The Short Water Glasses At Your Favorite Restaurant Have A Name

The restaurant industry is infamously competitive terrain. Especially in high-rent urban areas, where competition is high for both menu prowess and real estate, attention to detail matters — and one of the first things guests are going to encounter is the drinking glass that holds their table water. There's a reason why Picardie glasses are staple items from bistros to casual sit-down joints, fancy wine bars, and trendy canapes restaurants. This popular, well-known, and widely-available glass is the proprietary design of the brand Duralex.

Duralex is a French glassware maker, and this model is named after Northern France's Picardy province, home to breathtaking cathedrals with towering stained glass windows, especially the world-famous Cathédrale Saint Pierre in Beauvais. According to the official Duralex website, Le Picardie glasses are known as the "original French tumblers" — practical, understated, and chic.

Few vessels are as aesthetically well-suited to orange juice as to orange wine. With the wildly versatile Picardie glass, it wouldn't look or feel out of place to sip a smoothie, cortado, tap water, lemonade, or neat Scotch from the same glass. On a psychological level, the subtle French elegance of the Picardie glass instantly creates intrigue strong enough to mask a shoddily-assembled cocktail or a prematurely-pulled espresso shot. On the sensory level, the slightly flared rim is tailor-made for orally satisfying sipping, and the contoured shape makes for a naturally comfortable grip in the hand.

Duralex Picardie glasses are available in three- to 17-ounce sizes. The Picardie glasses you spy on restaurant tables beside a carafe of water are likely the 4 ⅜ ounce, 8 ⅜ ounce, or 10 ⅜ ounce model. In addition to classic transparent glass, Picardie glasses also come in a variety of charming tints like amber and marine, among others. Thanks to their relatively economical price tag (less than $5 per glass, depending on the color), foodies on a budget can elevate their glassware game at home, and restaurants can feel good about implementing them on a large commercial scale without sweating over breakage margins.

Picardie glasses are typically sold in sets of six, but you aren't likely to go through them too quickly. They can handle both hot and cold beverages, as well as the microwave, dishwasher, and freezer. Thanks to their gentle fluted shape, Picardie glasses are also conducive to stacking for convenient space-effective storage. (Here's looking at you, fashion-forward, apartment-dwelling, metropolitan foodies with small kitchens and smaller cabinets!) Reportedly, these small-but-mighty glasses can withstand heat up to 266 degrees Fahrenheit. Still, it's worth noting that if you pour boiling hot tea directly into these glasses every single day, then they're probably going to wear down faster than if you just used 'em for chilled water. However you fill them, from morning espresso to evening amaro, the Picardie glass's iconic, classic silhouette has your beverage in good hands.