DAY 88

UNEXPECTED ART FORMS

Latte Art

A GLOBAL PHENOMENON

The average American drinks a total of 200 gallons of coffee each year*. And, in his lifetime, will accidentally eat seven spiders while sleeping. And will quote fourteen made-up statistics every month. Or something like that.

Whatever the actual figure is, there’s no denying that Americans drink a lot of coffee. Beyond the borders of this country as well, the ubiquitous latte or cappuccino has become a constant factor in a world increasingly connected by a shared, globalized culture.

The practice of drawing in the foam atop a latte has spread to practically every continent on the planet. A mushrooming number of cafés, from Moscow to Tokyo, now provide this drinkable art to their patrons, producing baristas who go on to win international competitions.

Flowers, rosettes, leafy configurations, and wild animals emerge from the frothy canvas, formed by pouring the steaming milk into the cup and using various styli to manipulate the espresso. Syrup is sometimes added for additional detail.

As cultural forms become globalized, one worldwide trend appears to have emerged in conjunction with them—the tendency to transcend practicality, producing non-pragmatic beauty in something as mundane as a morning cup of coffee. —DJS