Duralex Picardie

The series runs from 9 to 58 cl, and that is where the choice gets difficult. The 9 and 13 cl are espresso and shot sizes. The 16 and 20 cl are for juice or for children. The 25 cl is the standard water glass and at the same time the glass that serves in French bistros as a wine glass, because a 12 cl pour sits comfortably in it. The 31 and 36 cl are soft drink and mixer sizes, and the 50 and 58 cl fall under the long-drink glasses. Colour is the last choice: besides clear there are navy, grey and yellow, and they stack together just the same.

The glass takes hot and cold, and with thin glass that is not a given. Tea, milky coffee and hot chocolate go into it without trouble. Pour a sangria into the 36 or 50 cl, with fruit that the waist just keeps from floating to the top. A cuba libre works better in the 31 cl than in a tall glass, because the lime stays suspended in the middle. Do not fill hot drinks to the rim, or the top gets too hot to hold.

Duralex is made to stack, and that is also where it most often goes wrong. Two glasses jammed into each other come apart if you stand the bottom one in warm water and fill the top one with cold water. Do not stack more than four or five high and put them away dry, because moisture in between is what causes the jamming. Everything can go in the dishwasher, even on a normal cycle.

The Picardie is one shape from a wider range. If you want the same tempered glass in a cleaner, straight-sided form, you end up with the other series under Duralex. If you are searching purely by format and not by brand, all the low models are gathered under the tumblers, and at the stacking glasses you will find everything that fits inside itself. For hospitality, that last point is often the real selection criterion.