam pitcher. Usually, for an average 20 oz cup, pour 10-12 oz of milk.

Three terms that will be used in the latte art process

Crema- A layer of creamy tan froth that forms on the top of freshly made espresso

Shots- Refers to the espresso shots that are ground for the latte. This is the "coffee."

Swack and Swirl- Firmly hit or swack the pitcher down on the counter and swirl it in tight controlled circles.

Press the “grind” button on the espresso machine to start the grinding process. Make sure to have the cup under the opening to catch the shots. This machine's grind button is labeled as the "medium" button I'm pushing.

Always start running the shots as soon as pouring the cold milk in the pitcher step is finished. Each shot of espresso should contain between 7 and 8 grams of ground espresso. Luckly for us, our espresso machine measures this for us.

The ideal shot, or time water is pushed through the coffee grinds, is pulled within 21-24 seconds. The espresso tends to be sweeter when pulled close to 24 seconds. But again, the espresso machine we’re using does this for us.

Place the steam wand at the bottom of the pitcher, turn on the steam by pressing the "latte steam" button and raise the wand slowly until it is close to the top of the milk. As the milk continues to rise, lower the pitcher so that the bottom of the steam wand stays about 1 inch away from the top of the milk. Don’t let the milk over stretch or form any big bubbles. This is important to create smooth, velvety milk rather than the foam that rests atop most espresso drinks. Position the wand so the milk makes a “rolling” or “folding” motion. Hold that motion until the milk is hot enough.

To tell when the milk is done steaming, place one finger on the side of the pitcher. Use the skin just under your fingernail and gently "tap" on the side. If the pitcher is a good warm, not burning hot or room temperature, the milk is ready to stop steaming.

Go ahead and pull the steam wand out of the pitcher and quickly clean the steam wand.

Before pouring latte art, swack and swirl the hot steamed pitcher of milk. To do this, gently but firmly swack the pitcher on the counter and swirl it in tight controlled circles. This step pops any bubbles in your milk and makes the milk ready to pour.

Hold the cup at an angle and start the pour letting the milk run down the side of the cup to not break the crema. Pouring too fast will break the crema apart while pouring too slow will cause the foam to be left behind. It is important to not break the crema during this initial pour.

When the cup is nearly three-quarters full, move the pitcher closer to the cup and start moving the pitcher from side to side using gentle but controlled wrist movement to create a circle shape.

Finish your Pac Man by pouring in a quick straight line forward to pull the milk to create the mouth of the Pac-man.

To create the eye, take a wood stirrer and "puncture" the Pac-man art to get the tan-ish espresso to come on top making an eye.

In conclusion, making latte art is a fun, easy, and satisfying way to start your morning.