When Joe Burns pours a cup of coffee, it’s almost too pretty to drink.
The Oakland resident creates latte art – a method of pouring textured milk into a shot of espresso and resulting in a pattern or design on the surface. You most likely have seen this done in a coffee shop. Baristas make heart, leaf and flower shapes in a white detail with the coffee-colored background.
It takes lots and lots of practice to perfect the shapes.
Burns has been in the coffee business for 13 years. He has done it all, from brewing to drinking various flavors to learn about the drink. Burns manages the coffee program at Trace Brewing in Bloomfield.
The key to quality latte art is using the perfect coffee – he prefers Colombian— and milk, to start, and then developing the skill to pour it into the perfect cup.
“It’s like wine and beer,” Burns said. “Different varieties have distinct flavors.”
He was talking about his passion for coffee at a Trace latte art “throwdown” competition on April 4. Every other month, the brewery hosts baristas from throughout the city. Some bring their own cups. Two by two they pour head-to-head and judges select the top three finishers. The cost to enter is $5.
Burns knows brews.
This weekend, Burns is competing in the United States Specialty Coffee Championships National Brewers Cup, which started Friday and runs through Sunday in Portland, Ore.
He placed first in the regional event in Raleigh, N.C., then qualified for this weekend’s championships by finishing in the top six at the Eastern Conference championship in Baltimore.
Participants are judged on how the coffee tastes, the cup’s technical uniformity and overall workflow.
The world championships are in Athens, Greece, in June. If Burns qualifies for the world championships, he will be joined by Paulo Melsch of Franklin Park, who won the 2022 National Guatemala Barista Championship.
Burns, Melsch and Tim Albanese, of Franklin Park, co-own Ghost Coffee Collab in Bellevue.
Ghost Coffee Collab opened in October 2021. It’s a coffee roastery that hosts coffee classes and competitions such as the throwdown at Trace.
It’s also wholesaler. Albanese said it’s about using quality beans.
His mission is to make the coffee experience better in Pittsburgh. He said collaborating with such talented latte artists as Burns and Melsch makes for a wonderful partnership.
He’s rooting for Burns this weekend.
”I would climb Mt. Washington to have a cup of coffee with Joe,” Albanese said. “He knows everything about coffee and he wants to know more. He’s always practicing. A latte artist is like a bartender making that special drink. The bartenders wants you to savor it. Baristas want you to savor that cup of coffee, too.”
Burns hopes to savor a victory.
“I finished 10th last year, so this year I want to do better,” said Burns. “The competition will be tough. There definitely is a technique to it. We are artists, and the coffee is the canvas.”
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact JoAnne by email at jharrop@triblive.com or via Twitter .