Little Red Riding Hood latte art by Jibbi Little

What great latte art you have. All the better to drink you with.
Jibbi Little presents her take on a classic fable.

The story of Little Red Riding Hood always stuck with me as a child.

Most people know the basics: a young girl goes to visit her grandmother, takes a shortcut through the woods, and encounters the Big Bad Wolf. She tells the hungry canine where she’s going, who beats her there and impersonates her grandmother. In most versions of the story, the wolf then eats Little Red Riding Hood.

The moral for children is to not talk to strangers, though I see a second lesson hidden in the beginning. Whether on a trip to a relative or learning a skill like latte art, shortcuts are rarely the best way to go about things and often don’t pay off in the long run.

Hard work does, however, and it took me to the World Latte Art Championship earlier this year. But that didn’t happen overnight. It was a long journey and Little Red Riding Hood reminded me why not to take the easy route.

Inspired by this classic fable, I presented this design at the 2019 Central Region Latte Art Championship, and it provided the base for the Mary Poppins pattern I took to the national and world championships.

Though the pattern looks complex, it’s actually made using several simple techniques. The true difficulty in this design lies in achieving the correct size and spacing to land that visual appeal.

If the rosettas making the hair are uneven, or the long drag forming the hood is too thin, the pattern simply won’t look right. Because these are easy mistakes to make, it can also be tough to repeat the design time after time.

The easiest way to master this pattern – like many things in life – is to practice, stay on the correct path, and don’t mistake a wolf for your grandmother.

This article appears in the October 2019 edition of BeanScene Magazine. Subscribe HERE.

Jibbi Little’s Little Red Riding Hood

Step 1

Build your base with the handle at two o’clock.

Step 2

At eight o’clock, drag two small loops to form a hollow heart pointing towards the centre of the cup.

Step 3

Pour an eight-leaf rosetta from the centre of the cup to the bottom and pull through.

Step 4

Pour a second rosetta from the centre of the cup to 10 o’clock.

Step 5

From here, drag a line across the top of the cup curving in around two o’clock and ending with a small spiral. This should resemble a question mark.

Step 6

Pour a figure eight shape in the space between this last line and the rosetta.

Step 7

On other side of rosetta, from the point you started the question mark, drag a short line ending with a curve at nine o’clock, then another from here to the point of the heart.