"Welcome to Five Senses Coffee"

It’s time to get your latte art cranking. You might have seen some of the awesome art that we’ve turned out over the years? Well, we reckon it’s high time you guys show us what you’re made of, so we’ve decided to hold our very first latte art competition, for all you home baristi.

To encourage those of you who shy away from fame, fortune and public scrutiny, we’re offering a little sweetener; the best latte art shot will win a set of ACF cups and a shiny new Reg Barber.

The rules …

1. Your photo must have the Five Senses logo somewhere in the frame. No, we’re not shameless self promoters. We just want to make sure that nobody’s tempted to take credit for someone else’s work, or to use some of the latte art they produced back in 2006.
2. Email entries to competition@fivesenses.com.au by Friday, 21 August 2009. The winner will be announced in the September edition of Home Barista. All entries will be published on Flickr.
3. Entries will be judged on both the difficulty of the design, and the quality and appeal of the art.
4. This competition is for home baristas only, so if you’re a professional barista, sorry, you’re not eligible to enter.

Our resident latte art expert, Kimbo, is all set to play the judge and pick a winner. Kim’s generously imparted a couple of tips to help you out:

• Correctly textured milk is vital to producing great latte art.
• Rather than fluking a brilliant rosetta once, try to replicate the same design multiple times.
• Don’t be afraid to experiment. Have a look at the huge variety of latte art designs on the web, watch the pros for free on YouTube, or spy on your favourite barista to see how he or she does it.
• The biggest tip of all? Practice, practice, practice!

Good luck! Don’t forget to grab an extra carton of milk on the way home; you’re probably going to need it.