There’s no worse feeling than when you reach for your cocktail, take a sip, and realize it’s been sitting a few minutes too long, so now your ice-cold drink is tepid and watered-down. SevenFifty Daily explains that ice has to melt in order to cool your drink, but how can you slow down the process and save your cocktail's flavor?

According to Hunting Waterfalls, the greater the ratio of surface area to volume in an ice cube, the faster it melts; this means that smaller pieces of ice melt faster than larger pieces, since larger cubes have more surface area. Beyond size, the clarity of your ice makes a considerable difference in melting speed and taste; the clearer, the better.

Restaurants and bars serve crystal-clear ice, but most of us don’t have access to commercial ice makers and instead use trays or household ice cube makers, which typically create cloudy ice. To achieve that perfectly clear look, try making ice out of purified or distilled water; in a pinch, boiling your tap water will also do the trick.