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Question: What do you call it when you pour a shot of espresso over caramel?

(Posted by: Kaylie on 2010-02-11 22:20:28)

When making a drink like a caramel macchiato, what is the term that describes pouring a shot over the caramel sauce so it drags it down into the drink.

Posted by: Katherine on 2010-02-12, 07:32:27

In the caramel macchiato, macchiato is the term for pouring the shot over top. Another term that Starbucks uses is affagato. You can get your drink mocha affagato (shot poured over mocha drizzle) or caramel affagato (shot poured over caramel like the caramel macchiato). When I worked at Starbucks, we had a lot of people get their frappucinnos affagato style. And yes, I do know that there is a dessert called an affagato where the shot is poured overtop a scoop of ice cream.

Posted by: GirlWhoSangTheBlues on 2010-02-12, 02:05:03

Macchiato IS the term for how your pour the espresso into the steamed milk (it means "marked " in Italian, referring to the brown mark it makes on the foam). The caramel is usually heavier than the espresso, and drags down on its own.