When COVID-19 hit and I became afraid of my own germs, let alone everyone else’s, I developed an obsession with washing cups. During peak quarantine, by midday I’d simply collect any cups laying about and scrub them with scalding hot water and probably too much dish soap. Two years later I’m happy to report I save most of the cup-washing for the end of the night. But suffice it to say, the days when I felt comfortable sharing drinks with a friend are long gone. Lately, when I have people over, I get a little, um, intense about which cup belongs to whom. EnterDuralex Picardie Multicolor Glass Tumblers(I own one set of six cups). These colorful cups keep my germ anxiety at bay from coffee dates to aperitivo hour, without having to divulge my neuroses to guests.
Colorful Duralex glasses are the same transparent ones you’ve likely seen at umpteen casual French-ish restaurants. The tempered glassware is beloved by the service industry because—as the name implies—they’re durable (dishwasher-safe, can house both hot and cold liquids, and able to withstand being dropped quite a few times without shattering), yet they’re nice to look at. They’re alsostackable. I have a set of clear Duralex tumblers for everyday use, but when I’m inviting a group over, the colored variety comes out. That way, you know you had the pink cup, I know I had the green cup, and no one drinks from someone else’s glass. I like to think of the colorful glassware as a slightly more chic version of my mom’s favorite COVID-age party trick: writing names on disposable cups with a Sharpie.
虽然清楚玻璃杯Duralex n是可用的umber of sizes, the colorful versions come in just one: 8.75 ounces and just under 4 inches tall. I find the size ideal for a variety of uses: lattes, spritzes, amari on the rocks. I use the cups both indoors and outside. They’ve naturally been dropped a handful of times, onto many styles of floor and ground; never have I seen one break, chip, or splinter. I’m three years—and countless cocktails, hand washes, and dishwashing cycles—into my current set, and I’ve only noticed a few extremely faint scratches on the surfaces. The clear set I own has a few more scratches, but at this point they’ve lasted decades, so my hopes remain high for the life cycle of the colorful ones. That said, at $6 a cup, it won’t pain me too much if I ever need to replace one.
Note: This set of multicolored tumblers has limited availability. If you can't find them, try mixing and matching sets of Duralex's colored glasses by buying a set of pink, amber, and blue, for example. Or try one of these other colored glass sets:
