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And since I learned this trick, my latte art has improved significantly.

Wasting it was not an option.

A person doing latte art in a white cup

Some of the latte art I made after practicing with soy sauce and dish soap.

When you steam milk, you first need to “stretch” it.

Once you’ve got the right texture, you gotta learn to pour.

The soy sauce plays the role of espresso in this lesson, sitting at the bottom of the cup.

fresh espresso at latte art school

Some of the latte art I made after practicing with soy sauce and dish soap.

Having a dependable milk jug is a huge part of pouring the best latte art.

Instead, by churning out soapy soy after soapy soy (remembering not to drink it!)

you’ll shortcut that process, without wasting any milk.

Steaming milk in the Philips Barista Brew Espresso Machine

After an hour or so of practice, my class had a scarily realistic-looking vat of practice ‘lattes’.

The dish soap and water combination really does mimic milk perfectly.

If anything, pouring milk felt a little easier than pouring soapy water!

Subminimal  FlowTip Milk Jug

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Some of the latte art I made after practicing with soy sauce and dish soap.

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This is the latte art I was able to create after practicing at home. It’s not great, but it’s so much better than when I started!

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