How To Make a Cafe Macchiato

Dec 28, 2010

If you are bored with your regular espresso or the usual cappuccino, try making your own café macchiato. Macchiato, pronounced as mah kee yah toe, means “marked” in Italian. This means that your usual espresso shot is marked by most often times, milk. It is easier made than spelled, as often referred to by coffee enthusiasts. The steps below should help you make your own version of this well loved drink.

* Getting your beans right. The very first step to an excellent cup of coffee is to use the best type of beans that you can get your hands on. Since a macchiato is not really fully mixed with milk, you will be able to taste the body of your coffee. There will be no disguising low quality or poor tasting beans.

* Getting the grind right. The next step is to have your well chosen beans ground right. For espresso machines, this means that your beans are ground to the finest level since the espresso machine will be gushing pressurized water on the ground beans to extract the flavor. The general rule of thumb is the longer the beans are exposed to water, the rougher the grind should be. This means that for coffee presses, the grounds are bigger and conversely, for espresso machines, the grind should be extra fine.

* Steaming your milk. A shot of espresso should be drank immediately or incorporated to milk at once or else, it will turn bitter and lose its caramel taste. This means that you should prepare your other ingredients first before making your espresso shot. For making the macchiato, steam your milk first, usually at around 150 degrees. Once the milk is heated through, froth it by lowering your milk container so that the steamer touches just the surface of the milk. This will make a thin layer of foam on your milk container.

* Make your espresso shot. Pull your espresso shot from your machine and into a small cup. It is best to have the cup warmed a bit so that the espresso shot will retain its temperature longer. Typically, an espresso shot comes out in around 18 to 25 seconds. Anything beyond that will be a too bitter espresso shot or a too watery cup of coffee.

* Pour your milk on your shot. When the shot is already in the cup, pour a teaspoon of milk into the shot. Add another teaspoon of foam. This will “mark” your espresso shot with a bit of foam and milk on top. You can also add simple syrup (sugar melted into water for even consistency) to your coffee. For coffee lovers, you can also add a drop of your favorite flavoring such as caramel or hazelnut.

In making the froth, make sure that you put the steamer nozzle about a quarter of an inch below the surface of the milk. Any higher and your foam will resemble soap suds, making the foam too rough and the bubbles to big. For an even thicker and yummier foam, you should keep the steamer a quarter of an inch below the surface. Enjoy your macchiato with some biscotti for some coffee break goodness.