3 of a Kind: Serious Coffee Milkshakes
3 of a Kind checks out three places across the country to try something cool, new and delicious.
There are two kinds of coffee milkshakes: sweet, silky scoop-shop concoctions made with ice cream that just happens to be coffee-flavored; and serious, espresso-spiked caffeinators that just happen to be made with ice cream. When you’re looking for a buzz, here are three great places to find the latter.
This Brooklyn coffee shop takes its ingredients seriously, roasting its own coffee for retail, wholesale and subscription services. On-premises owner and coffee expert Darleen Scherer serves several pour-overs, as well as inventive riffs like a coffee-based Arnold Palmer and an Espresso Tonic (all made with impeccable ingredients). The Mocha Milkshake combines vegan Van Leeuwen dark chocolate ice cream, a double shot of espresso, iced coffee, espresso grinds and Maldon sea salt to balance the flavor.
G&B Coffee takes great care with its drinks; even the nut milk (with almonds and macadamia nuts) is made in-house at this Los Angeles spot. So it stands to reason that the G&B Shake would be as superb as it is high-octane. The team uses a pint of sweet-cream ice cream from beloved creamery McConnell’s in Santa Barbara. The ice cream is scooped into a frosty malt tin, then sprinkled with a dusting of ground espresso for texture. To give the shake the full coffee flavor, G&B pours in two double shots of coffee, then blends it for around a minute on the shake machine before serving.
There’s a double wallop of coffee in the buzzy Black Tiger at this neighborhood cafe with three locations around Oregon. Made using a pint of Jim and Patty’s own espresso ice cream (called Black Tiger, naturally), the shake is shot through with chunks of coffee beans and is available in a 20- or 24-ounce portion for extra-frosty bliss.
