Latte Artist, Mike Keen, on The Today Show

Michael Keen, an extremely talented artist and barista at the Studio 6 Coffee Shop in Denver Colorado, demonstrates his techniques for Matt Lauer, Al Roker and the gang from the Today Show on NBC.

Some people can't see themselves without their morning coffee. Customers of one coffee house can see themselves within their morning coffee.

If Mike Keen is one of the slower baristas in Denver, perhaps it's because he spends so much time staring at his customers.

"I'm sure they're standing there wondering, 'Why is this guy so slow?'" Keen said. "The way our counter is set up, you can't really see me build them."

He's building a personalized portrait of the customer in the froth atop each latte he serves at Studio 6 Coffee House in Denver.

Using just the brown espresso, white froth and touches of dark mocha, Keen creates impressively-detailed caricatures.

"I don't want to ruin his beautiful art there. I feel almost guilty drinking it," said one customer handed a steaming likeness of himself.

"Drink it! Drink it!" Keen urged.

Latte art isn't new. Delicate swirls and lines, like the leaf-like Rosetta pattern, are intended to display the skill of the barista and quality of the drink.

Keen's art is an individual ode to the person paying for the drink.

"I realized there's no reason to limit myself to the line style drawing that you traditionally see," Keen said.

"I know how to paint and draw," he said. "Why not utilize those skills to a higher degree and try to sort of paint with the coffee?"

Keen doesn't take his coffee-top caricatures too seriously. His true artwork is displayed in his adjoining gallery space.

"This is just the thing I do at work to entertain myself," Keen said.

He shrugs at the realization that some customers ignore his art, popping on a travel lid or sipping away their portrait without a second thought.

"What are you going to do?" Keen said. "Go 'TAH-DAH!' whenever you put it out?"

"There's something weird about doing an inconsequential act of beauty," Keen said. "It goes away. There's impermanence to it."

A moment of reflection fades quickly into self-deprecation as Keen sets another portrait-topped latte on the counter.

"Thanks, art degree!" he said.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Latte
• Art
• Artist
• Coffee
• Shop
• Barista
• Studio
• six
• Denver
• Colorado
• Mike
• Keen
• abe
• vigoda
• foam
• faces

[BarefootRadio]

Michael, you're a stud!