An internationally renowned latte artist has arrived in Clapham to embark upon a month-long barista residency at an Abbeville Village coffee shop.

Heidi Philip-Smith this morning received a warm welcome from Nue Ground, the Abbeville café where she will be making milky art for the rest of December.

The 3x UK Latte Art Finalist, whose glossy rosettas and #tuliplatteart posts have helped garner her 17,000 Instagram followers, began her coffee career alongside UK Latte Art Champion Dhan Tamang.

For both supple-wristed baristas, the chance to quench more than just caffeine cravings lay on the social media platform.

In the world of photogenic Flat Whites where #latteart has 9.6million tags, using milk like paint to pour patterns on a canvas of coffee has serious kudos – one which carries higher earning potential.

A 2015 study by Oxford experimental psychologist Charles Spence found people are willing to pay up to 13 per cent more for a cappuccino with artistic embellishment.

Announcing Philip-Smith's residency on Instagram today (Wednesday, December 8), Nue Ground said they were thrilled to have "an international latte art artist, as our resident barista for the month of December."