Martini Glass
The V-shaped stemmed glass that became shorthand for cocktails themselves. Everyone recognises it on sight, and at the enormous size most people now own, it is one of the least practical things in the cupboard to drink from.
Alternatives
Budget Alternative
Supermarket sets (£4-8): fine, buy small
Premium Option
Riedel or Nude martini glasses (£25-35 per pair)
Care & Maintenance
Care Instructions
- Hand wash
- Store on matting, never stacked
- The rim is the casualty: check it
Expected Lifespan
- •Budget: 1-2 years of parties
- •Careful hands: years
Usage
Martinis, Manhattans and other stirred, spirit-forward drinks served without ice. Around 150ml is the useful size; the 250ml bowls sold as martini glasses hold a drink that is warm and flat long before it is finished.
The Shape and Its Cost
The V is a compromise that has been read as a design classic for a century.
It came out of the 1925 Paris Exposition and the Art Deco taste for the straight line, and it does two jobs well: the wide surface releases aromatics as you drink, and the long stem keeps a warm hand away from a glass with no ice to defend it.
What it does badly is stay upright. A cone balanced on a point has almost no stability, the flat sides mean liquid slides rather than settles, and anyone who has carried two across a room knows the result.
Size Is the Real Problem
A Martini is 75ml of spirit. Put it in a 250ml glass and it covers the bottom third, looking mean and warming fast.
Glasses grew through the 1990s because a bigger pour looked like better value, and the drink got worse for it. Volume increases the surface area exposed to the room, so a large glass warms a spirit-forward drink measurably quicker, and by the last third it is a different and worse drink than the first.
Buy 150ml. It holds a proper Martini with a centimetre of clearance, it is easier to carry, and it is the size the drink was designed around before the glass started competing on capacity.
Against the Coupe
The coupe does most of what the martini glass does, and does it more calmly.
The curved bowl holds liquid rather than funnelling it, so it spills far less; the shorter, wider profile is more stable; and it suits everything from a Daiquiri to a Sidecar rather than reading as a Martini glass holding something else. Most bars that care have moved to coupes for exactly these reasons.
What the martini glass keeps is recognition. Nothing else says cocktail at a glance, and there is a real pleasure in the shape. If you own one set of stemmed glasses, make it coupes. If you own two, the second is this.
Keeping One
Chill it. Twenty minutes in the freezer, or fill it with ice and water while you build the drink and dump it just before straining. A cold glass buys several minutes of drinking temperature and costs nothing.
Wash by hand. The stem-to-bowl join is the weak point on any stemmed glass, and dishwasher heat plus the rattle of a crowded rack is what breaks them. Hold the bowl, not the stem, when drying. Twisting a tea towel inside the bowl is the classic way to snap one.
Store upright. Rim-down on a shelf chips the thinnest and most important part of the glass.
Pro Tip
If the walk from where you make drinks to where you drink them is more than a few steps, pour it in a coupe instead. The martini glass rewards short journeys.
What to Look For
- 150-200ml honest capacity
- A stem long enough for a full grip
- Thin rim
- A true V, not a soft curve
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Oversized glasses: the warm second half is built in
- Filling to the rim
- Holding by the bowl
- Serving anything over ice in it
Professional Tips
- Freeze it. A room-temperature glass ruins a cold drink in minutes.
- Fill to a centimetre below the rim, no higher.
- Hold the stem. Every degree from your hand goes into the drink.
- Buy 150ml, not the party-sized bowl.
Specifications
Material
Glass
Capacity
150-200ml sensible
Details
True V-bowl on a stem
History & Context
The V emerged with early twentieth-century modernism, a cocktail glass that looked like the idea of a cocktail, and became a drink silhouette everyone recognises. The 1990s nearly killed it with 300ml fishbowls that served warm second halves, and working bars retreated to the coupe. The icon survives; the oversizing should not.
Common Questions
Should I buy a martini glass or a coupe?
A coupe, if you are only buying one. The curved bowl spills far less, it is more stable, and it suits everything from a Daiquiri to a Sidecar. The martini glass survives on recognition, since nothing else reads as a cocktail so instantly.
What size martini glass should I buy?
Around 150ml. A Martini is roughly 75ml of spirit, which sits properly in that with a centimetre of clearance. The 250ml bowls widely sold leave the drink looking mean and warm it much faster by exposing more surface to the room.
Why are martini glasses V-shaped?
It came from the 1925 Paris Exposition and Art Deco taste for the straight line. The wide surface releases aromatics as you drink and the long stem keeps your hand away from a glass with no ice in it. Stability was never part of the design.
What drinks belong in a martini glass?
Stirred, spirit-forward drinks served without ice: the Martini, the Manhattan, the Vesper, the Gibson. Anything shaken and citrus-led, such as a Daiquiri or a Sidecar, is traditionally a coupe drink, though the two are largely interchangeable in practice.
Master the Technique
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Guide by Jerry Can Spirits