Arcoroc Color Studio

The difference is in the height and in what you pour into it. The tumbler of 32 cl is low and wide, stands firmly and is the size you reach for when serving water with a meal, juice at breakfast or a drink with a single ice cube. The highball glass of 35 cl is narrower and taller, so it holds more ice without the glass becoming top-heavy and it keeps the fizz in longer. In practice the three-centilitre difference says less than the shape does. If you want to set a mixed table, the two sizes combine nicely, including alongside clear glass.

Grey glass changes the way a drink looks, so choose what you pour into it with care. Clear drinks with plenty of ice come into their own in the highball glass, where the colour of the glass doesn't have to carry the contents. A Cuba Libre works well in it: ice first, then lime, then rum and only the cola at the end. For a Mojito, press the mint gently against the side rather than pounding it to pieces, because torn leaves make the drink bitter. In the low tumbler, water or iced tea remains the most obvious choice.

Arcoroc makes Color Studio as hospitality glassware, so the wall is thicker than on a decorative coloured range and the colour sits in the glass itself rather than in a layer on the outside. That means the colour doesn't wear away and doesn't fade in the dishwasher, not even after hundreds of cycles. So you can simply run the glasses every day on a normal programme. Put them upside down in the rack and let them cool before you put them away, because warm glass that you stack straight away will stick together.

You'll find other ranges from the same maker at Arcoroc, which also lists the clear hospitality glasses that often share a table with a coloured range. If you're mainly after something for water at the table, the wider selection of water glasses offers more choice in shape and capacity. And if you're going to mix drinks yourself, a bar spoon is the first piece of kit you need, even before a shaker.