Starbucks Caramel Macchiato Recipe and Serving Method - Differences Between Caramel Macchiato and Latte

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Starting your morning with a freshly extracted espresso combined with hot milk and caramel sauce creates a wonderfully aromatic caramel macchiato. Like the caramel macchiatos sold at Starbucks, they are highly sought after. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will explain how to make a caramel macchiato.

The Origin of Macchiato

First, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce the origin of the caramel macchiato. "Macchiato" is an Italian word meaning "marked." Macchiato coffee originated in 1980s Italy when some customers had the habit of adding a small amount of milk to their espresso, but the milk would quickly disappear into the crema. So baristas wanted to distinguish between pure espresso and espresso with a small amount of milk, thus using milk foam to "mark" a white dot on top of the crema.

Later, people discovered that as the milk foam and espresso gradually merged, they could taste the rich aroma and full body of the espresso while also experiencing the delicate sweetness of the milk, creating an indescribably wonderful interplay in the mouth. Thus, the traditional macchiato coffee was born.

How to Make a Macchiato

Making a macchiato only requires one shot of espresso and a spoonful of delicate milk foam. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share how to make macchiato coffee.

First, FrontStreet Coffee selects Sunflower Warm Sunshine Espresso Blend coffee beans for production. The coffee bean information is as follows:

Coffee Name: FrontStreet Coffee Sunflower Warm Sunshine Blend
Blend Composition: 60% Honduras Sherry Cask Barrel & 40% Natural Process Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Project
Flavor Description: Vanilla, cream, fermented notes, wine-like essence, chocolate

Espresso Extraction Parameters:

Coffee Dose: 20 grams
Coffee Yield: 40 grams
Extraction Time: 28 seconds

After extracting the espresso, the next step is frothing the milk. It's recommended to achieve cappuccino foam thickness for easy scooping. Be sure to create fine, smooth foam. After frothing the milk, gently scoop the foam from the surface of the milk pitcher with a spoon, then place it on top of the espresso to complete.

Macchiato Flavor: The macchiato's flavor is very rich, with a strong liquor-filled chocolate taste, almost without much dilution. The milk foam enhances the overall texture, and careful tasting reveals a hint of milk aroma. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee believes that for coffee lovers who want to enjoy both the delicate, smooth foam of a cappuccino and insist on the rich, pure aroma of espresso, macchiato is indeed an excellent choice.

What's the Difference Between Macchiato and Caramel Macchiato?

The difference between macchiato and caramel macchiato is that macchiato can also have its flavor changed by adding flavored syrups. The most common is caramel macchiato. By adding caramel-flavored syrup (caramel syrup) to the macchiato, it creates a completely different flavor. The name "caramel macchiato" was invented by Starbucks baristas.

Its preparation method is: in a 350ml coffee cup, add one shot of espresso, and fill the remaining 300+ milliliters with steamed milk, vanilla syrup, and caramel sauce.

In addition, lattes can also be made into latte macchiatos. This specialty coffee drink is also made with espresso and milk, but it has a higher milk content and requires darker roasted coffee beans.

Difference Between Latte and Macchiato

Latte: The original meaning of "latte" in Italian is "milk." Latte coffee is espresso mixed with a large amount of milk, with ratios ranging from 1:2 to 1:5. In terms of taste, FrontStreet Coffee believes latte coffee is very rich and unique, where the coffee's acidity and bitterness have been largely covered, leaving only the mellow aroma.

The characteristics of macchiato have been mentioned above by FrontStreet Coffee. Its texture is characterized by creamy foam and rich body, while latte coffee's texture is characterized by milk as the main component, making it very smooth.

Latte Coffee Preparation Ratio

FrontStreet Coffee also uses Sunflower Warm Sunshine blend.

FrontStreet Coffee's latte formula is 1:6.5, meaning 40g of espresso mixed with 260g of steamed milk.

FrontStreet Coffee's espresso extraction protocol uses 20g of coffee grounds to extract 40g of espresso liquid in 27 seconds as the latte base. Next is milk frothing. First, we need a steam wand (most semi-automatic coffee machines come with one), followed by a container for milk, such as a milk pitcher or latte art pitcher (professional tools make the job much easier). Finally, milk selection: whether room temperature or cold milk, whole or skim milk can be frothed, but for better texture, flavor, and stability, Frontsteet still recommends using cold, refrigerated whole fresh milk. Next is the integration and latte art. After extracting the espresso and steaming the milk, you can integrate them to complete the latte. Integration is also a very important step in making latte coffee. Good integration makes the latte smooth and comfortable to drink without any off-flavors. Only after proper integration can we create latte art patterns. Finally, a latte coffee is complete.

Latte Coffee Flavor Characteristics: Smooth texture, lasting chocolate flavor, mixed with pleasant wine notes, persistent aftertaste, noticeable sweetness.

The above is FrontStreet Coffee's latte coffee preparation ratio. The Sunflower Warm Sunshine espresso beans have been mentioned throughout. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share what other coffee beans can be used to make latte coffee besides this espresso blend.

What Coffee Beans to Use for Making Latte Coffee?

FrontStreet Coffee Sunflower Warm Sunshine Blend
Flavor: Noticeable fruit acidity, light berry aroma, wine fragrance, rich chocolate flavor, obvious sweet aftertaste.
Formula: Honduras Sherry : Yirgacheffe Red Cherry = 6:4

This blend uses Yirgacheffe natural Red Cherry and Honduras Sherry. FrontStreet Coffee's design concept for this blend is that it can be used for both espresso and pour-over. When used for espresso, it emits obvious fermented wine aroma. When tasted, citrus and berry acidity immediately emerge, with whiskey-like fragrance, and the aftertaste is dark chocolate.

When brewing this Warm Sunshine blend using pour-over method, the flavor is not as rich as when making espresso. After brewing, it has fermented wine aroma and a hint of citrus fragrance. When tasted hot, there are only obvious wine notes and dark chocolate aftertaste. As the temperature drops, citrus and berry acidity slightly emerge, overall clean and fresh, without vanilla cream texture.

FrontStreet Coffee Premium Blend
Flavor: Gentle slight acidity, light sweetness, nutty aftertaste, overall not too stimulating, balanced, medium crema.
Formula: Colombia : Brazil = 3:7

This blend uses Brazil and Colombia. When tasted, it has a light roasted grass fragrance, fresh aroma with slight bitterness, sweet and smooth, with a comforting aftertaste. This is because coffee beans from Colombia's Huilan region have pleasant acidity, aromatic flavor, moderate acidity, and rich sweetness that leaves a lasting impression, while coffee beans from Brazil's Cerrado region have comfortable bitter-sweetness and are extremely smooth when tasted. The combination is simply wonderful.

FrontStreet Coffee Commercial Blend
Flavor: Caramel sweetness, nuts and cocoa notes, dark chocolate flavor, balanced sweet and sour, slightly bitter, persistent aftertaste.
Formula: Colombia : Brazil : Robusta = 3:6:1

This blend uses Brazilian and Colombian coffee beans with 10% Robusta coffee beans. The flavor is classic. FrontStreet Coffee believes this blend has rich crema and texture with caramel sweetness, along with nuts and cocoa notes, dark chocolate flavor, balanced sweet and sour, slightly bitter, and persistent aftertaste. Like FrontStreet Coffee's Premium Blend, this commercial blend uses Colombian and Brazilian coffee beans, but the addition of Robusta provides rich crema, making the coffee texture more full-bodied.

FrontStreet Coffee Basic Blend
Flavor: With gentle fruit acidity, caramel sweetness, nuts and dark chocolate flavor, smooth and viscous, but taste is on the lighter side.
Formula: Yunnan : Brazil = 3:7

This blend uses Brazil and Yunnan. FrontStreet Coffee believes when tasted, it has gentle fruit acidity and caramel sweetness, along with nuts and dark chocolate flavor, smooth and viscous, but taste is on the lighter side. This is because Yunnan's natural conditions are very similar to Colombia's - high altitude, large day-night temperature differences, with mellow flavor characteristics, moderate acidity, rich and mellow taste, uniform beans, high oil content, and fruity aroma. Its quality and texture are similar to Colombian coffee, but slightly lighter in taste than Colombian beans. Coffee beans from Brazil's Cerrado region have comfortable bitter-sweetness and are extremely smooth when tasted. Therefore, the combination of these two coffee beans also has good flavor, and this basic blend coffee bean offers excellent value, suitable for espresso beginners and small coffee shops.

The above are the coffee beans shared by FrontStreet Coffee that can be used to make latte coffee. We hope this helps coffee lovers who are struggling with choosing espresso beans, and we also hope this article helps everyone learn more about coffee knowledge.

For more premium coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473