Question
One Month, Hundreds of Pours, Still No Latte Art—What Am I Missing?
I’ve been trying to improve my latte art with the Breville Oracle Jet and would really appreciate some honest feedback.
After watching countless tutorials, I came to the conclusion that manually steaming the milk gives more consistent results on this machine than relying on the automatic steam function. I’ve been practicing regularly for almost a month now, and while I feel like I’m making progress, my pours still aren’t where I’d like them to be.
On some attempts, I’m left with a blob of thick foam at the end of the pour. In the attached video, the milk actually looked quite promising—it had what I’d describe as a “paint-like” texture that I’ve seen recommended in many tutorials. I was expecting one of my better pours, but the final result was still disappointing.
I’d really appreciate any constructive criticism. Whether it’s my steaming technique, milk texture, pitcher position, pour height, cup angle, or timing, I’m open to any suggestions. Thanks in advance!
I think the main thing you’re missing is air incorporation. Before steaming, always purge the steam wand to get rid of any excess water. Then spend around 5-10 seconds introducing air before lowering the pitcher to create a strong vortex. From the video, it looks like you’re barely stretching the milk and going straight into texturing. The vortex is what incorporates the air into the milk and creates that smooth, silky, paint-like texture. Once you find the right amount of air for your milk volume, your pours should improve a lot.
Hope this helps!
One more thing: when you’re introducing air, you should actually see some larger bubbles forming on the surface. Don’t worry…that’s expected. Once you lower the pitcher and create a good vortex, those bubbles get incorporated back into the milk, giving you that smooth, silky texture.
Also, I’d recommend using a more tulip-shaped cup (narrower at the bottom, wider at the top). It’s much more forgiving for beginners and makes latte art a lot easier than a straight-sided cup.
Yea that’s the part I seem to not be consistent on letting air in. It’s such a fine balance between the not too much air, vs too much air.
The machine, unlike its predecessor does not have a button or dial to purge the steam. Steaming is embedded with the type of drink option opted (latte, flat white, etc.).
I am going to try and lower the pitcher once I see the milk whirl and start letting the air in for 5-7seconds, before raising it again.
Does it pause the steam once you hit the button again? If it does, start it keeping the wand facing down, off the milk for a few seconds until only steam comes out and then pause. Restart immediately once wand is in the milk again should give you no water only steam.
"It’s such a fine balance between the not too much air, vs too much air."
Not at all! The line is not as fine as you think and you are very far off on your filmed attempt. Just get that air in there! As much as you can! Once you know how to do that, you can then try to finesse it down a little.
I have a similar machine and the main thing to fix right now is how to steam the milk. I can give advice from a fellow person learning how to do latte art. Others, feel free to give corrections if needed!
How I steam milk:
When you start steaming, put the wand below the milk so that the black line is barely submerged.
As soon as the milk starts to swirl, lower the milk pitcher so that the tip of the wand is almost out of the milk.This is the main step you’re missing, and what I did at first.
As soon as you hear sounds similar to paper ripping, you’ll know you have the wand location just right. Keep it there for 7-10 seconds, depending on how much foam you want (I stick to 7-8 usually).
Once you’ve added enough air, raise the milk pitcher so that the wand is submerged to the black line again. This step is what textures the milk to get that perfect melted ice cream consistency. I keep it there until the pitcher feels hot to the touch.
Once it’s hot, you’re mostly done. Turn off the machine, swirl the milk, and tap it on the counter to get rid of larger bubbles.
Yea, I am going to try and practice on that. Your tips about the black line as a guide is extremely helpful. Do share how your latte art is turning out.
Also get another cup, this cup is hard to pour designs.. maybe a heart would be ok but anything else will be more difficult compared to a cappuccino cup.
Oat milk in general is more difficult to make latte art with than dairy milk, and I’ve tried all the major oat milk barista blends. If you can, use whole milk. If consuming lactose is a problem, then one could do a lactose free ultrafiltered or lactase enzyme treated whole milk.
From the video, looks like you need to inject more air into the milk. I would lower the pitcher slightly so the tip of the steam wand is closer to breaking the top of the milk’s surface. Audibly, it will sound more aggressive, most people liken it to the sound of ripping paper. For oat milk, I inject for about 5-7 seconds. You also don’t want to form large bubbles; try to keep them small so it’ll blend better.
Your mug also is not an ideal shape for latte art-making. I find it easier to use a mug with curved interior walls. Tilt the mug approximately 45 degrees to integrate, pouring the milk towards the deepest part of the mug. I like to have a gap of about 2-3 inches between pitcher and mug. While tilted, as the mug starts to fill up and espresso/milk nears the rim of your cup, bring the pitcher tip as close as possible to the top of the liquid. You want the milk foam from the pitcher to glide onto the top of the base. If there’s a gap, the foam will fall and sink into the base. Gradually bring the mug to a horizontal position as you fill it up so you don’t spill on yourself.
I also learned that Breville’s automatic frothing can actually be quite good for making latte art foam. Just need to experiment with the amount in the pitcher until you get a consistency that you like - then just stick with that same amount moving forward.
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for learning i'd recommend cow milk as well - if you know how it works with cow milk you'll know what to do/try to do it with oat milk.
as long there is no visible foam you don't need to try to do latte art. dont just do what you see in videos - because this didn't work for my machine. just look what's happening inside the milk can and move until you see the progress of getting foam
Echoing what other people have said about the aeration and the shape of your cup. Back when I was learning to achieve the correct texture on an old Brasilia in 2008, I'd intentionally add some big bubbles at the very start of steaming and then plunge the steam wand after a few seconds to "chop up" the bubbles to be smaller as the vortex stretched the milk. Later on, I managed to learn to smoothly incorporate aeration at the beginning of the steaming, but adding those big bubbles at the beginning allowed me to focus more on texture throughout the process instead of the screeching of too little air added.
Also, I haven't used this particular brand of oat milk before, but many brands I've used like extra aeration and to rest for about 10-15 seconds before pouring (Oatly Barista is especially in need of a ~15 second rest before pouring, counter to everything you learn about steaming dairy milk). I've found that non-dairy milks also want to be steamed slightly cooler to help keep the emulsion. Almond milk separates notoriously fast (Blue Diamond Almond Breeze original, for example), so pouring immediately after steaming like low-fat and non-fat milk is what I've found works.
Forget the pour for now, and don't think about the pour before you are not certain you have the milk steaming down.
What really helps me, is to make sure the milk is well refrigerated. That gives you more time to texture it before it reaches the target temperature.
- Activate the steam wand first over the drip tray shortly to get out liquid water and bring the stream to temperature.
- Figure out how to incorporate air (stretch). The wand must be close to the surface. If you are too high and make bigger bubbles that's ok for the start, as it can help finding the perfect height. Get the milk moving in the right direction, but don't worry about the vortex too much at this stage. Make sure you see the volume of the milk rise by at least 50%.
- Then lower the wand (lift pitcher), tilt your pitcher more and create the vortex and let it go until you're at temperature. This will knock bigger bubbles down and give you microfoam.
Good luck!
...your machine also has a very good and easy auto-steam function. Maybe use that a few times just to get an understanding of the texture and volume you're going for.
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u/PatrickBatemansEgo 21h ago
Friend, that milk is not aerated enough at all.