Coupe Glasses, Champagne, Cocktails and History

The Coupe Glass, a beautiful glass often associated with those wedding pyramids. As it turns out, the coupe isn’t so great for champagne even though it’s traditionally known as or called a “Champagne coupe.” Why? Because, “back in the day”, people didn’t understand the science behind great wine tastings nor did they always have the quality that would have been truly appreciated.

In all these years, the coupe has one of the coolest, richest and most notably odd “sexual” history. It was said the glass was designed to reflect that of a high aristocratic breast (name any rich female, there is probably one telling you they invented the coupe). But, in all reality, snopes has discredited this; stating reference to the coupe glass dating back to 1663–a bit before any of these rich chicks came up with the great idea of breast-like glassware (but you gotta try, right?)

The glass revives itself in the 1930’s after prohibition gets lifted, still mainly used for champagnes and maybe a cocktail but the champagne flute eventually took its place. The coupe glass comes with a downfall–it releases a lot of the products aroma across its wide mouth and it becomes hard to direct those great flavors to the nose. Enter the flute.

Where does the coupe glass lie today? Great question, because I love it! The coupe plays well in many cocktails because it offers a wide mouth to release some of the more aromatic cocktails–not as subtle as a whiskey snifter but few people are doing a deep gin tasting when they’re drinking their gin martini. The wide mouth offers more space for a great garnish (which brings aroma to the nose) yet the smaller vessel works well for fairly intense (and/or potent) cocktails. Try a margarita in a coupe with lime juice along the rim and a big lime wheel for aromatics and style.

Of course, with the larger bodies “Colossal Coupes” that can bring 9-ounces of liquid to your lips, you either have to be wary of your intake or use them for a full bodied juice-centric cocktail (one with more parts juice than core spirit). Regardless to a 4 oz. vessel or a 9 oz. the coupe glass continues to bring an excellent quality, sexual curve and classic look and feel to your cocktail. It’s like wearing a dress to a wedding instead of jeans and a T-shirt.