Counterpoint Coffee’s class offers an opportunity to level up your barista skills.

You can really nerd out on coffee. There are dozens of small but significant choices to make – from the roast of your beans to how much grounds to use for how much espresso to how hot to steam your milk. Making a cup can start to feel like a science experiment involving powerful grinders, scales, mastering tamping pressure, precise water temperatures and more – and we’re only talking espresso preparation. There’s also the French press and the AeroPress and the Chemex and the moka pot and whatever that contraption is that lives in office kitchens.

The good news for the would-be nerd or the curious aficionado is that there’s an expert among us – and he’s willing to share all he knows.

On a recent Tuesday afternoon this reporter ventured to Seaside’s Counterpoint Coffee intent on learning how to make latte art, the whimsical drawings of soft milk foam that grace the top of any fancy cappuccino. Shop owner Max Georis recently restarted this offering – he taught coffee classes for the first couple of years after the shop opened in January 2019, but then came Covid and then his daughter was born. Now class ($30 per person) is back in session – 4pm on Tuesdays, by appointment.

Georis views the class as a cool way to promote the shop but he wants it to be truly useful for participants too – you bring your coffee curiosities, issues, challenges, etc., and he’ll tailor the class to those needs. Fellow classmate Dani Naldoza also wants to learn latte art. She’s been trying but, by her own admission, has only managed to make “semi-artistic blobs” so far.

Class expectations set, we dive in. Georis pulls a shot of espresso on one of Counterpoint’s massive Slayer machines. (“It’s very sensory-heavy,” Georis says of the sounds the machine makes – “that’s why I got it.”) We talk about the correct grind of the coffee (fine) and the amount of grounds (in grams) it takes to translate to 35 grams of liquid coffee (this is somewhat based on personal flavor preference). We examine the shot of espresso in the cup, admiring the layer of crema that covers the top (a very good sign; black spots that allow you to see directly through the foam to the espresso are a sign of over-extraction).

Next, we turn to the milk. We learn to clear the steamer wand and fill the pitcher about halfway. We tune our ears to good sounds (a kind of low rumble) and bad sounds (a screech) – and learn how these sounds translate to the consistency of the steamed milk. “What you want is like wet paint,” Georis says.

Steamed milk in hand, we begin our art. Under the trained hand, a heart or leaf will appear to emerge on the surface of your cappuccino all in one fluid motion. But for us baristas-in-training there are two distinct steps to consider – first, mixing the warm milk with the warm espresso until you’ve reached a roughly 50-50 consistency and second, laying down your chosen design.

On my first try, I manage to clear the first hurdle but balk at the second, leaving nothing more than a round blob of white milk foam on top of the cup of coffee (I wouldn’t even call it semi-artistic, like Naldoza’s). It’s hard not to be disappointed by the gulf that exists between this blob and, say, a delicate heart, but Georis is thrilled. The blob is a crucial first step in learning latte art, and I’ve already mastered it. “It all comes down to the dot,” he says.

Once you’ve learned the basic technique, it’s practice that makes perfect. Naldoza and I steam pitcher after pitcher of milk (learning latte art is a resource-intensive project, unless you’ve got coffee drinkers willing and ready to enjoy your offcasts) and try again and again to nail the swooping motion necessary to create a classic heart. We do improve – after that initial blob my second attempt looks much more like a heart. “If you can do a heart you can begin to do any shape,” Georis says, by way of encouragement. “After that it’s just how many dots, and where do I want to put them.”

COUNTERPOINT COFFEE is at 565 Broadway Ave., Seaside. 230-0503, instagram.com/counterpointcoffeeshop