Former barista teaches fans how to make her stunning coffee creations

A former barista has revealed how she creates stunning artistic images in the frothed milk on her latte coffee.

New Zealand artist Huyen Phan, 26, discovered her talent working in a café in Auckland.

Now Phan wants to open a school to teach other coffee lovers how to express themselves.

Phan, who is originally from Vinh, Vietnam, says she started creating “latte art” three years ago as a full-time barista.

Now Phan works exclusively with coffee as an artistic hobby and shares pictures of her coffee creations on Instagram and TikTok, where she has around 70,000 followers.

She told Zenger News, “I started latte art three years ago. I used to work full-time as a barista and cafe manager.

“Right now I’m working as an Assistant Operations Manager for the ESS Compass Group at Devonport Naval Base (on the north coast of Auckland in New Zealand) so I just make coffee and latte art as a hobby.

“I sometimes get a lot of requests from people to produce certain designs like cats, dogs, couples, parents and many other designs.”

She added, “The time it takes to produce each design varies, but one thing is for sure, the coffee is still hot after the design is complete.”

Phan told Zenger News, “I love making latte art as I also love to paint. I just love art in all aspects of my life, even cooking.

“My very first design to become popular was when I was working at the Monsieur Madame Cafe & Restaurant in Mount Eden (Auckland) and met many older couples.

“I just admired her love and started making designs about her.”

“That’s why you see a lot of couples in my coffee designs. I also use food coloring on my latte art.”

In addition to making art in her coffee, Phan plans to start her own training course on making the perfect cup of coffee and top it off with an artistic flourish.

She said: “Right now I’m planning to start a class and teach others how to make coffee and latte art.

“It would be useful for students who want to work in a coffee shop. The problem is that most cafe owners are only looking for experienced baristas.

Phan added, “When I was a student, I struggled to find a job, so I want to offer this to other students so they don’t have the same teething problems as me.”

This story was provided to Newsweek by Zenger News.