Macchiato vs Latte: What's the Difference?

A macchiato is a shot of espresso marked with a spoonful of milk foam, about two ounces in a small cup. A latte is the same espresso under a cup or more of steamed milk. Italian cafés pour the macchiato; Starbucks sells something else under the same name. Its Caramel Macchiato is steamed vanilla milk with espresso poured on top, which makes it much closer to a sweet latte than to the little cup you'd get in Milan.

So the question to ask is how much milk you want. A macchiato tastes like espresso with the sharp edge taken off: dark, a bit bitter, with a soft cap of foam that sweetens the first sip. A latte is mostly warm milk, round and mild, with the coffee somewhere underneath. With the same number of shots, both have the same caffeine.

To make either one at home, start with a milk frother: the Instant Pot frother does both foams. The rest of this guide covers the proportions, the caffeine, and how to make each drink with an espresso machine or without one.

Three macchiatos and a latte

"Macchiato" is Italian for stained or marked. The name tells you which ingredient gets the mark, and that's where the confusion comes from.

The espresso macchiato is the original: coffee marked with milk. The latte macchiato flips it, milk marked with coffee. You pour the milk into a tall glass first and the espresso last, so it settles into three layers, milk at the bottom, a band of coffee in the middle and foam on top. La Cimbali, the Italian espresso machine maker, says the only real difference from a caffè latte is the foam, about 1.5 cm of it on a latte macchiato, where a latte has just a thin layer.

The Starbucks Caramel Macchiato is a latte macchiato with vanilla syrup at the bottom and caramel on top. So when people ask whether a Starbucks macchiato is just a latte, the answer is almost: same milk and espresso, poured in reverse order, with syrup. If you want the small Italian drink at Starbucks, order an Espresso Macchiato.

Which one is stronger?

In caffeine, neither. It all comes from the espresso, and the milk adds none. The USDA puts espresso at 212 mg of caffeine per 100 grams, so a 1-ounce shot, about 30 grams, carries about 63 mg. Starbucks' own figures work out to about 75 mg a shot.

Here's what that looks like at Starbucks, where every drink lists its caffeine:

Three drinks, the same two shots. Size down to a 12-ounce tall Caramel Macchiato and you get one shot, about 75 mg. The macchiato tastes stronger because there's so little milk to spread the coffee through: two ounces of it hit your tongue as espresso, while in a grande latte the same coffee is spread through a 16-ounce cup that is nearly all milk. For comparison, an 8-ounce cup of drip coffee has about 95 mg by USDA's figure, or about one and a half shots' worth.

The bigger gap is sugar. A grande Caramel Macchiato has 250 calories and 33 grams of sugars, against 15 calories for the Espresso Macchiato. If you're choosing the lighter drink, the small one wins by a mile, and a plain latte sits in between.

Where cappuccino, flat white and cortado fit

They're all espresso and milk, and they line up by how much milk goes in. From least milk to most:

The cappuccino, flat white and latte macchiato measures are La Cimbali's; a cortado changes a lot from one region to the next. A latte is the milkiest of the lot, and the one to order if you mostly want something warm and creamy.

How to make a macchiato at home

You need a strong shot of coffee and a tablespoon or two of thick foam.

1. Pull one shot of espresso into a small cup. The Italian standard is about 7 grams of finely ground coffee for 25 ml in the cup.
2. Foam a little milk, more than you need, because a frother or a steam wand won't work on two tablespoons. A few ounces of cold whole milk on the dense foam setting of the Instant Pot frother, or under a steam wand, gives you stiff, glossy foam.
3. Spoon a dollop of foam onto the middle of the espresso, 1 to 2 teaspoons, so you see a white spot on the crema.
4. Drink it right away, before the foam sinks. Use the milk that's left for a second cup or a latte.

The coffee matters more here than in any milk drink, because there's nowhere for it to hide. A bag roasted for espresso, dark enough to taste of chocolate, is the safe start; espresso beans vs coffee beans explains what the label changes. If you want an evening macchiato, decaf espresso beans make the same small cup without the 63 mg.

How to make a latte, and a latte macchiato

A latte is the forgiving drink. Mistakes disappear into the milk.

1. Pull one or two shots into a mug of 10 to 12 ounces.
2. Heat enough milk to fill the mug, about 8 to 10 ounces, until it's hot and silky, with fine foam but not much of it: the light foam setting on the frother, or a steam wand held just under the surface.
3. Pour the milk into the espresso, holding back the foam with a spoon, then let the last of it slide on top.

For a latte macchiato, reverse it. Froth about 130 ml of milk with more foam, pour it into a tall glass, wait a few seconds for it to settle, then pour the espresso slowly into the middle. It sinks through the foam and stops on top of the hot milk, and you get the three layers. That's where clear glasses earn a spot on the shelf: a pair of Bodum Pavina glasses shows the layers, and the double wall means you can pick the glass up without a sleeve.

Makes both foamsInstant Pot 4-in-1 Milk FrotherHeats and foams milk at the push of a button, with a dense setting for a macchiato and a lighter one for a latte. Works with any coffee you already make.

Check price on Amazon$29.99 as of 12:35 PM ET

This is the piece I'd buy first, because it works with whatever coffee you already make, espresso, moka pot or a strong pour-over. Pour cold milk in, press a button, and it heats and foams on its own. Instant Pot gives it four settings: cold foam, light warm foam for a latte, dense warm foam for a macchiato or cappuccino, and plain warm milk. It foams up to 8.5 ounces, or heats up to 17 ounces without foaming, which Instant Pot pitches as enough for you and a friend. The lid and whisk go in the dishwasher.

No espresso machine? A moka pot gets close

A moka pot won't make true espresso. Espresso comes out at 8 to 10 bar of pressure; a moka pot starts around 0.5 and tops out near 1.5. What it does make is strong, dark, concentrated coffee, and it stands up well to a cup of foamed milk. For a latte, it's the cheapest way in. For a macchiato, where the coffee is almost all you taste, you lose the crema and some of the thick body of a real shot, but it's still a good cup if you like it bold.

Bialetti Moka ExpressThe aluminum stovetop pot Bialetti has made since 1933. The 3-cup size gives about 4 ounces of strong, dark coffee, enough for two macchiatos or one big latte.

Check price on Amazon$49.99 as of 12:35 PM ET

The Moka Express is the pot Alfonso Bialetti designed in 1933, and the 3-cup size makes about 130 ml, or 4.3 ounces: Bialetti counts its sizes in espresso cups. Fill the bottom up to the valve with water, fill the basket with ground coffee without pressing it down, and put it on the stove. When it starts to gurgle, turn off the heat. The coffee is ready. It sits on gas or electric; for induction you need Bialetti's adapter plate. Rinse it with plain water and skip the soap and the dishwasher, which Bialetti says will ruin the aluminum and the taste.

Freshly ground coffee makes the biggest difference in a pot this simple, and the grind size chart shows where a moka pot sits between drip and espresso. If you're buying a grinder, my burr grinder guide covers ones that handle both the moka pot and espresso.

With an espresso machine

If you already drink a latte every day, a machine pays you back in cups, and the Bambino is a good small one to start with. It's about $250, it's ready three seconds after you turn it on, and it has a manual steam wand, the kind baristas use, so you learn to texture milk for a macchiato or a latte yourself. It comes with a milk jug and a tamper, and it's under a foot wide. You'll also need a grinder that goes fine enough for espresso, which is the other half of the cost; the Baratza Encore ESP in the grinder guide is built for exactly that.

A caramel macchiato at home

Starbucks publishes its own recipe for the at-home version, and it's easy:

1. Put 1 tablespoon of vanilla syrup in the bottom of a large mug.
2. Froth about 250 ml of milk (a little over a cup) with plenty of foam, and pour it over the syrup.
3. Brew one shot of espresso and pour it into the middle of the foam, so it leaves a brown spot on top.
4. Drizzle caramel sauce over the foam.

For the iced one, Starbucks fills a glass with ice, stirs 1 tablespoon of vanilla syrup into 3/4 cup of milk, pours a shot of espresso into the middle, and finishes with 1 tablespoon of caramel sauce. The Instant Pot frother does cold foam too, if you want a cap on the iced version. And if a spiced milky drink is more your thing than caramel, a dirty chai is a chai latte with a shot of espresso in it.

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