The new Australian Latte Art Champion and BeanScene Espresso Yourself columnist Victor Vu flies us to neverland with his take on the iconic Peter Pan.
After more than a year of waiting, I couldn’t have been more excited to compete in (let alone win) the 2020 Australian Pauls Professional Latte Art Championship.
2020 was a tough year for many of us in the coffee industry. Our cafés went empty, our health and livelihoods were put at risk, and we could no longer see the people important to us. It took strength, resilience, and positivity to get through it. These are themes I chose to take to the national stage.
Peter Pan is a cheeky guy who never grows up and always has a smile on his face. I hoped it would put a smile of the judges’ faces too.
This is an advanced latte art pattern and not something you’re likely to get on the first try. First off, there are a number of rosettas. You’ll need a steady hand and good idea of spacing to pull these off.
Then the etching. There are elements of this design you just can’t do free pour, especially the detail of the face, which you want to match the cartoon as closely as possible. Etching is a great way to add detail, particularly to the hat and feather in Peter’s cap.
You also need an understanding of how certain movements, strokes, and swirls will impact the rest of your design. Several times your etching will finish off elements of the design you began at the start of the pattern.
It took me a long time to create this pattern and even more time to perfect it, so don’t get frustrated if you can’t master it right away. Peter Pan might not age, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn and grow.
This article appears in the June 2021 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
Victor Vu’s Peter Pan
Step 1
Build your base with the handle at 12 o’clock. From just above the centre of the cup, pour an eight-left rosetta toward the right edge of the cup.
Step 2
Turn the handle to six o’clock, and from the centre of the cup, pour a nine-leaf rosetta to the right edge.
Step 3
Turn the handle to three o’clock. Above the bottom rosetta, pour two six-leaf rosettas pointing towards the handle. On the other side of the top rosetta, pour two symmetrical six-leaf rosettas.
Step 4
In the bottom right corner, pour an elf ear, like a shark fin sticking out of the first rosetta. From the bottom of the leftmost rosetta, begin dragging the face, curving inwards at first before curving along the rim to connect to the bottom rosetta.
Step 5
Now for the etching. From the leftmost rosetta, etch a curved line up through the tip of the top rosetta. Etch a line from the rightmost rosetta that connects on the top, just before reaching the top rosetta.
Step 6
Etch a border around the topmost rosetta, curving leftwards at the top end giving the tip a swirling look.
Step 7
For the face, etch two curves pointing toward the centre of the face for eyebrows. Etch two drops of foam inside these curves for eyes. Use brown foam from the side of the cup to etch in small pupils.
Step 8
Back to milk foam etching, draw a small, pointed nose below where the two eyebrows meet, followed by a wide- open smile. Using coffee foam again, pull a line through the centre rosetta to complete the feather in his cap.
