Garnish Tools

Garnish Tweezers

Garnish tweezers are long, slim tongs, 20 to 30cm by our guidance (Urban Bar’s own long tweezers are 25cm), for placing a small garnish exactly where it should sit in a drink. They reach into a coupe or a tall glass without fingers touching the drink or the rim. They suit a mint leaf floated on a foam, a cherry set in the centre of a coupe, or a sprig stood up in ice.

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The tool

About the Garnish Tweezers

They Place What Fingers Fumble

A single mint leaf on a foam, a cherry in the middle of a coupe, a dried wheel laid flat: small garnishes are hard to set exactly by hand, and fingers end up touching the drink or the rim.

Tweezers put the garnish where the recipe wants it. Our Old Cuban floats one mint leaf on its foam, and a cherry sits in the middle of the Aviation.

The Length Should Clear the Rim

At around 20 to 30cm the tips reach deep into a highball while your fingers stay outside it. Shorter tweezers put your knuckles over the drink.

Offset tips, bent near the end, set a garnish flat in a highball without the shaft catching the rim. Straight tips suit a coupe.

Placing a garnish: tweezers, pick, tongs or fingers

Garnish tweezers

Suits: Small garnishes placed exactly
From our recipes: A mint leaf on the Old Cuban's foam

Cocktail pick

Suits: Onions, olives or cherries skewered to rest in or across the glass
From our recipes: A Gibson's two onions

Ice tongs

Suits: Cubes and larger pieces
From our recipes: Ice into a glass without hands

Clean fingers

Suits: Wedges and wheels on the rim
From our recipes: The lime wedge on a Cape Codder

Tool	Suits	From our recipes
Garnish tweezers	Small garnishes placed exactly	A mint leaf on the Old Cuban's foam
Cocktail pick	Onions, olives or cherries skewered to rest in or across the glass	A Gibson's two onions
Ice tongs	Cubes and larger pieces	Ice into a glass without hands
Clean fingers	Wedges and wheels on the rim	The lime wedge on a Cape Codder

Hygiene Is the Strongest Reason

A garnish is eaten or sits in the drink, so it should be handled as little as possible. Behind a bar that matters more, because hands touch money, bottles and glassware all evening.

Tweezers only help if they are clean. Wash them after use, and keep them apart from tools used on raw food.

At Home They Are Optional

Clean, dry fingers place most garnishes well enough. Buy a pair if you often make drinks for guests, or garnish with single leaves and flowers; for wedges and twists they add nothing.

Using it

Using the Garnish Tweezers

Usage

Placing small garnishes: a cherry in the centre of a coupe, a mint leaf floated on a foam, a sprig set into crushed ice, a dried citrus wheel laid flat. Also lifting cherries or olives from the jar without fingers in it.

Pro Tip

Lower the garnish onto the surface and open the tips there. Dropped from a height, a cherry splashes and a leaf sinks into the foam.

Professional Tips

Hold them like a pencil, close to the tips, for control.
Grip a garnish just firmly enough to lift it; herbs bruise easily.
Use them to take cherries or olives from the jar as well.
Wipe the tips between garnishes so syrup does not carry from one to the next.

Alternatives

Budget Alternative

Kitchen plating tweezers. They are much the same tool, often shorter, so check the length against your tallest glass.

Premium Option

Longer offset tweezers with ridged tips. The bend clears the rim of a tall glass; the garnish is no different.

Specifications

Material
Stainless steel
Capacity
20 to 30cm long by our guidance; Urban Bar’s own long tweezers 25cm
Details
One piece of sprung steel; straight or offset tips, ridged or smooth, rounded or pointed

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

Do I need garnish tweezers at home?

Not usually. Clean fingers place most garnishes well. Tweezers help with small or fiddly ones, such as a single mint leaf on a foam or a cherry in a narrow glass, and keep your hands off a drink you are making for someone else.

What length should garnish tweezers be?

Between 20 and 30cm suits most glasses, by our guidance; Urban Bar’s own long tweezers are 25cm. Shorter ones put your hand inside a highball, and much longer ones are harder to control. Hold a pair against your tallest glass: the tips should touch the floor of the glass while your fingers stay outside it.

Straight or offset tips?

Offset tips bend near the end, so they reach past the rim of a tall glass and set a garnish flat without the shaft catching. Straight tips are fine for a coupe or a rocks glass. Most home bars need only one pair.

Are kitchen plating tweezers the same thing?

Largely. Plating tweezers are often shorter, and some have fine points for herbs, which can puncture a cherry or tear citrus. If yours are long enough for your glasses and the tips are not needle-sharp, use them.

Are tweezers more hygienic than fingers?

They keep hands off the drink and the garnish, which matters most when you make drinks for other people. They only help if they are clean: wash them after use, and keep them apart from tools used on raw meat or fish.

Which garnishes need tweezers?

Small ones placed on or in the drink. Our Old Cuban floats a single mint leaf on its foam, and a maraschino cherry goes into the middle of the Aviation. Clean fingers are enough for a wedge on the rim.