A progressive wave is washing over downtown L.A.’s Grand Central Market, so it’s fitting that G&B Coffee would find a home in the historic food court’s Stall #C19. The coffee company’s forward thinking owners, Kyle Glanville and Charles Babinski, each contributed to Intelligentsia’s success for several years, but even though they’ve already established themselves as industry leaders, they’ve continued to question coffee roasts, brew methods and hospitality. At G&B, which they relocated from SQIRL to start June, they’ve also rethought the milkshake, which is undoubtedly one of L.A.’s best, and comes with an added jolt.

The G&B Shake ($7.50) currently starts with two double shots of San Juan Bourbon, a single estate, single varietal Guatemalan coffee from Vancouver’s Forth Ninth Parallel Coffee Roasters that isn’t too heavy on acidity. The espresso joins premium Straus Family Creamery vanilla ice cream and fresh ground espresso beans, which enter a glass Kern jar for texture’s sake, along with a metal spiral-stemmed spoon. Yes, G&B has straws, but I found myself downing the shake straight from the jar. When a shake’s this good, why slow intake?