Amy Zhang of Archer Specialty Coffee Roasters in Pinkenba, Queensland is the 2022 Australian Latte Champion.
Ming Wan of Code Black Coffee won runner up and Darcy Lillis-Jones of Axil Coffee Roasters placed third at the ASCA National Championship, which took place from 17 to 20 August at the Melbourne Meat Market in North Melbourne, Victoria.
“It’s like a dream, I can’t believe it. I thought maybe I’d place second or third but not first because I knew I had made a mistake on stage. Just like the Pumbaa character in my latte design that sings ‘hakuna matata’ in the movie The Lion King, symbolising ‘no worries’, I also said to myself ‘no worries, I can do this’. It helped me calm down and it gave me the power to push myself on stage,” Amy says.
Using title sponsor Riverina Fresh milk for her three patterns, Amy’s first free pour latte art design was the huggin’ bear, which she established for the ASCA Northern Region Latte Art competition. To take her national routine one step further, and produce something even more complicated, Amy created an ostrich pattern for her other free pour latte art, design based on a Disney character. Her third pattern with etching was the Pumbaa face, the popular The Lion King character.
“This is my favourite pattern of the three designs. It’s very realistic, and it makes people happy to see it in the cup,” Amy says.
Amy says she put a lot of focus on designing patterns with a high level of detail and complexity, but then the biggest challenge on stage, was completing her designs within the allocated timeframe.
“I challenged myself on stage, and knew I could do it,” Amy says.
Amy says she always thinks about designs that could be good latte art patterns. She first draws the pattern, finds a connection to the design, then identifies how to create more detail to make the features more realistic.
“You try and fail, but eventually you prevail. I always ask my friends, family and work colleagues for feedback on how I can improve. Then it’s all about trying to achieve the patterns in the time frame on stage,” she says.
Amy thanks her bosses Will and Isaac at Archer Specialty Coffee Roasters for supporting her in all aspects of her competition preparation, as well as he boss Richard Qian at Bapman in Garden City. Amy says she also really appreciates the efforts of her coach Sarah Jin, her friends, and Timothy Sweet from Sanremo Australia for his advice and finding a venue to practice in Melbourne.
Amy will now prepare for the World Latte Art Championship, taking place in Taipei, Taiwan from 17 to 20 November, 2023.
“I still can’t believe it. I haven’t been to Taipei before. It’ll be ae chance to stand on a bigger stand amongst the best latte artists in the world. I’m so excited. I can’t wait,” Amy says.
