A macchiato is a shot of espresso with a small amount of foamed milk added - a spoonful to a splash, no more. It is served in an espresso cup, it is drunk in two or three sips, and the milk is there to take the hard edge off the shot rather than to make a milk drink. If a latte is milk with espresso in it, a macchiato is espresso with milk in it, and that is the whole definition.
A note on sourcing, because this site only cites pages it can actually read: Merriam-Webster’s macchiato entry returned an HTTP 403 to a plain fetch on the date this page was written, so we describe the drink structurally rather than quoting a dictionary — the same approach our latte vs cappuccino and cappuccinopages take. The drinks we can quote are the useful reference points: Merriam-Webster defines a latte as “espresso mixed with hot or steamed milk” and a flat white as “espresso coffee topped with a thin layer of steamed milk”. A macchiato sits below both of those on the milk scale.
Where it sits among the other drinks
Every espresso-and-milk drink on a cafe menu is the same two ingredients in different proportions. Ranked by how much milk is involved, with the espresso held constant:
| Drink | Coffee | Milk | Served in |
|---|
| Espresso | One or two shots | None | About 1-2 oz of liquid |
|---|
| Macchiato | One or two shots | A spoonful to a splash, foamed | Fits in an espresso cup |
|---|
| Cortado | One or two shots | Roughly an equal amount of warm milk | A small glass |
|---|
| Flat white | One or two shots | Steamed milk under a thin layer of foam | A small cup |
|---|
| Cappuccino | One or two shots | Stretched milk, thick foam on top | A 5-8 oz cup |
|---|
| Latte | One or two shots | The majority of the drink | 8 oz and up |
|---|
The National Coffee Association puts espresso at roughly a 1:2 ratio of dry coffee to brewed espresso over 20 to 30 seconds, which means the shot itself is only an ounce or so of liquid. Add a spoonful of milk to that and you still have a drink that fits comfortably in a 2–3 oz cup — the test that tells you whether what you were served is really a macchiato.
The big sweet one with the same name
If you have only met a macchiato as a tall iced drink with caramel on top, you have met a different drink. The large chain version is built the other way up — a cup of milk with espresso poured through it, usually with syrup — which makes it closer to a sweetened latte than to the espresso drink described above. We are not going to quote a chain’s recipe we cannot source, so treat them as two drinks sharing a word: one is an espresso with a splash of milk, the other is a milk drink with espresso in it.
That distinction matters if you are buying a gift. Someone who orders the small Italian drink wants better espresso, and the presents that land are machine, grinder and cup. Someone who orders the tall sweet one wants a milk drink, and the presents that land are the ones on our gifts for latte lovers page. Buying the wrong half of that pair is one of the easier mistakes to make.
What to look for if you want to make them at home
A macchiato is the cheapest espresso-and-milk drink to equip for, because it needs almost no milk skill. Four things matter:
- A machine that pulls a decent shot.The milk is a spoonful, so there is nothing to hide behind — the shot is the drink. This is the one milk drink where machine quality shows directly, and where a thermoblock machine that is ready in under a minute makes a daily habit practical.
- A small amount of textured milk, not a jug of it. You need perhaps an inch of milk in a pitcher. That is easier than a cappuccino, not harder: a short stretch at the steam wand, then spoon the foam on.
- An espresso-sized cup.A 2–3 oz cup, or 80 ml, keeps the drink hot for the two minutes it exists. In a mug it is a cold puddle, as our espresso cup guide explains at more length.
- A way to see how much liquid came out. Graduated shot glasses are the cheap version of a scale, and they answer the question a beginner cannot otherwise answer: was that a 1 oz shot or a 2 oz one? Our do you need a coffee scale guide covers the better version of the same idea.
If their machine has no steam wand at all, a macchiato is still available: froth a small amount of milk with a handheld whisk or by one of the methods in how to froth milk without a frother, then spoon it on. For a spoonful of foam, the whisk is genuinely good enough.
The gear, for a drink that is mostly espresso
Four picks, in the order a kitchen needs them. Prices are pulled live and dated on each button.
