Water glasses

For everyday use, 25 to 35 cl is the practical size. Small enough to top up often so the water stays cool, large enough not to reach for the jug every two minutes. If it is a laid table where wine is served too, a water glass on a short stem is customary, because it then matches the height of the wine bowls.

After that, look at the shape of the base and the rim. Toughened glass has a thickened rim that stands up to daily use and is the standard in the trade. A slightly tapered model fits among the stacking glasses and saves a lot of cupboard space. If you also want to use the same glass for juice, soft drinks or whisky, look at the tumbler glasses, because that is the same shape in a wider range of sizes. At home count on six to twelve glasses, and in the trade on at least twice your number of covers, because this is the glass that has to be refilled most often.

At a laid cover the water glass stands above and to the right of the knife, slightly to the left of the wine glasses, so you can pour past it without knocking the other bowls. Fill to about two thirds, because a full glass of water sloshes and leaves rings on the tablecloth.

Water tastes best on the table from a jug or carafe rather than from bottles, with a few slices of lemon or cucumber in it. A water jug of around a litre is enough for four people for a whole meal. If you are serving something more festive without alcohol, a virgin mojito with mint and lime is the simplest recipe you can build in this very glass, and the mocktail pages set out the other alcohol-free variants, from espresso tonic to a virgin piña colada. Fill the glass generously with ice for those, because water and soft drinks dilute more slowly than you think.

Water glasses turn dull more often than other glasses, simply because they are washed most often. In most cases that dull haze is limescale from hard water rather than wear. A splash of vinegar in the rinsing water, or one wash by hand, takes it off again.

Always put them in the dishwasher upright and not upside down against each other, because the rim is the thinnest part. Never force stackable models into one another. If two glasses do stick, stand the lower one in warm water and pour cold water into the upper one, and they will release by themselves. A glass brush with a soft head is handy for tall, narrow models where a cloth will not fit.

If you want to put the water on the table in style, the jugs and bottles are gathered among the carafes. If you are after a coloured or ribbed series that stands out against white crockery, La Rochère is the house with the most to choose from. And if you are laying a full table, a wine bowl belongs beside the water glass, for which you can turn to the wine glasses, where the heights are matched to one another.