The 10 Best Drinking Glasses

Our drinking glasses are always busy, starting with juice or a smoothie in the morning through to the glass of water at bedtime, with water, iced tea, cocktails and everything else in between! Thankfully, drinking glasses are available in wide range of sizes and shapes as well as being made from different types of glass, plastics and crystal.

In this article we consider what is important when selecting new drinking glasses as well as looking in some detail at glass materials and how thermal or mechanical shock can affect your glasses. We also review a selection of the best drinking glasses on the market to assist you in choosing the best glasses for your household’s needs.

Things to Consider Before Buying Drinking Glasses

When buying new drinking glasses, most people tend to prefer everyday glasses of around 10 to 12 ounces. A four to six ounce glass can be better for drinking juices or cocktails while larger 12 to 16 ounce glasses are better suited to water, iced tea and beer.

When choosing glasses look at the size of them and consider who will use them the most, as although wider glasses can look great sat on the table, they can be difficult to hold properly in smaller hands.

Glasses made with thinner glass may be more comfortable when drinking from as this thinness ensures a thinner rim. However, like many aspects of selecting glassware, this is often down to personal preference and thinner glasses do increase the risk of breakage, especially when cleaning.

Look for glasses which have weighted bottoms as these are less likely to slide across a wet surface when put down. Likewise, ensure they are not too weighted as this will make the glass heavier to hold when full – more of a problem with larger volume glasses.

A drinking glass should allow you to see the contents of the glass easily and unless you do keep separate glassware for casual and formal, then the glass should be suitable for using at any occasion.

If you buy glasses in a smaller set, not only can it help keep costs down, but it also means you only need buy another small set to replace any broken ones, unless of course you have plenty of storage space in the garage or basement for spare glasses.

Whether glasses stack is personal preference, but if space is at a premium, then stackable glasses will take less room up, although there can be a greater risk of damaging these through thermal shock.

Drinking Glass Materials 

The main types of everyday drinking glasses are made from soda-lime glass, tempered glass and occasionally borosilicate glass, as well as plastic. Some higher end everyday glasses may also be made with lead-free crystal, also known as crystalline.

Soda-lime glasses are best suited to cold drinks and if these glasses break, they will shatter into shards which can take time to clear up. Glasses made from tempered glass are suitable for hot and cold drinks and they are durable, often surviving a fall onto the countertop or even a solid floor.

Soda-lime or soda-lime-silica glass is most commonly used for glass panes and glass containers for food and drinks; around 90% of all glass manufactured is soda-lime. Because it can be re-softened and re-melted numerous times it is also recyclable as well as being quite inexpensive to manufacture.

Soda-lime glass is made from soda (sodium carbonate), lime, silica (silicon dioxide), dolomite and aluminum oxide. Rather than pure chemicals, ingredients such as sand and feldspar may be used. The mix also contains fining agents such as sodium chloride or sodium sulfate. The amounts of raw materials will vary depending on whether the glass is being made for panes (flat) or containers.

The raw materials are melted in a furnace at temperatures of up to 3047°F and to make container glass, the liquid glass then goes through a blowing and pressing production method to produce the finished containers or glassware.

Tempered glass or ‘safety glass’ glass is made by heating and then rapidly cooling (or ‘quenching’) glass. Because quenching cools the outer surface of the glass faster than its core, it causes the surface and edges of the glass to become compressed and leaves the center at tension.

Not only does this make the glass as much as five times stronger than lime-soda glass but it also alters its break characteristics. When tempered glass breaks it shatters into small cubes rather than shards which helps reduce the risk of injury and makes cleaning up easier.

Unlike soda-lime glass, tempered glass is less likely to break through thermal shock; such as when hot liquid is poured into a cold glass. Thermal shock happens when different parts of the glass expand at different rates to the change in temperature. These different rates of expansion then cause the glass to crack.

Tempered glass can occasionally break through thermal shock, with surface damage or a manufacturing defect. Occasionally happening as spontaneous shattering, this arises when there is an imbalance of the compression of the surface of the glass and the tension at the core.

Borosilicate glass is also resistant to thermal stress; however, it usually costs more than tempered glass, is more brittle and is best suited to very hot drinks.

Plastic tumblers are ideal for outdoor drinking glasses and are especially safe for kids to use, or indeed anyone who may have problems gripping a glass safely. Although they may sustain cosmetic damage on their surface over time and use, plastic or acrylic will rarely break when dropped onto the floor. If you are looking for plastic tumblers, then look for ones which are BPA-free.

The tumbler actually dates back to the 17^th century and was the name given to a short and wide metal drinking cup which did not contain a handle. No-one is sure why it was given the name tumbler. Some suggest it was because it the cup would spill when set down while others suggest that this style of cup could right itself when spilled as it had a weighted bottom!

Crystalline, or lead-free crystal was developed by manufacturers in response to consumer concerns of lead leaching into drinks from the traditional leaded crystal often used to manufacture more formal glassware. Crystalline contains up to 24% of minerals such as barium oxide and magnesium to add strength and improve the clarity of the glasses and it can still refract light in the way that traditional leaded crystal does.

Crystalline is produced by major crystal manufacturers such as Royal Doulton and Waterford and it offers heavier weight lead-free pieces which are stronger than glass, have high clarity and may also be safe to clean in the dishwasher.

Glass Clouding

Clouding or etching can occur with any glass, even those which have been handled carefully. Etching arises through regular use and dishwasher cleaning. If you do put your glasses through the dishwasher you can use a glass renovator every month or so to reduce the risk of etching and a glass renovator will also help prevent build-up of dishwasher rinse aid on the glasses.

How to Clean, Store and Use Your Glasses to Reduce the Risk of Breakage

It is important to always wash glasses thoroughly, whether by hand or in the dishwasher as glasses which are not washed properly will develop a buildup of odor and are often left with water and grease marks which dull the luster of the glass.

When you buy new drinking glasses, they should always be washed well before using to remove any manufacturing residue and if you hand wash your glasses, then wash them one by one rather than placing them all in the sink as this reduces the risk of mechanical shock. Any suitable dish detergent is fine along with a soft cloth or sponge for hand washing glasses.

When using the dishwasher, place glasses in carefully and try to use the top rack, although larger glasses will not always fit in here. Keeping rinse aid topped up will help stop them from smearing.

Although all glass has some resistance to mechanical shock, or physical impact, the type of glass, its finished design and what causes the mechanical shock will define whether or not a glass breaks. Numerous mechanical shocks over time, such as from glasses knocking together in the dishwasher will reduce the strength of the glassware and increase its risk of breaking. However, it is thermal shock, caused by heat, which is often the main cause of glass breakage in the dishwasher.

Once glasses have been washed, they are best left to air dry - upturned - and once dry you can use a soft glass cloth to remove any water marks.

When storing glasses in the cabinet, store them downturned on a soft shelf liner to help prevent chipping. If you use a liner specifically for storing glasses, its design will allow air flow which can help stop unwanted odors from accumulating in glasses not used as regularly. Ideally, there should also be some space left between the rims of glasses to minimize chipping.

Although some glasses are designed to be stackable, always stack them carefully and be aware that repeated stacking can leave them more at risk of breakage through thermal shock. To avoid thermal shock when stacking, make sure the glasses have first cooled down from the dishwasher. Otherwise, if you stack hot glasses, the cooling air trapped between them will try to equalize with the air pressure and this may cause the glass to shatter. Hot glasses can also be more susceptible to developing scratches.

Likewise, if you avoid adding ice cubes to a hot glass or hot liquids to a cold glass this reduce the risk of thermal shock. If you do use your glasses for hot drinks, then try to prewarm them with some warm water before adding the hot liquid. Even using a scoop to add ice cubes to a glass instead of scooping ice with the glass can help reduce the risk of thermal shock.

You should also avoid placing glasses in the freezer or microwave unless the manufacturer explicitly states that this is safe to do.

Conclusion

In this article we have taken a look at the advantages and disadvantages of different types of glass as well as the basics of how glass is made. We have also looked at some of the ways to reduce the stress we place on our drinking glasses on a daily basis, which can help prevent breakage through thermal or mechanical shocks.

We hope that you have enjoyed our review of the best drinking glasses and we also hope that in the glasses we have reviewed you have been able to find the right set for your home, whether you need beer glasses, a set of hiballs for iced tea and cocktails or some plastic tumblers for using in the yard.