Cream Etch

Cream Etch is a latte art studio for your iPhone. Every cup starts blank, and everything you see on the foam is made by your own hands. Start with a drink base. Espresso, Flat White, Cappuccino, Latte, Mocha or Matcha Latte, served in a classic mug, a glass cup, a wide ceramic bowl, a tall latte glass or a small demitasse. Then pick up the pitcher and pour. Pouring works the way it feels in a cafe. Drag the pitcher across the cup and the milk spreads, layers and pushes the earlier foam outward in soft rings. Hold the pitcher steady and it tilts deeper for a fuller stream. Move quickly and the stream thins out. Pour gently and the milk sinks under the crema, pour with confidence and the foam floats up to the surface. When the base is ready, shape it. Press one of twelve stencils into the foam, including a heart, a rosetta, a tulip, a swan, a bear, a cat, a flower, a leaf, a moon, a star, a cross and a spiral, each with its own rotation, size and pressure. Paint soft strokes with the foam brush, which thickens when you glide slowly and thins when you move fast. Scratch hairline, fine or bold lines with the etching tool to reveal the coffee underneath. Finish with a drizzle of caramel, vanilla, strawberry, blueberry, matcha or cocoa syrup that melts into the foam. Working from a picture in your head is hard, so you can bring in a photo and keep it on the cup as a faint outline to follow while you draw. It stays a hint and never becomes part of the cup. Every layer can be undone and redone, so experiments are cheap. Finished cups go into your Cup Vault with a playful name like Rosy Swan or Midnight Bear, along with the drink, the cup, the stencils and the syrups you used. Turn any cup into a share card to send to a friend or keep in your photo library. Turn on Daily Pour and a fresh drink idea arrives once a day, like a slow heart with caramel or a moonlit mocha. Tap it and the studio is already set up for that drink. As your vault grows you unlock personal milestones, from First Pour all the way to Latte Legend. No rush, no scores, no right answer. Just a cup, some milk and your hands.