Sketch your coffee before you drink it

By Quynh Vu · July 2, 2026 · 3 minute read

The page above is from a Tuesday. We went to the soft opening of a little Vietnamese spot near our office, and before my cà phê sữa đá could disappear, it got sketched: the phin filter sitting on the glass, the layer of condensed milk waiting at the bottom, the name lettered big because it deserved it.

That's the whole ritual. Ten minutes, one drink, one page. Here's how to steal it.

Minute one: look before you draw

Really look at your drink. A Vietnamese iced coffee is just three shapes: a small cylinder on top (the phin), a bigger glass below it, and an ellipse where the coffee meets the milk. A latte is one cup and one swirl. You're really just drawing two or three simple shapes stacked on top of each other.

Minutes two through six: shapes first, details never

Draw your shapes lightly, let the lines be wobbly, then pick two details you love and add only those. The steam. The stripe of milk. Wobbly lines look charming in a journal. It doesn't need to be perfect, that's not the point.

Minutes seven through nine: letter the name

Write the drink's name big, in your own handwriting, wherever there's room. Cà Phê Sữa Đá. Flat white. Chocolate milk, no judgment. The lettering is what turns a doodle into a page, and your handwriting is what makes it yours.

Minute ten: one honest sentence

Where were you, who were you with, how did it taste. Mine says we ordered spring rolls and had to be back by 1:00. That sentence is the part you'll love rereading later. The drawing is just what gets you to write it.

Do this once a week and by autumn you'll have a whole stack of afternoons you would have completely forgotten. Ten minutes for a memory. That's a good trade.

Quynh