Approximately 60 million people go to Starbucks every week. Caramel macchiatos are their second most popular drink. But did you know that caramel macchiatos don’t actually exist?

For years, Starbucks has been fooling you into believing that a caramel macchiato is a real thing. And recently, they introduced a coconut milk mocha macchiato, which as just as nonexistent.

Okay, obviously it's not that the drink itself doesn't exist. You can of course walk into any Starbucks and order a macchiato, and you'll get a drink –– the thing is that the drink they give you will not be a macchiato.

I don't know when this started, or who's idea it was, but the drink Starbucks serves as a macchiato is essentially a flavored latte that hasn't been mixed yet. And there's nothing wrong with that, other than the fact that essentially every other coffee shop in the world has to explain to essentially every single customer that orders a macchiato that they're not going to get the drink they're expecting.

So what's a real macchiato? Though it is still an espresso drink, it's pretty much as far from the Starbucks version as you can get. A macchiato is two shots of espresso with a little bit of foamed milk on top. That's it. There's usually no sweetener, it would be odd to add flavored syrup, and you really can't get one iced.

I work at a coffee shop. At least once a day, someone will come in and ask for an iced caramel macchiato –– it's always an iced caramel macchiato. When that happens, I will briefly explain to them what a macchiato is, and they'll either get woke or nod their heads like that's what they wanted to order. It's usually the latter. In those situations, there's not much for me to do but ring in the macchiato and watch as they receive their drink with confused eyes and slightly dropped jaws. Sometimes they double-check with the barista if that's actually their drunk, but they usually just walk away looking sort of lost.

This happens at least once a day. So much confusion, and all because of Starbucks. All because someone decided to take a totally normal latte and make it more-expensive, extra-sweetened, and to give it a more exciting name. If only there hadn't already been a drink with that same name. To think, all of this could have been avoided if only one single person had been a little more creative.

A fun fact: Starbucks does actually serve real macchiatos. However, they call them Undertows, and they're only on the "Secret Menu."

Another fun fact: An Undertow is actually a real drink as well, and it's actually quite similar to Starbucks' version of a macchiato.

Yeah, I don't get it either.