Drink of the week:Macchiato

The macchiato is a very simple drink, with a lot more confusion surrounding its name than there ought to be. That’s because it is simply a straight shot of espresso, with a small dollop of milk foam on top and that is it. It’s mainly enjoyed by the sort of person who really wants to be a straight espresso drinker but just wants to take the edge off of it a little bit. Maybe they don’t like the volume of the latte. Maybe they’re watching calories. Regardless, it’s a great in between.

Now the confusion comes in because if you order a macchiato at Starbucks, you will get something entirely different. You see, “macchiato” is Italian for something like a “stain”. If the brown coffee is the canvas, the dollop of milk foam is the splash of paint. However, Starbucks inverts it a little bit. They will serve you a full-sized latte, and if you want the authentic kind, you can order an “espresso macchiato”. I don’t know why, but I’m sure they focus group tested it ad nauseam and this is the most scientifically-engineered-to-sell name. Who am I to question?

Starbucks is ubiquitous and, for better or for worse, almost certainly the first place that the median consumer has tried a latte. Consequently, the average consumer knows it by this name and many smaller cafes have caved and simply call the drink by its Starbucks name. That’s the beautiful thing about language; it’s adaptable (just don’t tell the Italians I said that!).

Now if you see us coffee catering in Baltimore, and you order a macchiato, what will we serve you? Good question. Approach our mobile coffee cart or coffee food truck and ask for a macchiato, and we’ll ask you to describe what you’d like! It’s not hard. We don’t care what you call it, we just want to make the drink you most enjoy. Sparkplug Coffee strives to make coffee fun and approachable. Gatekeeping and talking down to our customers is never a business we want to be in.