How to Make an Iced Caramel Macchiato with Cold Foam

I might like coffee as much as I like houses. Henry and I both enjoy making espresso drinks at home and one of our favorites to make is an iced caramel macchiato. In this article, I’m going to show you how to make your own at home, but with a little something extra that you’ll love!

Instead of using regular milk over ice, we’re going to make cold foam, which adds an airy creamy goodness that is absolutely delicious!

What is cold Foam?

If you’re not familiar with cold foam, it’s made by blending regular milk until its thick and smooth. It then will have a slightly sweet and creamy texture that will float to the top of the drink without quickly vanishing.

Now that you know what cold foam actually is, Im going to give some easy steps in making a cold foam iced caramel macchiato at home.

Setup and Ingredients

First make sure you have the following simple ingredients; milk, vanilla, fresh made expresso, and a hand held frothing machine. As far as the expresso machine, there are several kinds of machines that will work just fine. We have a Saeco Incanto super automatic and love it!

Add Ice

The first step in making this coffee drink is to fill your cup up with fresh ice. Don’t allow it to sit very long, this means be ready to go as soon as you start this first step.

Pour the Milk

Go ahead and add your milk to the hand held frother. Fill the milk to the line that is marked on the pitcher. We had no experience with frothing until we found this inexpensive Bodum Latteo Milk Frother. Henry and I really wanted to try and add the cool frothing touch to our caramel macchiato we had been making for years. We lucked up and found this frother at
Target and it has been wonderful! So easy to use and so worth the fifteen bucks!

Add Vanilla

After the milk, it is time for the vanilla. Add the vanilla syrup to the milk before frothing. We normally do 3 pumps, but add whatever sweetness you desire.

Froth the Milk

Next, start your frothing. This may take a minute or so to get it to the consistency it needs to be. You want to see the milk and foam double in size. Keep in mind you will probably have left over in the container. This may be used at the end to top it off before the caramel.

Now, pour the frothed milk into the glass about 3/4 of the way up leaving room for the espresso.

Add the Espresso

Now for the most important ingredient, the espresso! Push the button on your machine to start your fresh espresso. Once the espresso shots are made, pour them over the ice and frothed milk. If there is room, add the remainder of the foam.

Drizzle the Caramel

The last step is topping it off with caramel drizzle. You can add as little or as much as you like, but it looks pretty cool to do a cross hatch pattern. And Perfecto! You have a cold foam caramel macchiato. Enjoy.