Making Coffee Art

I've been making drawings in my wife's coffee for a while now, and she posts the best on Facebook. Recently, a few people have asked how I do it. Here's a video of the process so you can make your own.

To make your own, you will need the items in this picture:

• Espresso maker (including the tamper)
• Espresso
• Low fat milk
• 1 wide mouth coffee cup
• 1 deep coffee cup
• 1 normal coffee cup
• Paper towel
• Spoon
• Flat toothpicks
• Coffee maker and coffee (optional)
• Sugar (optional)

1. Make the espresso or coffee. Gail likes coffee as the base, but you could use a cup of espresso if you prefer. Fill the wide mouth cup about half full with the coffee or espresso. Sweeten it as you like. This is the final serving cup.

2. Make the espresso in a separate normal coffee cup. You need it for the dark foamy stuff on the top. This is called crema. I drink the remaining espresso when the art is done.

3. Make the milk foam in the deep coffee cup. Surprisingly, we find that low fat milk foams better than whole milk. You can sweeten the milk a little before foaming if you like.

4. When you have the coffee, espresso and foam ready, gather them together with your spoon, toothpick and paper towel.

5. Make the "canvas" by pouring and spooning the foamy milk into the wide mouth coffee cup over your coffee or espresso and smoothing it with the back of the spoon.

6. Wipe the spoon clean with the paper towel.

7. Use the spoon to skim some of crema off the top of the espresso to use as the "paint." Use the spoon as a thick paintbrush or the toothpick as a fine paintbrush. I like the flat toothpicks because one side is wider than the other, so I get two thicknesses.

8. If you want to highlight the image, you can use some leftover foam for white highlights like eyes, or mix the crema with milk foam to get a medium tone.

9. Don't forget to take a picture and share it with me.