Latte art milk has been poured, rather than during the pour. Some controversy exists within the coffee community as to whether or not there is excessive focus on latte art amongst baristas. The argument is that too much focus on the superficial appearance of a drink leads some to ignore more important issues, such as taste. This is especially relevant with new baristas. There are two main types of latte art: free pouring (pattern created during the pour) and etching (using a tool to create a pattern after the pour). Free pouring is far more common in American cafés, and requires little
Latte art geometric shapes to complicated drawings, such as crosshatching, images of animals and flowers, and are generally performed with a coffee stirrer of some sort. Etched latte art typically has a shorter lifespan than free poured latte art as the foam dissolves into the latte more quickly. A crude but quick method with cappuccino is to pour chocolate powder through a metal cutout in which an image, typically a flower, has been incised. This is favoured by chain coffee shops like Costa where speed is of the essence when serving large numbers of clients during peak times. Latte art is made