N.B. This is no longer actually the show of artwork on the wall, nor has it been for over a year, but we left this page as it is, because coding a new webpage in the old handwritten html style we use is actually pretty time consuming! We may revamp this page in the future, time permitting

Your baristas at the Atomic Cafe have long prided themselves for making what we esteem to be the best coffees found anywhere on the North Shore. Recently, they have taken this up another level with their pursuit of latte art, featured in the photographs of this show.

Latte art entails an exacting perfection from a barista, in that the decorations featured can only be accomplished when all the elements of one’s drink preperation are executed with precision and care. If a barista pulls a bad shot with weak crema (the rich brown layer of emulsified oils on top of an espresso) then milk will simply overpower the espresso yeilding both weak taste and contrast between the milk-foam and espresso crema.

Similarly, in order to have milk that can be used for creating such patterns, a barista needs to know how to literally whip the milk while steaming it so that the foam created in the process has both a sweet taste (which one achieves by finding the temperature at which lactose is optimally soluble) and a creamy texture. This improves the mouthfeel of your beverage, while also yielding the smoothly textured foam that can be used to draw intricate patterns.

Even the way a barista pours the milk is crucial in achieving latte art. He or she needs to be able to pour a certain portion of the milk-foam so that the majority of it falls beneath the espresso crema. It looks like there’s less foam than you’d expect on a latte, but in fact there’s plenty just below the surface, while just enough foam has been held back to be used in drawing, on top of the espresso crema, the patterns that make the drinks of this show so beautiful.

Creating these drinks is a true culinary art, and we proudly boast that we put in an extra effort in making them. While the latte art patterns don’t, in themselves, make a drink taste better, they do offer you a visual assurance that we understand and love our work and that we are committed to quality in every cup that we hand over the counter to you.