Duralex Gigogne

Start with what goes in most often. Serve water with a meal in the 16 cl glass: small enough to refill frequently, yet low enough to sit beside a plate. If you prefer to pour once, choose the 36 cl glass, which also leaves room for ice. The 22 cl tea glass sits exactly in between.

All three stack, saving half a shelf in a full cupboard. Looking for the same faceted tempered glass? See the other Duralex glasses. Prefer to compare by capacity? The sizes are listed side by side with the water glasses and the tumbler glasses.

The 36 cl size is the one cocktails fit in. A caipirinha is muddled directly in the glass: lime and cane sugar at the bottom, crushed ice on top, and cachaça poured over it. For a Cuba libre fill the same glass with ice, rum, and cola, then squeeze a lime wedge over it. The thick wall retains the cold and withstands muddling with a muddler better than a thin-walled glass.

The 22 cl tea glass is intended for hot tea and works just as well with fresh mint or an espresso with hot milk. Pour hot drinks in slowly and do not put the glass under a boiling-hot tap when it is ice-cold.

Gigogne glasses are made of tempered glass: after forming, they are cooled quickly, which puts the outer layer under stress. That makes the wall stronger than ordinary soda-lime glass and means it falls apart into blunt granules rather than shards if it breaks.

They go in the dishwasher without any trouble. Do not stack them inside one another there, because two wet glasses suck themselves together. Limescale comes off with a splash of vinegar in the rinsing water.

If this doesn't suit you, the alternative is close by. For hot drinks, all tea glasses are grouped together, from single-wall to double-wall. If you're mainly looking for tools rather than glassware, check the cocktail shakers, where you'll also find jiggers, bar spoons, and strainers. And if you want to know what belongs in a tumbler of this size, the recipes above give the proportions and the right type of ice for each drink.