I am not sure if Latte art would increase sales, mabye to those who know something about coffee, Latte Art would serve to reinforce the view that said cafe/coffeeshop, knows what the hell they are doing.
All to often (well not that often now because I rarely buy a coffee outside), I am served swill that passes for coffee by completely non interested people (I can't call them Baristas). They press a button and watch uninterestedly as either the 6 second espresso extraction or the 16 second 5 oz americano extraction :shock: , plops it's way into the cup. Usually from a portafilter that was filled with coffee and locked and loaded up to half an hour before, waiting for some unsuspecting mug to come along and order a coffee.
Order a Latte and you get some obscene half pint of milk with an underxtracted 6 second single shot in it, that tastes of nothin. For the Latte, or laughably any attempt at a cappa, a "barista", shoves the steam wand into a 1 litre pitcher of milk that has been heated 6 times over the last 20 minutes and with the usual mindless expression, opens the steam wand and stares into the distance thinking about the evening ahead.
Hell yes....I would tell my friends about any coffee shop that had the slightest interest in their product (e.g. Latte art demonstrating some interest) and serving the customers a decent beverage. Plus without properly extracted coffee with "crema" and at least halfway decent milk frothing with fresh milk, it's hard to pour good art!
In the UK, coffee shops are a joke and have the cheek to serve crap to customers for at least$3.5 to $5 per cup....this is a lot of money for undrinkable swill!
****rant mode off***** :wink: