J-Line Lewis

With a glass this size, the main question is whether you serve with or without ice. If you serve a cocktail up, stirred cold and without ice, you keep to a fill of fifteen to twenty centilitres and deliberately leave room. Served on the rocks, three ice cubes go in without the glass looking full. The clear version shows off the colour of the drink, which with a red or yellow cocktail is half the fun. The azure blue bowl overpowers pale colours but looks striking with a clear drink. Two glasses per guest is enough for an evening.

Chill the glass beforehand by filling it with ice and water for a few minutes and tipping that out just before you pour. Stir or shake your drink separately and then strain it into the glass, so no ice shards float along. A Cosmopolitan with an orange zest looks best in the clear version, and a Daiquiri with lime works well in the blue bowl, where the clear rum stands out against the colour.

Lewis is pressed soda-lime glass. The blue colour sits in the glass itself rather than in a layer on the outside, so it cannot come off in the machine. Place the glasses separately and upright in the dishwasher rack, because a short stem breaks sooner than you think when weight leans on it. Polish the bowl afterwards with linen; on a wide surface water streaks show up immediately.

If you want to see what else there is from this brand, take a look at the J-Line collection. For more choice in the same use, the cocktail glasses are the starting point, and if you stay with the colour the coloured glasses give more options. If you mix your own, a cocktail shaker belongs with it, along with a cocktail strainer to keep ice shards out of the bowl.