You’re dining in Convo, and you walk up to Fat Bar (the dessert bar) after you finish your meal. But what should you get?

The conventional options might be ice cream, a fudge pop, cookie, cupcake, cheesecake or a slushie. That conventional list is far from comprehensive, though. One of the more overlooked options for dessert is the shake.

“[Shakes] are something different,” freshman Hueston Holder, a founder of the new shake movement, said. “[I like] the texture.”

It is generally accepted that there are three tiers of shakes that can be made in Convo, distinguished by the type of liquid that is used as a base and whether or not toppings are used.

Before beginning, one must understand that shake-making is an art and must be treated as such.

Tier 1: Vanilla and Chocolate Milkshakes

Vanilla and chocolate shakes are a great place for beginners to start. Simple and functional, these shakes are an opportunity for a shaker to get his or her feet wet before progressing to the more advanced varieties.

Play around with these shakes. Figure out which combinations of milk and soft serve make the best flavors. For example, I never use chocolate soft serve in my chocolate shakes because the flavor is so strong. Instead, I have found that chocolate milk with vanilla soft serve produces the perfect chocolaty flavor.

Mastery of a tier does not require that a shaker move on. As a matter of fact, Holder’s favorite shake is chocolate.

Tier 2: Chocolate and Vanilla with Toppings

Before adding sundae toppings to your shake to expand the flavor possibilities, you first have to be familiar with and confident in your ability to make a regular vanilla or chocolate shake. If you are not, you risk spoiling your shake before you even get to the sundae bar.

As a general rule, anything you might put on a sundae is fair game for a shake; however, when adding candy toppings, it is important to make sure that your shake has a thicker consistency, otherwise the candy will just sink to the bottom of your cup.

Freshman Jake Miller’s favorite shake is a vanilla base with Oreo cookies and caramel sauce. The combination gives the shake two dimensions: the crunch of the cookies, and the stickiness of the caramel. Another co-founder of the movement, Miller averages about four shakes per week.

“They taste that good,” he said.

Tier 3: Juicy Shakes

With a regular milkshake, you will always be able to anticipate how the product will turn out. When making shakes with a fruit juice base, this is not the case. These shakes are much riskier, but also much more rewarding.

Especially in mixing, one must take special care in making a juicy shake. Because the fruit juice is water-based and less viscous, it sloshes around in the cup more than milk does, so keeping it all in the cup can be a challenge.

There are a nearly endless number of flavors that one can make with juices, some simple and others far more complex. For example, if apple juice is used, the shake will be refreshing and light, with only a hint of apple in the background.

If strawberry-kiwi-banana juice is used though, the shake will have a stronger taste that is strikingly similar to that of a banana split. You could even make a shake with a soda as the base, although flattening the soda to avoid excessive fizz would be a good idea.

As with any other form of art, it may come more naturally to some than others.

If you are the latter, do not give up; with practice, anyone can become an expert shake-maker.