Talk:Latte macchiato

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Hey there coffee fiends. I noticed that there are two articles for "Latte macchiato" and "Caffè Macchiato", but they both seem to describe the same drink. Even if they do describe different drinks, the capitalization is not standard between the two articles (the m is capitalized in one article name and lowercase in the other). Which is the appropriate capitalization for this? Finally, the article at Caffè macchiato seems to describe the same drink sold at most American coffeehouses as "espresso macchiato". Given the policy of Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English), shouldn't we name it whatever it is sold as in english-speaking countries rather than the italian name? --DDG 15:12, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

I fixed the capitalization on the Caffè macchiato page. Nandesuka 15:45, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

Hehe -I have to comment this as well: 'Caffè Macchiato' means 'marked' coffee, and 'Latte Macchiato' means 'marked' milk.

The terms derive from italian cafès and restaurants presumably from the early years of espresso machines. Customers asked for 'caffè' -and the more odd customer asked for a little bit of milk in it. The waiter gave the order to the barista at the espresso machine, and the barista made the coffees: -to show which 'caffè' (espresso) had a little milk in them, a little dollop or spot of milk marked them out. When the waiters came to fetch the cups, the marked or spotted ('macchiato' in italian) was easy to seperate from the plain espresso's. (we are talking about italian macchiatos, which have very little milk in them). Hence the term 'caffè macchiato'. In Italy, coffee is just plain one-shot-espressos, but non-italians specify that it is ESPRESSO MACCHIATO Likewise, a cup or glass with milk with a small spot of coffee shows this is not plain hot milk, but a 'latte macchiato' -milk with a stain of espresso. A caffè latte has at least got colour. A 'latte macchiato' is almost pure milk.

But then, the term 'macchiato' is considered cool, and is today worldwide used on all sorts of beverages, ice creams and the like. In my coffee shop, the odd customer asks for a caffè macchiato, and then asks me to fill the rest of the cup with milk! That's no macchiato  :)

The 'macchio' is to indicate a touch of something else. Today, on some US macchiatos, the dollop of foam cover the crema like a dry cappuccino  :(

Yours John in Oslo

[edit] Popularized?

Are you sure it was popularized by Starbucks? I think they invented it, and no one but Starbucks (and maybe Starbucks imitators) make it this way. Ken 05:37, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

In Italy "espresso" IS "caffè".They need not specify that what they serve is espresso. Hence; they say 'caffè macchiato'. Plain (regular) coffee is hard to find in italian "Caffè's" (the french say 'Café' the italians 'Caffè' for a coffee shop). Thus, in the US, it seems correct that you have taken to use the term 'espresso macchiato', as you (as we norwegians) serve both espresso AND coffee. We serve both from our espresso machines AND our drip coffee makers. You cannot 'macchiato' a plain, regualar drip coffee. There is no crema to 'rest' the pretty dollop of steamed milk on  :) John in Oslo

[edit] Merge from Caramel macchiato

Please merge any relevant content from Caramel macchiato per Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Caramel macchiato. Thanks. —Quarl ^(talk) 2007-01-03 08:28Z