Tea glasses

The size determines almost everything. You refill a small 22 to 25 cl glass more often, so the tea stays hot. That’s customary for mint tea and loose-leaf tea that you steep a few times. In a café, 27 to 33 cl is standard, just enough for a tea bag with a little room for water above it. If you want a whole bunch of fresh mint in the glass, or to steep loose-leaf tea in an infuser, go for 34 to 40 cl.

Then there’s the handle. A full 30 cl glass without a handle isn’t comfortable to hold, unless the walls are thick or the rim stays cooler. That’s why La Rochère has mug models with sturdy handles. Pasabahce opts for a flared shape, so you can hold the glass by the rim. For hospitality tea glasses, stackability is the third consideration. Duralex Versailles and Gigogne stack inside each other, saving half a shelf. You notice that straight away behind a bar.

Rinse the glass first with a splash of hot water. Sounds excessive, but a cold glass pulls so much heat from the water that black tea stops steeping properly within half a minute. Then pour until two centimeters below the rim. That way, you can pick up the glass without putting your fingers in the tea.

Water temperature matters more than steeping time. Green tea needs about eighty degrees. With boiling water, it turns bitter within a minute. Black tea and herbal tea, on the other hand, should be made with water that's just off the boil. For fresh mint tea, press a big bunch of mint into the glass, pour boiling water over it, and leave it alone for three minutes. In the mood for something stronger? A hot toddy tastes great in a tea glass, and an Irish coffee does too, as long as the glass is thick enough.

Duralex uses tempered glass. The outside is cooled quickly, which puts it under tension and makes the glass much more impact-resistant than ordinary pressed glass. If a glass does break, it shatters into blunt granules rather than shards. That’s why you see these glasses in school cafeterias and hospitals. La Rochère’s thick pressed glass isn’t tempered, but its weight makes it sturdy.

All the glasses in this collection are dishwasher-safe. Place stackable glasses separately in the rack, not inside one another, or water will get trapped between them. Over time, tea leaves a brown stain on the bottom. You can remove it with baking soda in hot water and a brush. Avoid abrasive cleaners, as they can make the glass cloudy.

If you drink coffee from the same glass as often as tea, also take a look at the coffee glasses. There you'll find the same sizes in different shapes. If you don't want to feel any heat on your fingers at all, then double-walled glasses are the next step. The two brands leading the way here each have their own overview. At Duralex you'll find tempered stackable glassware, and at La Rochère ribbed French glassware. If you're looking for glasses that nest to save shelf space, all the stackable glasses are on one page, including sizes for water and soft drinks.