Las Vegas Weekly

Coffee topped with art

Photo: Ben Helfen

So a cup of coffee isn’t just a caffeine tank. Oh no. The top of any truly loved coffee beverage is a canvass, a small but alluring place for the artiste/barista to create a thing of visual beauty. Maybe you’ve had a latte and noticed the dainty swirl made by the frothy white in the coffee? There’s way more to it than swirls. Skilled baristas make patterns, leaves, snowflakes, Curious George faces, lions and, I wish I hadn’t see this in an online latte-art gallery, David Carradine faces.

Lucky for us, if you haven’t slurped up the visual splendor of latte art, your opportunity awaits. Forty baristas from all over the world—Los Angeles, Tokyo, London and more—are lined up to compete with foam-based art at the Las Vegas Convention Center, at the 8th annual Millrock Free Pour Latte Art Championship June 12-14.

The event is sponsored by Coffee Fest, and the winner takes home $5,000 for concocting the most fabulous crema art in four categories: aesthetic beauty, color infusion, definition and creativity—in five minutes or less. It’s a trade show for pros, but it’s free to the public if you want to learn a little latte art.