Jibbi Little shares a latte art design as tricky as getting a camel through the eye of a needle.
Like how camels keep emergency supplies in the humps on their backs, I’m glad I had this latte art pattern up my sleeve. My tenure as the current Australian Latte Art Champion has received a temporary extension, giving me the opportunity to share another fun design.
The camel is an odd-looking animal, with distinctive features like its long and skinny legs, bulbous nose, and, of course, its iconic humps. It’s been called a horse made by committee, meaning people could not agree on anything and kept adding ideas to the animal. This makes it a prime subject for latte art.
A large part of this latte art design is just pouring and dragging, which may sound simple, but requires an eye for spacing and a lot of fine control. Pointed humps and short legs are as unappealing on a latte art design as they’d be on a real camel, but put it altogether and I think you’ll be quite impressed with the end result.
One lone rosetta is used to add a bit of ‘texture’ to the body of the camel. A second, optional rosetta can be poured along the bottom of the design to create the ground.
The most difficult part of this design is drawing the neck, head, and ear in a single, smooth, continuous motion. This takes steady hands, strong technique, and a good awareness of space in the cup. It’s difficult to put this step into words, so try to use the images as a guide.
While it’s unfortunate the 2020 Australian Latte Art Championship had to be postponed, it has given me and my competitors more time to perfect our designs. I can’t wait to share these when the time is right and we’re gasping over latte art designs and taking endless images once again.
If you’ve been looking for a distraction, holding out for a new latte art design to work on, or utterly bored in isolation, hopefully this will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
This article appears in the June 2020 edition of BeanScene Magazine. Subscribe HERE.
Jibbi Little’s Camel
Step 1
Build your base with the handle at three o’clock.
Step 2
Just right from the centre of the cup, pour an “M” shape and pull through at the end past the handle of the cup.
Step 3
Pour a nine-leaf rosetta from the centre of the cup to the handle, ending just after crossing the “M”, and pull through to link up at the other end.
Step 4
At the beginning point of the first rosetta, pour a thin line curve outward, forming the first front leg.
Step 5
From the same starting point, drag another line directly downwards, forming the second front leg.
Step 6
Form the neck with another line curving outwards. Once in-line with where you started, loop your pour to form the face leaving space for the eye.
Step 7
In the same motion, end with a second, smaller loop for the ear.
Step 8
Drop a small amount of foam at the front of the face to form the nose.