The satisfying trick for a perfectly-layered smoothie every time is to use a spoon, which is nothing new — it’s actually an old hack you may have seen in cocktail bars for years.

A perfectly layered smoothie is all about the order of ingredients — liquid ingredients on the bottom, creamy ingredients and powders in the middle, and solids on top.

To get a perfect smoothie, use New York Times food columnist Melissa Clark’s spoon trick, which she shared via Instagram. First, grab a spoon and turn it so the back is facing up.

Slowly pour the smoothie over it, letting it ooze out slowly over a large surface area to ensure that it won’t sink down and mix into the previous layer.

Keeping the spoon as close to the liquid as possible will ensure the layers stay well-defined. If too far away, you could wind up with your layers spilling over into a mess.

The best smoothies for layering have a thick, cream base layer with fruit or nutty toppings, like a strawberry-banana smoothie with fresh fruit chunks and chia seeds.