Aperol Spritz glasses

Start with the capacity. Below 50 cl you cannot fit in enough ice, and the spritz then warms up within ten minutes. Between 50 and 58 cl lies the practical standard for home use, which covers the Timeless from RCR, the Elysia from Pasabahce, the Barcelona from Lehmann and the Spksy from Onis. If you want to pour more generously or work with large ice cubes, you end up at 63 to 74 cl, with the Bistro from Pasabahce, the Optiq from RCR, the Celebration from Nachtmann and the America'20s from Bormioli Rocco.

The shape is almost always the same: a rounded bowl on a short, sturdy stem. That curve does two things. Ice fits in without the orange slice getting wedged, and the inward-sloping rim holds the bittersweet aroma of the Aperol instead of letting it blow away. The stem is functional, because without one your hand warms the bowl. Also look at the thickness of the rim; a thin rim drinks more pleasantly, but on a terrace where glasses get stacked, a slightly heavier version is wiser.

Fill the glass right up with ice first, so not two cubes but all the way to the rim. Cold glass plus plenty of ice means hardly any meltwater is added, while a little ice melts away quickly and dilutes the drink. Then pour in the order the ratio follows: three parts prosecco, two parts Aperol, a splash of sparkling water.

The prosecco goes in first and the Aperol second. Do it the other way round and you have to stir to mix, losing part of the bubbles straight away. Stir gently once at most with a bar spoon. Finish with half a slice of orange in the glass, not on the rim, so the oil from the peel joins in. The full ratio is on the Aperol Spritz recipe; if you want something lighter or more bitter, you use exactly the same bowl for a Hugo Spritz.

Almost everything on this page is lead-free crystal glass or tempered hospitality glass. Lead-free crystal is clearer and thinner, which shows off the colour of the spritz better, but it is also more sensitive to a knock against the tap. Tempered glass is thicker at the rim and copes better with the temperature shock of ice in a freshly rinsed glass, which happens on a terrace more often than you would think.

Aperol leaves a slightly sticky orange film that does not dissolve at low temperatures. So rinse the glass with warm water before it goes into the dishwasher, and run a short glassware programme. Place the bowls apart, with space between the stems, and store them upright with the bowl up so the rim rests on nothing. Limescale marks stand out strongly on a large rounded bowl; polish afterwards with a lint-free cloth.

The balloon bowl originally comes from Spain, where it was used for gin and tonic, so if you want one glass for both, look at the gin and tonic glasses. If you would rather pour prosecco neat, the champagne flutes are the logical neighbour. For the full overview of cocktail shapes, start at the cocktail glasses, and a generous bowl from the large wine glasses does the same job in practice. If you want to keep the ratio identical every time without guessing, the jiggers are the tool for that.