Ask a bartender why a martini goes in that V-shaped glass and a mojito doesn't, and most will give you a confident answer that amounts to "because that's the glass for it." Fair enough — but every one of these shapes was built to solve an actual problem: keeping a drink cold, keeping it fizzy, giving ice room to work, or giving your hand somewhere to go that isn't around the bowl. We make six of these shapes for a living, so here's the honest rundown of what each one actually does, not just what looks good on a bar cart.
Quick answer
If you only remember one thing: shaken-and-strained drinks with no ice go in a stemmed glass (martini or coupe), spirit-forward drinks over ice go in a short tumbler (rocks), and anything topped up with a mixer goes in something tall (highball). Everything else is a variation on those three jobs.
| Glass | Built for | Pour it neat, no ice |
|---|---|---|
| Martini | Martinis, Manhattans, drinks served "up" | Yes |
| Coupe | Daiquiris, sours, anything shaken and strained | Yes |
| Rocks / Old Fashioned | Old Fashioneds, whisky sours, spirits on ice | No — built around a big cube |
| Highball | Rum & Coke, mojitos, long mixed drinks | No — needs the mixer |
| Wine / Spritz | Aperol Spritz, prosecco-based aperitivo | No — plenty of ice, please |
| Gin / Copa | Gin & tonic, Spanish-style serves | No — built for ice and garnish |
The martini glass (cocktail glass)
The V-shaped bowl on a tall stem is the shape most people picture the second you say "cocktail glass" — which is a little confusing, since technically every glass on this page is a cocktail glass. The stem isn't decoration. It keeps your hand off the bowl, so a drink served with no ice stays cold on the way down instead of picking up warmth from your palm. The wide, open mouth does real work too, pushing aromatics up toward your nose with every sip.
It's the right glass for anything shaken or stirred and served "up" — a classic Martini, a Manhattan, a Cosmopolitan, a Negroni without the ice. The one honest downside: that wide bowl is genuinely easy to spill if you're walking across a room with a full one. It's a glass built for a table, not a moving target.
Ours is the Citronelle Martini Glass — a ribbed stem holding up a bowl that looks like it's floating.
The coupe glass
Shallower and more rounded than a martini glass, the coupe has quietly become the more popular of the two among people who actually make cocktails for a living — mostly because it's harder to tip over. There's a persistent bar story that its shape was modelled on Marie Antoinette's chest. It wasn't: the coupe was already in production in England around 1663, roughly a century before she was born, and Snopes has traced where the myth actually came from. Good story, wrong queen.
What it's genuinely good for: daiquiris, sours, sidecars, French 75s, and — since it spills less on the walk from bar to sofa — plenty of martinis these days too. If you're only buying one "up" glass for a home bar, the coupe is the more forgiving choice.
Ours is the Clementine Coupe Glass.
The rocks glass (old fashioned / lowball)
Short, heavy, wide-mouthed — the rocks glass is built around ice, specifically a single large cube or sphere rather than a handful of small ones. A big cube melts slower than several small ones with the same total volume, which matters when the whole point of the drink is a spirit that shouldn't get watered down before you've finished it.
This is the glass for anything spirit-forward served over ice: an Old Fashioned, a whisky sour, a Negroni on the rocks, or simply whisky neat or on ice with nothing else in the glass. The heavier base also means it can double as a muddling vessel without you worrying about cracking it.
Ours is the Après Lowball Glass — the crossover glass between cocktails and whisky.
The highball glass
Tall and narrow, the highball is the workhorse of the home bar because it's built for the drinks people actually order most: anything with a spirit and a generous top-up of mixer. Rum and Coke, gin and tonic (though we'd point you to a proper gin glass for that — more on that below), a mojito, a simple whisky and soda. The narrower shape than a rocks glass keeps more of the mixer's carbonation intact for longer, since there's less surface area for the bubbles to escape from.
Ours is the Après Highball Glass.
The wine glass (spritz glass)
A standard white wine glass has become the default vessel for the Aperol Spritz and its prosecco-based cousins, largely because Aperol's own marketing made the wide, stemmed wine glass the visual shorthand for the drink worldwide. The shape makes sense on its own merits too: a wide bowl holds a generous pour of prosecco, a splash of soda and a proper amount of ice without everything overflowing the second you top it up.
This is the glass for Aperol Spritz, Hugo, and any aperitivo built on sparkling wine over ice.
Ours is the Monte-Carlo Spritz Glass.
The gin glass (copa / balloon glass)
The big, round-bowled glass on a short stem started life in Spain's Basque Country, where a proper gin and tonic is treated as seriously as a good coffee. Locally it's called a copa de balón — "balloon cup" — and the oversized bowl exists to hold plenty of ice, a generous garnish, and enough air for the botanicals in the gin to actually show themselves.
It's the right glass for a gin and tonic done properly, and for any Spanish-style gin serve built around garnish and aromatics rather than a quick pour.
Ours is the Valencia Gin Glass.
A few more you'll come across
These aren't part of our range, but you'll see them often enough that they're worth knowing:
- Nick & Nora glass: a smaller, more tulip-shaped cousin of the coupe, popular with cocktail purists because the narrower opening slows down dilution and looks sharp doing it.
- Collins glass: taller and narrower than a highball, built specifically for a Tom Collins and its relatives — more ice, less spirit-to-mixer ratio.
- Hurricane glass: the curvy, tall glass behind Piña Coladas and other tiki drinks, designed to hold a large volume without looking like a jug.
- Shot glass: small and self-explanatory, for neat pours measured rather than sipped.
- Champagne flute or coupe: for Champagne cocktails like a French 75, where keeping the bubbles alive matters more than anything else.
How to choose, if you're only buying one or two
- Start with the rocks glass. It covers whisky, spirit-forward cocktails, and anything on ice — the single most useful shape in any home bar.
- Add a coupe before a martini glass. It does the same job with less risk of wearing your Negroni.
- Buy a highball if you host. Long mixed drinks are what most guests actually order, and the shape is hard to substitute for.
- Buy the specialty shapes last. A gin glass or spritz glass earns its cupboard space once you know that's actually the drink you make most.
Cocktail glass FAQs
What's the difference between a coupe and a martini glass?
Both hold drinks served "up," with no ice. The martini glass has a sharper V-shaped bowl and spills more easily; the coupe is shallower and rounder, and far more forgiving to carry across a room. Many bartenders now use a coupe for martinis too.
Can I use a wine glass instead of a proper cocktail glass?
For a spritz, yes — that's genuinely the right shape. For a shaken or stirred spirit-forward drink, a wine glass's wide bowl is built to let wine breathe and warm slightly, which is the opposite of what a chilled cocktail needs.
What size are cocktail glasses?
Most sit between 150mL and 300mL, depending on the shape. Our own Citronelle Martini Glass holds 200mL — enough for a full classic pour without leaving room to slosh on the walk to the couch.
Do I need a full set of every glass type?
No. Most home bars get by on two or three shapes — typically a rocks glass, a coupe or martini glass, and a highball. Buy the rest as you find you actually need them.
The next step
If you know which shape you're after, jump straight to it: Martini, Coupe, Gin, or Highball. Still deciding? Our full cocktail glasses collection has all six shapes, hand-finished in lead-free crystal and shipped from our Melbourne warehouse.