What exactly is a macchiato?

A macchiato is an espresso coffee drink mixed with milk. A macchiato is not the same as cream or froth on top of your espresso. It's actually more like a latte, but without the fluffiness of milk foam at the top. Instead, it has just one layer of milk - right near to the coffee at about 1-2 in (2-5 cm) deep in texture. The term means "marked" in Italian, which refers to the small bit of foam that is added to top of it. However, in modern cafes macchiato has come to mean just any coffee with foam on top. Many people believe that macchiato translates to meaning "coffee with milk", but this is incorrect. Macchiato actually stems from the verb macchiare (meaning "to stain"), which connected specifically to coffee because when hot espresso hits cold milk, there are often some white foamy spots left on the surface of the drink. By extension, it became customary for coffee aficionados across Italy for adding a small amount of foam by pouring.