Piyapat Lapteerawut, also known as Flook, won his third U.S. Latte Art Championship by drawing on his previous experience.
BY CHRIS RYAN
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos courtesy of Piyapat “Flook“ Lapteerawut
Though the World Latte Art Championship (WLAC) has taken place since 2005, the United States didn’t take part until just a few years ago—2022, to be exact. That year, Piyapat Lapteerawut, a veteran latte artist who goes by the nickname Flook, won the competition. The next year, he won again. In 2024, however, Flook finished second, ending his streak and leaving him wondering about his future in the competition.
Earlier this year, though, Flook returned to the stage of the U.S. Latte Art Championship, which took place Feb. 20-23 in Durham, N.C., and achieved his goal once again, besting the field to earn the title of 2025 U.S. Latte Art Champion. Flook, who works as a latte art instructor at roaster-retailer Coffee Project NY, will now advance to the 2025 World Latte Art Championship in Geneva, Switzerland, this summer.
We talked to Flook about learning from the past, tackling the world competition again, and much more.
Chris Ryan: What was your mindset coming into the competition this year? How did you prepare for this year after your past experiences?
Flook: As you know, I won two years in a row, then I tried to strike for a hat trick last year, but I couldn’t, haha. Last year I made a few mistakes, but I would say the most important one would be that I didn’t practice hard enough. 2024 was an expensive lesson to me, and the most painful one was when I went to watch the World Latte Art Championship in Denmark. The photographer remembered me from Taiwan, and he said, “Why are you sitting there, not here (on stage)?” After I heard that, I told myself, “I will win next year and go back on the world stage so that guy is going to take my photo again!” So, the moment I was back in New York, I was practicing like crazy: 200 routines in a month—three to four hours a day, six days a week.
I saw that this year you chose to do designs you’ve done before that you thought would score well. Can you talk about that decision, and how it played out?
Basically, I can answer this question in only one sentence: “You learn from the past.” As I say, don’t get stuck in the past, but take that as a lesson and decide your future. Last year, when I got second place, I talked to Wenbo (Joe) Yang asking how he won. (Don’t be surprised—the latte art community is super nice. We are always sharing information so we can all get better—we are all friends here, not enemies.)
Basically what happened is Joe knew how to score very well, when I mostly just focused on pouring and design. That’s why this year, I picked all the designs that scored the highest in my past competitions, adding some new techniques (since I already poured all these designs before, I only needed to practice for consistency), then focusing on overall performance. I’d honestly say this year might not be the most impressive designs or something that wows the audience, but my overall performance (pouring, presenting, concept, technical) could be my best one.
How did it feel for you to win again?
Honestly, (it felt like) nothing, haha. I have (lost) so many times already—for me it is more like how can I take the “L.” And again, “L” doesn’t mean “lose,” it means “learn!” At the end of (the) day, losing and winning is the nature of the competition. So the real question is, “Did you try your best?”
How are you feeling about WLAC in Geneva this summer?
First of all, Geneva is expensive! And Geneva in July, that’s not just expensive—that’s extremely expensive! (Keep an eye on Flook’s Instagram, where he will be launching a crowdfunding campaign next month to help cover his Geneva trip.) Anyway, I’m super excited to go to Switzerland. This is actually my second time in the world competition—the U.S. didn’t send the rep in 2022.
I might or might not change the approach. You might already know that now at WLAC, they are using a super-automatic machine (Thermoplan Black&White4 CTS), Oatly plant-based milk in the first round, and new cups from Club House. These are what people have been struggling with in the last year, and for me, these factors are more challenging than the design and pouring.
I still haven’t practiced yet—I’m waiting for the sponsor, who will let me borrow the super-auto machine and offer milk support.
Is competition and latte art still your focus these days?
Latte art is always my focus, since I’ve already mentioned that I gain a lot from the community, so I want to give back to the community. This year, I’m doing a really big project: I’m going to travel across (the) country to teach latte art.
I got this idea since some people reached out about classes and they got inspired by my story. They wanted to learn more about latte art, but sadly, they couldn’t come to New York. That’s why I came up with this idea, and I thought it would be super cool to go on a tour teaching latte art (like all those celebrities, even though I’m not that famous). I already have more than 10 cities on the list, and hopefully I can (go to) all of them. I’m giving my next Latte Art Master Class in Maryland on April 15, and I can’t wait.
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