Christmas Latte Art: Three Festive Tutorials

How to become a barista at home- Christmas Edition!

Bring festive joy to your coffees with Christmas latte art! From a foamy Snowman, Christmas Tree, or Stocking etched into the top of your favourite brew, you are bound to impress your friends, family, and even yourself. Trust us, with coffee- the sky is the limit. There are always exciting new things to learn, and letting your creative juices flow is a great starting point. With our step-by-step guides to three fabulous Christmas latte arts, you will be a barista in the making! There’s no pressure to be perfect. Even if the snowman looks like he’s melting or the Christmas Tree looks like a blob, you can relax knowing your coffee will still taste uber-beautiful.

Snowman

Let’s start with an easy one: the humble snowman! This latte art is surprisingly straightforward. Seriously, we promise! This isn’t one of those times when something says it’s easy, like building IKEA furniture, then suddenly it’s been 2 hours, and you aren’t past the first stage (we’ve all been there!). It starts with the basics; you only need a coffee brewed to your preference and a way to froth your milk!

Step 1- Brew your coffee.

Step 2- Add your preferred volume of milk to your milk jug or your milk frothing device. If you don’t like lots of milk in your brew, don’t worry- you only need enough to make a good amount of foam!

Step 3- Get frothing!! You are looking for a good amount of bubbles on top, as this is what we will use to make up the snowman’s body.

Step 4- Tap your milk jug onto the surface to remove larger bubbles.

Step 5- Use a spoon to hold back the foam as you pour. You want the milk to mix with your coffee, but we want to keep the foam in the jug.

Step 6- Once you have added your desired amount of milk, use a spoon and scoop up some of the foam. You want to create a trio of white circles that decrease in size to make the snowman’s body. To start, create a medium-sized circle of the frothy milk at the base of your mug to create the bottom of the snowman. Reduce the amount of foam and place it on top of that bottom section to make his torso. Lastly, let’s give this snowman a head, reducing the size again, dollop one last time. Do you see the snowman coming to life now?

Step 7- Finally, let’s give this chap some features! Using the end of a spoon, you can get some of the remaining foam out of your jug and drag it out from the torso to create some arms! Then, wipe the end of the spoon before going back and forth to stop these two colours from mixing, and dip into the surrounding light brown area of coffee. Use this to dot on the body to create buttons.

And just like that, there he is! We’ve named ours Frosty (very original, we know!)

Christmas Tree

Next up on our festive adventure, we are creating an essential Christmas symbol. No, it’s not Terry’s chocolate orange- we are talking about the tree! You can deny Christmas all you want, but once that tree is up in your house, you must embrace it- Christmas is coming! There’s something magical about bringing your baubles out of storage, detangling your fairy lights, and finally flicking the switch to get those lights twinkling. Christmas wouldn’t be the same without it. After all, where would Santa put our presents if there was no tree? So, let’s channel some of this magic into some awesome Christmas latte art, shall we?

Step 1- Prep your coffee.

Step 2- Pour your preferred amount of milk into your milk jug/frothing device.

Step 3- Get frothing!

Step 4- Give your milk jug a few hits on your work surface to remove larger bubbles. Once complete, you are ready to pour! You want the milk to mix with your coffee, but use a spoon to hold back the foam.

Step 5- You are more or less repeating the same process you did for the snowman. We first want to create two circles, decreasing in size, on top of each other—however, this time, you want them to be smaller and relatively centralised within the cup. Leave some space beneath the bottom circle to create a smaller circle that can be the tree stump.

Step 6- Grab a spoon or cocktail stick; we need to turn these circles into triangles! You want to use the end of the spoon or cocktail stick to manipulate the circle’s edges, making them straighter and pointier to create the tree shape. This process can be fiddly, but just keep at it! Make sure you keep wiping your tool so it doesn’t get any of the brown coffee on it accidentally.

Step 7- Using your spoon or stick, drag that final small base circle to create a line. This will be the tree stump! Your foamy festive tree is now complete! If you want to add some baubles, you can dab on some of the brown foam from the coffee.

Stocking

We are challenging you with a stocking design for the finale of this Christmas latte art tutorial. Admittedly, this is the most difficult of the three, but don’t be intimidated! You never know until you try, and like we said before, it will always taste good regardless of what it looks like!

Step 1- Brew your coffee

Step 2- Pour your preferred amount of milk into your milk jug/frothing device.

Step 3- Ready, steady, FROTH!

Step 4- Give your milk jug a few hits on your work surface to remove larger bubbles. Once complete, you are ready to pour! You want the milk to mix with your coffee, but use a spoon to hold back the foam.

Step 5- You will make two foam circles similar to the sizes, using a spoon like before. If you look at the cup like a clock, you want one at 7 and one at 12. These are the ‘sock’ part of the stocking. You then use a spoon to direct a foam line to connect the two diagonally. Don’t worry if this looks messy; you can use the end of a spoon or cocktail stick to neaten it up.

Step 6- You then retake a spoonful of foam to create the fluffy bit of the stocking above the sock section. Draw a line horizontally across, and tidy up if needed. You can then use a cocktail stick or the end of a spoon to draw out a string loop. This gives the impression that it is hanging!

Step 7- This last step can be a bit fiddly- adding the sock details! You can use the brown coffee to create a sock’s heel and toe section. This helps bring the stocking to life but is not a necessity. Dip the end of your spoon or cocktail stick into the browner foam, and draw these arches across the sock.

Hurrah! Now you know how to make incredible Christmas Latte Art. Why not give them a go and leave your friends speechless with your festive delights? In no time, you’ll be a barista extraordinaire, all from the comfort of your home! Merry Christmas!

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