Caramel Macchiato – A Beautiful Mess

I love a cozy afternoon pick-me-up and lately I’ve been loving a caramel macchiato. This is one of my Starbucks copycat recipes. You can to learn to make a traditional macchiato here. This version is more like a latte macchiato with foamed milk and flavored with caramel. It’s sweet, caffeinated, and the perfect morning or afternoon treat, IMO.

Related: Next up, try a homemade Frappuccino, Pink Drink, Mocha or Paradise Drink.

Ingredients

• Espresso
• Steamed Milk – dairy or any milk alternatives like soy milk, almond milk or oat milk
• Simple syrup or vanilla syrup – store-bought or make your own
• Caramel sauce

I like the Torani caramel sauce (and other flavors like chocolate). They are a great consistency for drinks or to drizzle over ice cream and I love the squeeze bottle package. You could also choose to use a homemade caramel sauce instead.

How to make a Caramel Macchiato

Brew the shot of espresso according to your machine’s instructions.

Heat the milk and froth (create foam). If your espresso machine has a frothing wand, you can do these at the same time. Or you can use a milk frother, or heat in a pan and use a handheld frothing wand or even a whisk.

Add the simple syrup to your coffee mug. Then pour in the milk and foam. Then pour the fresh espresso through the foam. Drizzle the caramel sauce on top.

Optional: Sometimes I drizzle some of the caramel sauce along the side of the coffee mug in addition to the top. It’s up to you!

Home Espresso Makers

We’ve tried many espresso makers over the years, and here are our favorites at different price points and skill levels:

• Cafe Automatic Espresso Machine – My current machine. It uses any whole beans, so if you use high quality beans you’ll get high quality espresso. It makes espresso shots automatically (no barista skills required) and includes a milk frothing wand to heat and froth milk. We’ve used this machine almost every day since we got it nine months ago and we love it! It comes in three colors.
• Stovetop Espresso – This is the cheapest way to make espresso at home. It’s more labor intensive and you will also need a way to grind your beans for best results. But, this is a classic method that works great when done well.
• Breville Barista Touch – We bought this for a good friend as a wedding gift once and they said they love it. It’s a higher end machine that you will need some barista skills to operate, but it’s an excellent home espresso maker.
• Nespresso Vertuo – For those who want an espresso maker that uses pods, this is my favorite. Depending what pod you use, it can make espresso or coffee.

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