Introducing Milk Ink, Tattoos for Your Milk Pitchers

The Death Before Decaf model. All photos courtesy of Milk Ink.

Plain stainless steel, like the human epidermis, some might say, is kind of boring, and it says little about character.

Not so with Milk Ink, a new small business concept created by Yf Feller, a coffee professional based in the East Flanders province of Belgium. Milk Ink is a bit of a side project for Feller, an addition to his normal duties as a barista and roaster at Ghent’s Café Labath and as owner of an annual pop-up multiroaster shop — last year, Feller and his fiance operated the popup under the name Black Box, but the name will change beginning this season to Full Circle Coffee.

The Milk Ink concept is simple: Tattoos for your milk pitchers. Food safe material is applied to the stainless steel pitchers by hand, creating the naturally faded-but-permanent look of a tattoo. Three stock options for tattoo art include: “Death Before Decaf,” including those words written on a banner flowing around a short sword that fits into a human skull; “Sugar Skull,” an image of a skull that appears to be composed not of bone but of coffee plant leaves and flowers; and “Anchor,” a take on a seafarer’s tattoo classic, including an anchor, the Milk Ink name written on a banner, and parts of a coffee tree.

The Anchor

All the artwork for the stock designs was done by an associate of Feller, and he said custom artwork can be accomplished on a case-by-case basis. “As long as it’s stainless steel, I can do other items as well, although I’d prefer not wandering too far away from my core business, which is coffee,” Feller recently told Daily Coffee News.

The pitchers are available with either short or drop spots, 12- or 20-ounce capacity, and Feller is currently selling them for €30 to €35.

Stay tuned for more from Feller, who last year organized the first known Iced Coffee Tournament in Northern Europe, and says he plans to grow the program under the Full Circle name this year.

Sugar Skulls