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Tumblers are probably the most-used glasses in your cupboard, whether you’re drinking juice or a smoothie in the morning or just a cold glass of water on a hot day. I believe the items I use daily should be beautiful, which is why I’ve been using the Duralex Picardie glasses for years. Iml Container
They feel more refined than most other drinking glasses. This makes them suitable for entertaining but not so fancy that you feel silly drinking juice from them in your pajamas. The Duralex Picardie tumbler is so versatile that if I could own only one glass, this would be it.
We love the look and feel of the classic French bistro-style Duralex Picardie glass. This tempered glass is slightly heavier than our main pick, and occasionally sticks together when stacked, but its shape is more refined.
The Duralex Picardie tumbler has remained one of our favorite all-purpose drinking glasses since 2014. It’s more expensive than the other picks we recommend, but its contoured shape is pleasant to hold. The relatively thin lip makes this glass feel more elegant than many other drinking glasses, which tend to be utilitarian and clunky. The Picardie glasses also nest neatly together (though occasionally they get stuck and require a gentle wiggle to release them).
There’s no doubt the Duralex Picardie’s timeless design is part of the reason it has remained a staple on family tables and at French bistros for decades. According to its website, Duralex began producing glassware in 1945. The company has changed hands several times over the years, but its glasses continue to be made in France.
We like that the Picardie comes in a range of sizes, from 3 to 17 ounces. But we think the 12⅝-ounce glasses are an excellent all-purpose size (guzzlers may prefer the 16-ounce size). I own several sizes of the Picardie. Yet I’m particularly fond of using the versatile 4½-ounce glass for juice in the morning or a pre-dinner gin martini in the evening.
Wirecutter editor Alexander Aciman is also a fan of the shorties. “I have a ton of regular Picardie glasses but I also now have baby 3 oz Picardie glasses that are not only adorable and make me feel like a giant, but are also great for espresso,” he said.
The Picardie comes in several color options, inlcluding a set of six 8-ounce glasses in a mix of colors from the MoMA Design Store.
Made of tempered glass, the Picardie is more resistant to extreme temperature changes, so it can be used for a variety of cold and hot beverages—and it’s dishwasher-safe. It’s also far more durable than regular soda-lime glass.
For our glassware guide, we picked 13 finalists (both glass and plastic) and ran multiple drop tests: We knocked the glasses onto both hardwood and marble floors from a height of 3 feet. We also hit the rim of the glasses against the edge of a marble counter to see if they would break. All of the tempered glasses we tested survived multiple 3-foot drops onto a marble floor.
The Picardie wasn’t the last man standing in our drop tests, but the same glass impressively survived eight 3-foot drops onto a marble floor without breaking. By comparison, all of the soda-lime glasses we tested broke on the first impact.
Because sudden changes in temperature can cause a glass to break, we performed two temperature tests: We pulled hot glasses from the dishwasher and immediately filled them with ice water, then took glasses that had been in the freezer for an hour and filled them with boiling water. Much to our surprise, none of the glasses broke in either test.
Though Picardie glasses are tough, we still wouldn’t recommend subjecting them to unnecessary abuse. For instance: Don’t take a glass from a cold fridge and fill it with boiling water. Over time, doing this could result in breakage, which you can read more about here.
The Picardie glasses are dishwasher-safe. Just be sure to let them cool completely after removing them from a hot dishwasher, before stacking them in a cupboard. Hot glasses are prone to sticking, and pounding them or pulling them apart under running water can lead to surface scratches and potentially breakage. If you don’t have a dishwasher, you can hand-wash your glasses with hot water, a sponge or bottle brush, and a little bit of dish soap.
The original version of this article was edited by Connor Grossman and Alejandra Matos. The current version was edited by Rachelle Bergstein and Marguerite Preston.
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Michael Sullivan has been a staff writer on the kitchen team at Wirecutter since 2016. Previously, he was an editor at the International Culinary Center in New York. He has worked in various facets of the food and restaurant industry for over a decade.
Cold Cup Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).