diff --git a/Makefile.include b/Makefile.include
index 692fe86a53..5ddce7f8dd 100644
--- a/Makefile.include
+++ b/Makefile.include
@@ -171,6 +171,7 @@ include $(RIOTMAKE)/utils/checks.mk
 include $(RIOTMAKE)/docker.inc.mk
 
 # include color echo macros
+include $(RIOTMAKE)/utils/ansi.mk
 include $(RIOTMAKE)/color.inc.mk
 
 # include concurrency helpers
diff --git a/makefiles/color.inc.mk b/makefiles/color.inc.mk
index d302e5832d..ea494442db 100644
--- a/makefiles/color.inc.mk
+++ b/makefiles/color.inc.mk
@@ -14,12 +14,11 @@ ifneq ($(CC_NOCOLOR),1)
   IS_TERMINAL = $(if $(MAKE_TERMOUT),$(MAKE_TERMERR),)
   # Check if terminal support colored output
   ifneq ($(IS_TERMINAL),)
-    _ANSI_ESC := $(shell printf "\033")
-    COLOR_GREEN  := $(_ANSI_ESC)[1;32m
-    COLOR_RED    := $(_ANSI_ESC)[1;31m
-    COLOR_YELLOW := $(_ANSI_ESC)[1;33m
-    COLOR_PURPLE := $(_ANSI_ESC)[1;35m
-    COLOR_RESET  := $(_ANSI_ESC)[0m
+    COLOR_GREEN  := $(ANSI_GREEN)
+    COLOR_RED    := $(ANSI_RED)
+    COLOR_YELLOW := $(ANSI_YELLOW)
+    COLOR_PURPLE := $(ANSI_PURPLE)
+    COLOR_RESET  := $(ANSI_RESET)
     ifeq ($(OS),Darwin)
       COLOR_ECHO   := echo -e
       SHELL=bash
diff --git a/makefiles/utils/ansi.mk b/makefiles/utils/ansi.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..53fabdb054
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/utils/ansi.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# ANSI Terminal codes and other escape sequences.
+# The objective of this definitions is to be able to write special characters
+# without resorting to shell commands like echo.
+
+include $(RIOTMAKE)/utils/ansi_special.mk
+
+ANSI_GREEN  := $(ANSI_ESC)[1;32m
+ANSI_RED    := $(ANSI_ESC)[1;31m
+ANSI_YELLOW := $(ANSI_ESC)[1;33m
+ANSI_PURPLE := $(ANSI_ESC)[1;35m
+ANSI_RESET  := $(ANSI_ESC)[0m
diff --git a/makefiles/utils/ansi_special.mk b/makefiles/utils/ansi_special.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a67d5367bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/makefiles/utils/ansi_special.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# Make does not recognize escaped characters (e.g. \t, \033, etc).
+# The following variables contain the characters themselves.
+# This file is inherently fragile (i.e. your editor could destroy the tab
+# without you realizing, to be careful when editing this.
+
+# To generate this: $ printf "ANSI_ESC := \033# comment"
+ANSI_ESC := # you may or may not be able to see that character in your editor
+
+# The third parameter to the subst is a tab - be careful not to replace it with
+# spaces!
+TAB := $(subst ,,	)
+
+define NEWLINE
+
+
+endef