Eternity in a Latte

I recently started barista training at a coffee shop in the old Guatemalan town of Antigua. Which means that for the past three weeks I have spent a lot of physical and mental energy on practicing and being obsessed with latte art. Why latte art? Because after an hour of pouring drink after drink, and drinking drink after drink, the act of pouring a rosetta with silky steamed milk into the crema of a freshly pulled espresso combines with the overdose of caffeine in my veins and ends in a twitch kind-of-thing that starts in my right hand and eventually takes over my entire body and mind. There is no escaping latte art once you have started. The pleasure of a beautiful pour is on the brink of an existence that you experienced once but your over caffeinated hands won’t let you into again. At least for this latte. Drink the 8oz with the uneven heart. Pull another double shot. Steam the milk. Feel the calm as your mind momentarily forgets how many espresso drinks you have had in the last hour. Tap. Swirl. Breath. Pour.

Barista training is both a war and a dance. And so much fun.

But why make a latte into art? The pragmatist wins this argument with an appeal to science and an oh so out of fashion quip about certainty. If science says the drink is exactly the same whether it has a shapeless cloud or a vivid white tulip in the middle of the caramel colored crema who is our sensory self to say anything different? The idealist replies with an out of context T.S. Eliot quote and continues to care less and less about arguments as his nose and mouth get closer to the drink which his eyes are already devouring.

As I was reading up on the subject of being a good barista I was inspired by one writers perspective on serving an artful latte to a customer. Their reason for serving drinks with art is the possibility that when someone experiences something as regular as their daily caffeine fix transformed into a small work of art that person could for a moment forget their worldly cares and maybe just for that moment be open to the idea of beauty. And who knows where the idea of beauty can lead the unsuspecting human?

As someone who believes in the ever new love of a creator for his creation, I think beauty can lead to something very important.  If a person with the troubles of the world looks at something as simple as a latte with a rosetta and wonders why something as silly as that can make them feel the slightest tinge of joy they may have taken the first step towards finding an eternal truth which will set them free. Maybe latte art is an important subject that has more eternal significance than we are willing to give it. Or maybe it’s pointless, I don’t know. Much of art seems to be lost in the question, what is it about? So for a second I want to have an open mind to this heavenly beverage sitting in front of me and allow beauty to lead me to its source.

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