Three-time Australian Latte Art Champion Victor Vu shares the steps to recreate the popular monkey king design.
This design was first created by Hill Wang in China and has been reproduced thousands of times by baristas around the world, including Victor.
“It’s a very popular pour because it looks quite realistic. A lot of customers recognise it too, so it’s a great to design to practise in a café setting,” he says.
The monkey king design draws on a number of latte art skills, including pouring rosettas and dragging the milk to form the features of the monkey’s face. Victor says it requires quite a lot of practice to get it right but is a crowd-pleaser once it’s been finessed.
While Victor earned his third Australian Latte Art Champion crown in March, he won’t be attending the World Championship in Geneva in June due to the imminent arrival of his first child(ren – Victor is expecting twins). Runner up and colleague Ming Wan will be representing Australia in his place, with Victor securing a place in the 2026 World Championships, which will be held in San Diego, United States.
“I’m helping Ming to train for the World Championships – I’m really confident in his abilities and know he’ll do really well,” says Victor.
“I’ll be watching and cheering him on from home.”
Victor Vu’s Monkey King
Step 1
Using a six-ounce cup, start mixing the milk with the coffee until the cup is around a third full.
Step 2
From the nine o’clock position, pour a 12-leaf rosetta down the left-hand curve of the cup.
Step 3
To the right of the first rosetta, pour a shorter 10-leaf rosetta.
Step 4
Turn the handle of the cup to three o’clock, from the 12 o’clock position pour a small eight-leaf rosetta to form the monkey’s forehead.
Step 5
Pour another eight-leaf rosetta under that, then using a continuous pour pull up around the forehead to the top of the cup to form the crown.
Step 6
From the same point of the final rosetta, drag a V-shape to form the inner face, then at the end reverse and go back over the V-shape in the opposite direction. Still using the continuous pour, drag down from the end of the V to form the nose.
Step 7
Using dry foam, form the shape of the mouth in a curve under the nose. At the top of the rosettas, form a C-curve with dry foam for the ear.
Step 8
Use the dry foam to drop three dots for the crown. And finally, a dot between the V for the eye.
