Plenty of work goes into those moments when you look down at your cup of coffee and are surprised to see an impossibly well crafted milky image.
How well the milk is steamed, how fine the coffee is ground, the quality of the pour — each impacts the result.
“You taste first with your eyes,” said Dillon Mancuso, who’s been in the specialty coffee industry for over six years, about four spent honing his latte art skills. “It’s all about the experience and hospitality.”
Mancuso, 22, this month won The Krampus Kup Latte Art Competition for the second consecutive year. He beat Melody Brown of Cafe Davina in a final matchup in which both designed a swan, leaving the judges to weigh subtle differences.
Mancuso got his start at Starbucks before working at Canvas Coffee Roasters in Newport…
Plenty of work goes into those moments when you look down at your cup of coffee and are surprised to see an impossibly well crafted milky image.
How well the milk is steamed, how fine the coffee is ground, the quality of the pour — each impacts the result.
“You taste first with your eyes,” said Dillon Mancuso, who’s been in the specialty coffee industry for over six years, about four spent honing his latte art skills. “It’s all about the experience and hospitality.”
Mancuso, 22, this month won The Krampus Kup Latte Art Competition for the second consecutive year. He beat Melody Brown of Cafe Davina in a final matchup in which both designed a swan, leaving the judges to weigh subtle differences.
Mancuso got his start at Starbucks before working at Canvas Coffee Roasters in Newport News. Now, he works full time as an anesthesiologist assistant at Sentara, but also runs a coffee pop up called Trio Coffee Bar (@trio.coffeebar on Instagram). He said he didn’t make progress in creating latte art until he learned to “love failure.”
“It wasn’t until I realized I’m not going to learn from perfect pours, I’m going to learn from the ones that failed, that I actually started progressing,” Mancuso said.
Vessel Craft Coffee in Norfolk’s Chelsea neighborhood has hosted the event for three years, inviting baristas from across the region to enter its March Madness-style bracket.
This year’s event had 18 baristas from 13 cafés, the most in its three years. The skill level also took a noticeable step up this year, according to Sarah Cowherd, founder and owner of Vessel.
“(The competition) really allows us to showcase our craft,” Cowherd said. “We believe in coffee and its power to change communities.”
Latte art competitions have been held around the country in recent years, and Cowherd reached out to Barista Magazine and La Marzocco to sponsor the event. The winner won a year’s subscription to Barista Magazine, along with other merch, as well as a gift card to The Stockpot.
The competition also served as a fundraiser. The entrants were encouraged to bring in nonperishable food to be donated to the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, according to Cowherd.
Jon Hargreaves, a longtime Hampton Roads barista who now has a Substack page covering the industry called The Coffee Club, was one of the three judges. Hargreaves said Hampton Roads still has growing to do to develop a coffee industry on par with Richmond, Washington or New York, and events such as latte art contests help push the local culture forward.
He said he’s seen local shops like Vessel, Mea Culpa, Equinox and Three Ships focus on setting a higher bar for coffee in the region.
“There’s just a lot of really great shops around here that are growing in those ways and challenging and pushing themselves to be better on a daily basis,” he said.
Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com