A former barista has told how she creates stunning artistic images in the frothy milk topping her latte coffee.
New Zealand-based artist Huyen Phan, 26, discovered her talent while she was working at a coffee shop in Auckland.
Now Huyen wants to open a school to teach other coffee lovers how to express themselves.
Huyen – originally comes from Vinh, in Vietnam – said she first started creating ‘latte art’ three years ago when she was a full-time barista.
Now solely working with coffee as an artistic hobby, Huyen shares images of her coffee creations on Instagram and TikTok where she has around 70,000 followers.
She told Zenger News: “I started doing latte art three years ago. I used to work full-time as a barista and cafe manager.
“At the moment, I am working as Assistant Operation Manager for the ESS Compass group at Devonport Naval Base (on Auckland’s North Shore in New Zealand) so I am just making coffee and doing latte art as a hobby.
“I sometimes get a lot of requests from people to produce specific design like cats, dogs, couples, parents, and lots of 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 finishing the design.”
Huyen told Zenger News: “I love doing latte art as I like painting as well. I just like art in all aspects of my life, even cooking.
“My very first design that became popular was when I worked at the Monsieur Madame Cafe & Restaurant in Mount Eden (Auckland) and I got to meet a lot of elderly couples.
“I just admired their love and I started making designs about them.
“That’s why you see a lot of couples in my coffee designs. I also use food coloring for my latte art.”
As well as producing art in her coffee, Huyen said she has plans to launch her own training course on making the perfect cup of Joe and topping it off with an artistic flourish.
She said: “At the moment, I plan 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, most cafe owners only look for experienced baristas.
Huyen added: “When I was a student, I struggled to find a place to work so I would like to offer this to other students so they don’t have the same teething problems I did.”
