Espresso macchiato

An espresso macchiato is a shot of espresso "stained" with just a small dollop of steamed milk or milk foam. The name is Italian for "stained" or "spotted", a near-literal description of the drink: dark espresso marked by a single spot of white milk. It sits at the strong end of the milk-coffee family, far closer to a plain shot than to a cappuccino or latte, the bitterness and concentration of the espresso only lightly softened by a teaspoon or two of foam rather than drowned in dairy.