Latte macchiato in a caffè latte. Simply, in a caffè latte, the emphasis is on the coffee, while in a latte macchiato, the emphasis is on the milk. The "macchia" is the little "spot" of crèma left on top of the milk to clearly distinguish that the beverage is a latte macchiato and not a caffè latte, where the espresso traditionally has been added before the milk, hence having no "mark". Conversely, caffè macchiato, another similarly named beverage, is actually espresso "stained" with a small amount of milk. A latte macchiato may be prepared simply by frothing milk, generally producing generous foam,
Latte faster and through a much smaller stream. Calling people "latte drinkers" pejoratively has become a common political attack in Western cultures. The popularity of espresso drinking in large cities, especially among more affluent urban populations, has caused some to consider it elitist behavior. In the United States, conservative political commentators have been known to call their opponents "latte-drinking liberal elites." In Canadian politics, latte drinking is used to portray people as out-of-touch intellectuals and the antithesis of the Tim Hortons coffee drinker that is considered representative of an ordinary Canadian. In Scandinavian politics, the term "the caffè latte segment" is