Photo by John Lineberger

Caramel is an ugly obsession of mine. I love it in my coffee, on my ice cream, my pie, my pastries. I even call it the way it was meant to be pronounced: “care-a-mel.” The caramel macchiato is a classic favorite for me. It’s a simple mixture of vanilla syrup, milk, espresso roast and that delicious caramel drizzle on top and bottom. I remember trying it for the first time when I was around 15 or 16 years old and it was like love at fist sip. Up until the creation of this column, which forced me to get creative, it had been my go to choice every time I needed Starbucks in my life.

Today, we are going to take a look at what can be done to add a little flare to this long-standing menu item. The main component that can be altered is the syrup. Starbucks offers a wide variety of syrup flavors throughout the year, but many of the more eccentric ones are seasonal/holiday only. The year round options are : vanilla, hazelnut, caramel, classic (sweetener without flavor), toffee nut, cinnamon dolce, peppermint and raspberry. Any of these could possibly work as a substitute I suppose, but I played it safe today with raspberry.

Overall, I’d say it was a tasty addition. The raspberry flavor definitely works well with the drink, but I did feel like it was overpowered heavily by the other ingredients. It was mostly just a “hint” of raspberry, which may be surprising when you look at how colorful the drink becomes.

Incase you need it, here’s the ingredient list:

1 Caramel Macchiato (Iced or Hot)

Substitute Vanilla Syrup with Raspberry Syrup (or any other, technically)

So, if this is something that looks good to you, try it out! If not, come back next time and we’ll have another item off Starbucks’ secret menu that could be more to your liking.