Both macchiatos and cortados are small drinks made by combining espresso with milk

Both macchiatos and cortados are small drinks made by combining espresso with milk, but that’s where the similarities end. A macchiato is a shot of espresso with foamed milk floating on top. A cortado is a double shot of espresso cut with an equal amount of steamed milk.

Cortado

A cortado is a beverage consisting of espresso mixed with a roughly coffee maker makita amount of warm milk to reduce the acidity. The milk in a cortado is steamed, but not frothy and “texturized” as in many Italian coffee drinks. The cortado comes from Spain, most likely Madrid, where it is commonly served.

The word cortado is the past participle of the Spanish verb cortar (to cut), in the sense of “dilute”, and can refer variously to either coffee or espresso drinks throughout Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries.

Caffè Macchiato

Caffè macchiato, sometimes called espresso macchiato, is an espresso coffee drink with a small amount of milk, usually foamed. In Italian, macchiato means “stained” or “spotted” so the literal translation of caffè macchiato is “stained” or “marked coffee.”

The origin of the name “macchiato” stems from baristas needing to show the serving waiters the difference between an espresso and an espresso with a tiny bit of milk in it; the latter was “marked”. The idea is reflected in the Portuguese name for the drink: café pingado, meaning coffee with a drop.