Hey coffee friends, and welcome to our April Café Session! Spring is finally settling in here in Denver, and it’s been just nice enough lately to actually enjoy your coffee outside without needing to carry a backup jacket. Fingers crossed we can make it a little longer without hail season showing up and wreaking havoc—so far, so good, but we all know Denver loves a good surprise storm.
April also means playoff season is heating up, and both the Avs and the Nuggets are looking strong so far into this the postseason. It’s pretty awesome to have both teams making solid runs at the same time—Denver sports fans definitely have a lot to be excited about right now!
In this month’s café session, we’re diving into the mysteries behind why coffee shop coffee somehow always tastes better than even the fanciest at-home setups—and taking a look at the art (literally) of latte art. So whether you’re enjoying your coffee basking in the sun or taking it on a springtime walk, grab your drink and let’s get into it. Cheers to sunshine, playoffs, and hopefully no hail (yet)!
This one took some digging on my end. When I first started working in coffee shops, we were taught to froth the milk, let it settle, and scoop the foam onto the latté with a spoon—about half an inch thick. Nowadays, baristas hardly touch a spoon except to stir in flavors. In fact, a friend of mine I worked with for years, Barista Wayne, once told me using a spoon to craft a latté was cheating. When he applied to work at the coffee shop I managed, he even included photos of his latté art on his résumé, ranging from the classic rosetta to hand-poured swans. But where, when, and how did baristas start turning coffee into a canvas?
Much like the legend of Kaldi, the Ethiopian shepherd who discovered coffee cherries, there’s actually a widely accepted story about how latté art came to be. Although it may be difficult to trace latté art's origins, in the coffee world, latté art’s roots point back to Seattle in the 1980s and a man named David Schomer.
The story goes that Schomer and a colleague—who had grown up in northern Italy—ran an espresso cart on Union Street in Seattle. They began experimenting with milk pouring and noticed they could create patterns in the contrast between the milk and espresso. Schomer’s colleague proclaimed he hadn’t seen anything like it since his childhood in Turin. That first recognizable design became known as the "rosetta," or the leafy shape you’ll often find floating on top of your latté.
David Schomer later opened Espresso Vivace, where he offered a course called "Caffè Latté Art" for baristas of all skill levels, teaching them how to perfect their milk pour to create designs. Through this course, students like Lisa Persons in 1989 helped shape the art form even further—she perfected pouring a heart and later adapted it into the rosetta.
It’s wild to think about how far milk-pouring technique has come, even just in the 15 years I’ve spent working in coffee shops. As I mentioned earlier, we used to just scoop froth onto drinks, but today, each latté is steamed to order. We use smaller pitchers, carefully measure the milk, and focus on crafting the perfect microfoam for a flawless pour.
Of course, it’s no easy feat—temperature, milk texture, fat content, and steaming method all play a role in whether your coffee becomes a blank canvas or a masterpiece. But we can definitely thank David Schomer and his colleagues for creating a workplace that turned baristas into artists.
As one barista who worked for me back in 2010 once said, "Drinks just taste better when someone else makes them for you." Over the years, I’ve dialed in the perfect cup of coffee for myself—an 8oz iced latté with half a pump of chocolate—but somehow, it always tasted better when someone else offered to make it. Maybe it’s because you’re not the one doing the work; you can simply sit back and enjoy the experience. Honestly, that’s part of why we all keep going back to our favorite local coffee shops.
But beyond the psychological boost of being served, there are some very real reasons coffee shop coffee often tastes better. Plain and simple: commercial equipment is a game-changer. Coffee shops have all the right tools to craft a consistently delicious cup. Everything is finely tuned, almost like a car’s engine—except maybe even trickier to maintain. The tiny pipes, the pressure systems, the steam wands—it’s all built to produce the perfect espresso shot and silky milk every single time.
I always tell people who ask about buying an at-home espresso machine: you get what you pay for. Spend $200, and expect to replace it after just a few years. There’s a reason commercial espresso machines get serviced even more often than most people change their car’s oil—and frankly, many espresso machines are worth more than the car itself! A high-end commercial espresso machine can easily cost anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000—and that’s no exaggeration.
Coffee shops also have the advantage of getting the freshest beans possible, often roasted just a day or two before they’re delivered. Even the freshest retail beans can’t quite match that turnaround time. Plus, shops are always the first to discover and adopt new brewing methods, techniques, and tools to elevate your favorite drinks.
At the end of the day though, there’s more to it than just equipment and technique. Sometimes, the real magic is in the experience: friendly conversation with your favorite barista, the comforting hum of the café, and the feeling of being part of a community. And honestly? That’s something no amount of gadgets at home can replace.
Speaking of community, we were recently named an expert in a Redfin article! Check it out here: Seattle vs Denver: Which City is Right For You? | Redfin, a parent company of Rent.