Cappuccino glasses

Capacity is where many purchases go wrong. A classic cappuccino is 15 to 18 cl, so a glass of 33 or 42 cl is too large for it: the foam collapses and the coffee cools too quickly. If you really want to pour cappuccino, choose something between 20 and 25 cl, such as the Nachtmann Noblesse Barista at 23.5 cl or the Bormioli Rocco Easy Bar at 22 cl. The roomier glasses from Pasabahce and La Rochère, from 30 to 42 cl, are in practice tea and latte glasses.

Then consider whether you want a handle. Without one you hold the glass around the top rim, which works as long as the wall does not get too hot. With a handle, as on the RCR Caffè and the La Rochère Flore, you keep your distance and can pour hotter.

Double-walled glass is the third route. Two layers of glass with air in between keep the coffee at temperature for longer and the outside cool enough to pick up.

Preheat the glass with hot water and pour that away just before you serve. Cold glass draws so much heat out of a single espresso that the first sip is lukewarm. Pull the espresso straight into the glass, steam the milk to about sixty-five degrees and pour in one continuous movement, bringing the jug closer to the surface towards the end.

For a good ratio, keep one part espresso to roughly two parts milk, with a foam layer of about one and a half centimetres. In a glass you can see straight away whether that is right, because the layers stand out against the wall.

Coffee with a dash of spirits, on the other hand, does call for a glass with a handle. The carajillo is the best-known example, and among the coffee cocktails there are more versions that suit this size of glass.

Single-walled coffee glasses are usually made of tempered glass, which tolerates a sudden temperature change of more than a hundred degrees. Even so, it pays never to pour boiling water into a glass that has just come out of cold rinsing water. Pasabahce also supplies a toughened version made specially for the hospitality trade.

Double-walled glasses can usually go in the dishwasher, but condensation can appear between the walls if water gets in through a small hole. That often clears if you leave the glass to dry upside down for a day. If in doubt, wash them by hand.

Coffee residue on the inside is brown and greasy and will not come off with washing-up liquid alone. A soak with soda crystals or a cleaning tablet for coffee machines works better.

If you want a larger glass in which the layers really stay visible, have a look at the latte macchiato glasses. For the complete overview of cups, mugs and espresso glasses, go to the coffee glasses. If you mostly pour tea, you are better off with the tea glasses, and for coffee with a dash of whisky or liqueur the Irish coffee glasses are made on a stem. And if you want the coffee to stay warm without the glass getting hot, have a look at the double-walled glasses.