EXTRACT COFFEE ROASTERS in Bristol held a no-waste latte art event, turning lattes into White Russians for attendees.
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ntricate swans, flowers, hearts, and more are conjured from nothing more than a shot of espresso, steamed milk, and a barista’s skilled hand. At latte art competitions, the results can be breathtaking. But after judging is complete in these events, the creations typically go untasted. “They always look so lovely, and they get wasted, just thrown down the sink,” says Ian Steel, the roaster/owner behind Britain’s Atkinsons Coffee Roasters, which has locations in both Lancaster and Manchester. Hoping to cut down on the waste, Oatly—an oat milk company originally founded in the 1990s in Sweden, but which now has an international reach— sponsored three simultaneous No-Waste Latte Art events across the United Kingdom in late January. In addition to Atkinsons’ Manchester location, events were also held at Extract Coffee Roasters in Bristol and Kaffeine in London. After the art competition portion of the night was complete, rather than finding the drain, the lattes were mixed with vodka to make White Russian cocktails, which were passed around to attendees. “It was very popular. We had around 16 baristas in our shop participating and about 30 or 40 people in the store watching,” says Peter Dore-Smith, Kaffeine’s founder and director, who has hosted highly regarded, four-heat, traditional latte art competitions with up to 64 competitors in his café for the past nine years.
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