However, it takes skills and practise to produce artistic and creative latte art.
Junichi Yamaguchi is than man behind the signature ‘Ballerina’ latte art pattern. As coffee connoisseur smilingly away snap photos for their Instagram accounts, Yamaguchi’s greatest satisfaction is just seeing his customers appreciate his work of art.
“I’m happy when I see my customer smiles when they get their cup of latte,” said the 33-year-old Tokyo-based Barista.
Just like his sudden transition from working in an Indian goods company to being a barista, his signature ‘Ballerina’ pattern was also accidental.
“I was making some patterns, drawing freely and out of a sudden, I’ve created the ‘Ballerina’ pattern. It happened by accident as I was just playing around with my imagination,” he said.
Yamaguchi can be considered as a self-taught latte artist. Forget experts and instructors, as it was books and several YouTube videos that became his guide.
It wasn’t an overnight achievement though.
“I practised for everyday for four years and used 10 litres of milk everyday,” he added.
The result?
“It was nothing... there was no latte art,” he said with a smile as he reminisced about his first few days trying this art.
There was a point in time when he wanted to give up. Furthermore, most of his friends and family members were not interested in it as well, so he didn’t get any motivational support from them.
Even though he knew a few latte artists, he preferred to consider them as his rivals. Instead of feeling intimidated, he felt he needed to be on his own in order to create his own piece of art without emulating anyone.
One year on, life took a surprising turn when he managed to create something that could be considered as latte art.
“I couldn’t forget the moment when I created a beautiful latte art. That was the best part. I was really emotional,” he admitted.
That was just the beginning of his foray as a latte artist and played around with different patterns.
His biggest challenge was when he began to enter competitions. He entered the Coffee Fest Latte Art World Championship in Seattle 2011 and was placed second at the same competition which was held in Chicago this year.
He now travels the globe and shares his skills to baristas and coffee connoisseur like his recent trips to The Philippines, Hong Kong and right here in Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
Just like how he found his signature style on his own, he wants his students to develop their own signature latte art designs, too.
“At this point, nobody can do the fine lines like me. That is why the new generation must learn and practise so that they are able to master latte art and create their own signature.”
“They have to enjoy drawing and making latte art. Oh, get a teacher so you don’t have to spend four years like me,” he said with a laugh before ending our conversation.
Let's take a look as Yamaguchi creates some of his signature latte art patterns:
