![]() ![]() Some people just don’t like espresso without milk. It’s ridiculous, but it’s also true, and even true to this day (the stigma, that is). To order a cappuccino after 12pm marked you as less than a man, in Italian culture. The cappuccino and its variants have existed in Italy almost as long as the espresso machine has (even machines from the 1910s had steam arms for frothing and heating milk) but it’s always been seen as a child’s drink, or at best, the first coffee you have in the morning. The macchiato is essentially a superficial “macho” move by men in Italy who couldn’t bear the stigma when ordering the afternoon child’s drink (the cappuccino), but absolutely needed a bit of milk in their espresso because they didn’t like espresso’s straight bitterness. Once we get past the how tos, we’ll dive a bit deeper into the history and development of the macchiato, as well as it’s cultural appeal in Italy and around the world. ![]() We also used Pilot Coffee’s Heritage Blend to build our shots. The machine’s near instant steam ready ability, plus its ability to flush the system right after steaming so you can brew at proper temperatures make it ideal for building milk espresso drinks. Pay particular attention to the milk temperatures we aim for in the traditional macchiato it makes an incredibly good drink!įor this How To, we’re using the fantastic Breville Barista Pro machine (available in Canada from idrinkcoffee.ca, and in the US from Amazon ($799)) to make our macchiatos. We’ll cover both types of macchiatos (and completely ignore Starbucks’ version from this point onward) below, and let you decide which one you like more. Which is more authentic? Well the Italian version, of course. In North America, the machiato is more of a 1:1 ratio drink of espresso to pourable milk foam. In Italy, the macchiato is quite a literal drink – it’s an espresso “marked” with a dollop of frothed milk, and nothing else (macchiato means “marked” in Italian). See a macchiato in Italy is quite different from the macchiato you’d get in a high calibre specialty coffee cafe in the US or Canada. But thankfully, a lot of pushback from specialty coffee houses over the decades has claimed back the macchiato so that most consumers know what the drink really is: a shot of espresso with some foamy milk added. Starbucks in particular almost ruined this drink’s name when they rolled out their 20oz “macchiatos” way back when.
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