Simply Creative: Decorative

Twitter user Sugi created these detailed latte portraits of famous Japanese anime characters, using only toothpicks, chocolate syrup for the dark areas and cocktail syrups for the other colors.

"I’m able to draw latte art by using an espresso machine, a pitcher for pouring milk, a spoon for drawing the pictures, chocolate sauce and caramel syrup, and lastly a cup."

"Next, I create the art. I First use the espresso machine to make the espresso and foamed milk. I create a caffe latte by pouring the foamed milk onto the espresso. As for the latte art, the technique of cutting through the foamed milk to create the pattern is widely used, but I use an etching technique to create my art and things like chocolate sauce and syrup for bringing color to it. If I have black, red, blue, and yellow chocolate sauce and syrup, I can create the color I want. It’s quite convenient."

"When the bubbles are rough, it’s easy for the drawing to collapse, so the consistency of the milk is extremely important. Because of that, I’m constantly buying and replacing machines (laughs). I constantly went through trial and error with finding one that foams the milk better. Next, I create the latte art by looking at a picture that someone else drew. I choose pictures that will transition well to a round cup, and I carefully think about the composition."

"Basically, I create things that others request. I make three to four per day, but even going at that pace they are neverending. I get lots of requests (laughs). A lot of different things are requested on Twitter, but anime and manga characters are often requested, so much of what I make is character latte art."

"I create latte art because I enjoy making people happy. I even make latte art for my friends and relatives on the weekends. Also, I’m happy to receive positive comments from all kinds of people as soon as I put something on Twitter. Until recently, I had primarily drawn landscapes, which my friends were surprised by, and I enjoyed doing it because it made them happy."