To reach the final, Alcaraz had offered one after the other victories against Rafael Nadal, king of ocher, and the world No.1 Novak Djokovic in the previous rounds, unheard of in the same tournament on clay.
He also became the youngest to manage to beat both of them.
He will climb to sixth place in the world on Monday, just four days after turning 19.
Zverev's impotence on Sunday can be summed up in one number: he didn't get any break points in the game.
"You are the best player in the world right now. Even if you are still only five years old, you are already beating us all," said the world No.3 with a smile.
"It's great for tennis to have a player like you. You're going to win lots of Grand Slams and become world No.1, and you're going to win this tournament many times," said the 25-year-old German, who completely lost control in the second round, until concluding on a double fault, under the constant aggression of his young opponent.
At just 19 years old, Alcaraz now has five titles to his name, including two Masters 1000 after his success in Miami in early April and four on clay, his favorite surface.
Carlos Alcaraz (g) winner of the German Alexander Zverev in the final of the Madrid tournament, May 8, 2022 OSCAR DEL POZO AFP
He is the youngest to reach this total since Nadal in 2005 (at 18) and has still not lost a single final.
He is also the player with the most matches won in 2022, with 28 wins.
By beating Nadal, Djokovic, then Zverev over his Madrid week, Alcaraz became the first player to beat three top 4 players since David Nalbandian in 2007 (Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, already in Madrid, then on hard).
© 2022 AFP