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The Joy of a Good Glass


Ellen Shapiro

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Why are good drinking-glasses so hard to find? In my house when you ask for a glass of water you'll get a glass of water. None of these little juice glasses that used to be shrimp cocktail from the supermarket in the 1970s. No yellow plastic cups leftover from frat parties. No square glasses that are impossible to drink from. You'll get your water in a heavy, copious glass that feels good in the hand and is a pleasure to drink from. But such glasses don't just grow on trees. You have to be on the lookout. Often you have to buy a whole set of glasses in three sizes, two of which are ridiculous, in order to get the good glasses. I hate that.

Ellen Shapiro

www.byellen.com

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Our preferred water glasses are English beer glasses, which hold an imperial pint. Oddly enough, they seem to disappear when my son and his friends are drinking beer.

Arthur Johnson, aka "fresco"
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I've been collecting pint mason jars for years, make for a respectible tumbler.

Edited by =Mark (log)

=Mark

Give a man a fish, he eats for a Day.

Teach a man to fish, he eats for Life.

Teach a man to sell fish, he eats Steak

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:smile:

The basement of the local Crate and Barrel store is heaven for people who like a good solid water glass and don't want to buy a three-size, 12-place ensemble to get one. You can get exactly what you want, in precisely the numbers you wish.

:smile:

Me, I vote for the joyride every time.

-- 2/19/2004

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I agree with the thread, but it seems like, even though we have nice 'Real" glasses, we are always grabbing the oversized plastic tumblers from Crate and Barrel. They are lighter weight, big enough to hold lots of water or soft drinks or lemonade and with the dog around they are fortunately indestructible.

Back in college though, I did have a matching set of beer cups from Harpo's Bar (in Columbia and St. Louis, MO) with Mizzou Tigers all over them - very classy way to impres the ladies. :wink:

Bill Russell

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Am I the only one who finds it unpleasant to drink water (or anything) from plastic?

Are you kidding? In our house, even the dog's water dish is glass!

Unfortunately, the teenagers are not as trainable, and as a result I have an entire cabinet given over to plastic "go" cups, which thrash about incessantly and multiply like bunnies on Viagra.

Dave Scantland
Executive director
dscantland@eGstaff.org
eG Ethics signatory

Eat more chicken skin.

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which thrash about incessantly and multiply like bunnies on Viagra.

:biggrin:

Tumbling about, huh? That's what happens when you keep your cabinet door closed!

I'll shill for the Crate and Barrel basement too, and not just for tumblers. Their Gala wine glass is a beautiful thing, and four bucks or so last time I looked.

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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Am I the only one who finds it unpleasant to drink water (or anything) from plastic?

No, you are not alone.

I despise plastic in any form to drink or eat from or out of, or even with.

That alone keeps me away from Starbucks, not just the Brew.

Peter
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You'll get your water in a heavy, copious glass that feels good in the hand and is a pleasure to drink from. But such glasses don't just grow on trees. You have to be on the lookout. Often you have to buy a whole set of glasses in three sizes, two of which are ridiculous, in order to get the good glasses. I hate that.

I totally agree-I like drinking a nice big glass of water out of a heavy glass. I like the French ones that Williams Sonoma sells, made by Picardie. A few bucks each, so it is not a crisis if one chips. Although they come in four or five sizes, you can buy only one size (I like the 17.5 oz. size myself.)

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Those Picardie tumblers are the right weight for my tastes, but I prefer a non-sloped glass. A straight glass is much more stable and feels better in the hand: hold out your hand the way you'd hold a glass and relax the muscles . . . does your pinky wind up inside the grip of your forefinger? Not unless you're from Men in Black II.

Ellen Shapiro

www.byellen.com

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A straight glass ... feels better in the hand...

I guess it's like knives- what feels better is very personal. Straight glasses don't feel right to me at all. I also have a bunch of similar glasses by Libby. They are heavier, straighter, and cheaper-but the Picardie ones feels just perfect to me. I really like the ridges on both of them-much prefer that to straight sides.

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I am exceedingly picky about glassware, although it seems what I find preferable is a little different than many of the people who've posted.

There are glasses in my house that I won't drink out of if I have any alternative. They're too tall, or too heavy, or too thin. I picked out our most recent glass purchase by mock lifting them to my lips - if they didn't feel right, I knew I wouldn't use them. I don't like heavy bottom glasses at all - I prefer glasses that are about the same thickness all around. And I'm not a size queen - I'm notorious for always leaving half an inch in the bottom of my glass, so bigger is not better for me - 16 oz is my maximum. My husband loves using huge 22 and 24 oz beer glasses - not only won't I drink out of them, they bother me just to wash. Under no circumstances should

a glass be taller than 6.5 inches, and my perfect glass is about 5 inches.

And don't even get me started on flatware - length, weight, balance...

Tammy's Tastings

Creating unique food and drink experiences

eGullet Foodblogs #1 and #2
Dinner for 40

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I find the sturdy 16 oz pint glass (available at Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, and a jillion other places for as little as $2) to be an unassailable masterpiece. It's hard to imagine anything more satisfying to drink out of, except of course the skull of my enemies.

Matthew Amster-Burton, aka "mamster"

Author, Hungry Monkey, coming in May

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I'm extremely picky about glasses, except when it comes to water. For some reason, I can only drink water out of plastic glasses. Large ones. I don't know why really. I have good glasses for wine, milk, juice, whiskey etc, but I must have my water either in a water bottle, or a large plastic glass, usually Tupperware.

:blink:

I HATE plastic glasses otherwise.

Edited by Marlene (log)

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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My favorite drinking glasses are actually plastic :shock: . They are made by Guzzini. I bought them in Italy in 1998 and have been unable to find anymore since. Fortunately, I still have all the ones I originally bought (they don't break). They are of a perfect size and weight and do not add any flavors to beverages. I am otherwise not crazy about plastic cups.

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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  • 1 month later...

We have a beautiful set of very heavy floral etched glasses and yet the one everyone in my household always prefers is an odd one that appeared out of nowhere with a christmasy carousel horse painted on the side of it. :wink:

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My favorite drinking glasses are actually plastic :shock: . They are made by Guzzini. I bought them in Italy in 1998 and have been unable to find anymore since. Fortunately, I still have all the ones I originally bought (they don't break). They are of a perfect size and weight and do not add any flavors to beverages. I am otherwise not crazy about plastic cups.

I wonder if I have the same sort of plastic glass... my favorite drinking vessel was left behind in my basement by a family of Italians who used to live there. The "glass" is a perfect cylinder, with walls about 1/4" thick, and the plastic is a pale green color. The thing is sturdy as hell, but extremely light.

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I'm extremely picky about glasses, except when it comes to water.  For some reason, I can only drink water out of plastic glasses.  Large ones.  I don't know why really.  I have good glasses for wine, milk, juice, whiskey etc, but I must have my water either in a water bottle, or a large plastic glass, usually Tupperware.

:blink:

I HATE plastic glasses otherwise.

When I'm at home I drink water out of a cobalt blue beer glass. When I'm out and need to bring a bottle, I put it in a toggle-top glass bottle. It impresses the heck out of everyone, tastes good that way, and is easy to clean and sterilize.

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