  A colloidal dispersion droplet evaporating from a surface, such as a drying
coffee drop, leaves a distinct ring-shaped stain. Although this mechanism is
frequently used for particle self-assembly, the conditions for crystallization
have remained unclear. Our experiments with monodisperse colloidal particles
reveal a structural transition in the stain, from ordered crystals to
disordered packings. We show that this sharp transition originates from a
temporal singularity of the flow velocity inside the evaporating droplet at the
end of its life. When the deposition speed is low, particles have time to
arrange by Brownian motion, while at the end, high-speed particles are jammed
into a disordered phase.
