12 October 2026 · 2 min read

A fat line through a latte art heart is almost always a height problem: the spout was too close to the surface when you drew through, so lift higher and draw the line faster.

You pour a good, round white shape, pull through it, and the line comes out wide and blurry. The heart looks more like a split than a heart.

The line is not a milk problem and it is not a wrist problem. It is almost always a height problem.

What the pull-through is doing

A heart is a monk's head with a tail pulled through it. The tail is a line of white drawn through the shape as you lift the jug and pour across. How thick that line comes out depends on how close the spout is to the surface.

• Spout close to the surface: the milk goes in thick, like drawing with a marker. The line is fat, and it pushes the white aside as it goes.
• Spout high above the surface: the stream is thin by the time it lands, like drawing with a fine pen. The line is thin and straight.

So a fat line means you stayed too close when you drew through. The shape was fine. The lift came too late, or not high enough.

The fix, in order

1. Drop in close, and stay put. Tilt the cup, bring the spout almost touching, and pour about a centimetre in from the back. Do not move the jug while the white grows. The place you drop in is where the top of the heart ends up.
2. Pour faster as it fills. The foam thickens as it rises, so it takes more flow to keep it moving. This is the long part, around five to six seconds.
3. Slow down just before it is full. If you lift at full speed you will overflow the cup.
4. Lift high, then draw one fast line through the middle. The pull-through takes about a second and a half. High and fast gives a thin, straight line. A slow draw wobbles.

If the milk runs off onto the saucer, that is fine. It is how you learn the speed.

Practise the lift without milk

The lift is a movement you can rehearse. Hold an empty jug over an empty cup, tilt it, hold it close for a few seconds, then lift and draw straight through in one quick motion. Do it a few times in the evening and your hand will know the height in the morning.

This is what Pour Score's dry rehearsal does: a trace scrolls down the screen and you mirror it with an empty jug, so you spend no milk while you practise.

Where to go next

The steps for the heart are in how to pour a heart. If you are earlier in the journey, start with learn latte art at home.

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