Espressioni quotidiane con fare: colazione, aperitivo, compere

What does “caffè macchiato” mean in Italian?

A caffè macchiato is an espresso with just a small splash of warm milk. The word macchiato means “stained” or “spotted”: the coffee is “marked” by that little drop of milk, not drowned in it. It comes from macchia, a stain or spot, and the verb macchiare, to stain. So the name tells you the recipe — a strong coffee with one touch of milk, nothing more.

You hear it in a simple breakfast line: “Faccio colazione con un caffè macchiato e un biscotto alla marmellata” — I have breakfast with a macchiato and a jam biscuit. Knowing macchia means “stain” unlocks a whole family of words: macchiare (to stain), macchiato (stained), and even the famous Macchiaioli painters, who worked in patches of color. Note that an Italian macchiato is small and espresso-based, not the tall milky drink with the same name in many coffee chains abroad. If you want the milk the other way around — a lot of milk marked with a little coffee — that’s latte macchiato, “stained milk.”