The wife and I were playing around on Paramount+ and saw the old Hawaii Five-0 series and decided to watch the first episode from 1968.

The bad guys on the show were shown drinking champagne from those old-school bowl-shaped champagne glasses and it got me to thinking why don’t we see those anymore? Somewhere along the line all champagne glasses turned into the tall flute-shaped ones we see now and I’m not sure why?

Anyone have any ideas on this one?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
The wife and I were playing around on Paramount+ and saw the old Hawaii Five-0 series and decided to watch the first episode from 1968.

The bad guys on the show were shown drinking champagne from those old-school bowl-shaped champagne glasses and it got me to thinking why don’t we see those anymore? Somewhere along the line all champagne glasses turned into the tall flute-shaped ones we see now and I’m not sure why?

Anyone have any ideas on this one?

they are called coupe glasses. there are plenty of reasons they are no longer used as often. sweeter champagnes are out of fashion and dryer ones are in. a narrower (flute) glass concentrates the arome better, which is better for dryer champagnes than sweeter. also, the carbonation disperses too quickly in a coupe and last longer in a flute. also, flutes take up less room on a shelf.

coupes are still used in many bars but they are vessels for cocktails like the aviator, manhattan, side car, etc. you can often use a coupe as a substitute for martini glasses.

I first saw this addressed many years ago when the commentator said that the bowl-shaped style was what the ignorant and unsophisticated used. If that caught on, it could explain their falling out of style.

One interesting possible explanation for the bowl type’s use was something I saw as a teen in the early 1960s when living in France where my father was stationed. A friend of the family pointed out some of the bowl style glasses he had found at the (amazing) Paris flea market. They were made with a very thick glass bottom to the bowl that significantly limited the amount of liquid they would hold. Due to the optical characteristics of the glass, though, when filled with liquid and something like an eating fork were inserted through the liquid, it appeared as if the tines went all the way to the normal bottom of the glass just above the stem.

Our friend said that he was told they were “brothel” glasses and they were used by the prostitutes, whereas the customers would be given regular glasses that held the normal amount of champagne. The purpose of the special glasses was to limit the amount of alcohol the women were consuming while making it seem that the customers were paying for the proper amount and, presumably, to help keep the women from getting too drunk.

I don’t know whether the old bowl shape came into use because of the brothel glasses’ design and because only it could be made to produce the optical illusion, but it’s something I’ve often wondered about.

quote:

why don’t we see those (old-school bowl-shaped champagne glasses) anymore?

I'm blaming breast implants.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: architect,

It accelerates the champagne going flat. I don’t think they were ever really meant as champagne glasses.

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You're welcome.

Yeah they're not good for most drinks except Margaritas.

I have some of those and when I am feeling all fancy-schmancy I use them for dessert dishes.

They are pretty cool to serve things such as ice cream, berries of all sorts, tapioca, (even fancy jello), puddings and such.

When it's a special occasion it may be chocolate mousse, and I have a few antique real silverware spoons.

I stash them in the fridge or even the freezer for a little while before filling them with dessert.
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: OKCGene,

quote:

Originally posted by Aglifter:
It accelerates the champagne going flat. I don’t think they were ever really meant as champagne glasses.

It looks like the French used something similar to a coupe back to at least the 1700s. The earliest painting in which champagne appears is from 1735 and features glasses closer to coupes than flutes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oyster_Dinner

Virtually everyone seems to agree that the flute started gaining popularity sometime between the 1930s and 1950s and didn’t totally supplant the coupe until the 1980s or 1990s.

It also seems that pretty much everyone agrees that they aren’t good champagne glasses and that the French back in the day of the coupe treated champagne as something to slam entire glasses of like tequila shots rather than something to appreciate.

As far as the coupe style glass making the champagne lose its carbonation, it’s my understanding that hundreds of years ago the champagne was far different than what we know today and it wasn’t very carbonated. Most of it was just natural carbonation and considered very light by today’s standards, that’s probably why it wasn’t much of an issue then.