La Rochère

With La Rochère, choose by range first, because the pattern sets the character of your table more than the size does. Abeille is the best known and runs from a 10 cl espresso glass to 26 cl tumblers and 27.5 cl tea mugs. Ouessant has straight ribs and is the widest range: a 27 cl coffee glass, a 36 cl tea glass, a 26 cl tumbler and a 45 cl latte macchiato glass. Versailles and Louison are rounder and softer in line, while Anduze and Troquet deliver the crisp French bistro glass.

By size the range is easy to follow. The espresso glasses sit at 10 cl, coffee and bistro glasses at 20 to 27.5 cl, tumblers around 22 to 26 cl and the largest models at 36 to 45 cl. Many ranges come in sixes, the mixed colour sets in fours. If you combine two ranges on one table, keep them the same height; then the difference in pattern reads as intention rather than coincidence.

Relief glass shows at its best with drinks that let light through. Tea, white coffee, a pale aperitif or simply water with lemon make the pattern light up; a dark cola hides it. So do not put these glasses away for special occasions but use them every day, because that is what they are made for.

For hot drinks the usual rule applies: rinse the glass with hot water first, so the pattern does not act as a cold bridge and leave your tea lukewarm. On a drinks table the same tumblers serve happily as low cocktail glasses, and the pattern works in your favour there because it breaks up the shape of the ice cube. A negroni with one large ice cube looks good in an Anduze or Abeille tumbler, and an aperol spritz is better poured into the tallest model you have, with plenty of ice and a slice of orange.

Pressed glass with relief is thicker than blown glass and therefore less fragile, but the pattern does hold on to dirt. Limescale and tea stains settle into the grooves and cannot be polished out with a cloth. Use a soft brush and rinse with water containing a dash of vinegar, and the lines stay sharp.

La Rochère clears its glassware for the dishwasher. Do choose a short programme and keep the glasses apart, because pressed glass is heavy and knocks hard against its neighbours. Coloured-through ranges do not lose their colour in the machine, but too much rinse aid lays a grey veil over the relief that is hard to get off again.

If you are searching by shape rather than by brand, you can carry on from here. The complete tea glasses sit together, including tea mugs with a handle, and the coffee glasses run from espresso to latte macchiato. The everyday sizes for water and soft drinks are among the tumbler glasses. If you like glassware with an old-world look, have a look at the vintage glasses as well. And the long spoon you use for tea, white coffee and stirring an aperitif sits with the jiggers and mixing glasses among the bar spoons.