Specialty Coffee Recipes


Macchiato

Macchiato

If you like a robust milk-based espresso coffee, your go-to drink of choice is likely the good ol' cappuccino. A macchiato, however, is even stronger. According to Roasty Coffee, while a cappuccino was designed to be consumed as a morning coffee, a macchiato is meant to help power through afternoon slumps. Comparable only to straight-up espresso in its intensity, macchiato gets its name from the Italian word for stained or marked.True to its title, when making a macchiato, just enough milk is added to a shot of espresso to effectively "stain" it.

In simple terms, a macchiato is a shot of espresso with just a dash of milk to mellow its intensity. In fact, Cru Kafe claims that a macchiato has the highest ratio of espresso to milk than any other coffee made from the two ingredients, with only a tablespoon or two of foamed milk added to a shot of espresso. Although Italy Explained writes that milky coffees are usually not preferred for post-meal caffeinated digestifs in Italy, Eataly clarifies that an exception is made for caffè macchiato because it's considered to be mostly an espresso anyway. The drink is even served in an espresso cup!

While this style of macchiato is often called an espresso (or caffè) macchiato, there exists a version of a latte macchiato too. This, however, is the complete opposite of an espresso macchiato wherein steamed milk is stained with a shot of espresso instead of the other way around, per Eataly

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Helena Nunes