I’m setting up a weekly 30-minute latte art lab for my crew focused on flow control and contrast — think Acaia-on-the-saucer to hold a 2.5–3.0 g/s milk stream and a 5 cm drop height before diving into 16-leaf rosettas. Has anyone built continuing-ed modules or assessments (LAGS, SCA, or your own) that track progression beyond “nice cup,” especially for pitcher angle changes and handle-to-spout choreography?
Built a 4‑week micro‑unit where we stuck a $3 inclinometer sticker on the pitcher handle and filmed side‑on at cup rim; coaches scored two things in 30‑sec drills: hold “2.5–3.0 g/s” on the Acaia and hit three deliberate angle changes (≈20°→35°→45°) before the dive. We graphed % consistency and time‑to‑settle per pour, which predicted contrast better than photos; rubric cribbed from LAGS: https://www.latteartgrading.com. If your 30‑min lab gets tight, swap the 16‑leaf goal for a 10‑leaf cap and make a 5 cm “hover pause” count your weekly progression metric.
We’ve had good results adding a tactile dot under the thumb on the pitcher and cueing the roll from nose‑up to nose‑down off that mark; in 30‑sec sets we hold 2.7–3.0 g/s at about 5 cm for about 8 s, then hit the roll in <1 s and score “time‑to‑contrast” (first clean white line) plus any rim touches. It’s low‑tech but consistent — more turn signal than yank-the-wheel — and we just re‑place the dot per pitcher shape. If you want a harder metric, export Acaia flow to CSV and compare average flow 2 s before vs after the roll to see who stabilized the transition.