Best nick and nora glasses
The small one. A 3 oz drink nearly fills it, which is the entire point.
By Scooter M. · · How we pick
How this page is paid for: the buy buttons below are Amazon affiliate links. If you buy through one we earn a small commission, and you pay exactly the same price. We don’t print prices we can’t verify today, so the buttons send you to the live listing instead. Nobody pays to appear here. Full disclosure.
Quick picks
The short answer, ranked. Tap any row to jump to the full write-up further down this page, or go straight to Amazon for the live price.
| # | Product | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riedel Drink Specific Glassware Nick & Nora, Set of 2 4.94 oz, chip resistant, dishwasher safe — unusual for crystal. | Best overall | Check price on Amazon #ad Live price at Amazon |
| 2 | Bormioli Rocco Novecento Cocktail Coupe Glasses, 8.5 oz, Set of 4 Four coupes at a fraction of the price. Bigger bowl, warmer drink. | The affordable alternative | Check price on Amazon #ad Live price at Amazon |
A Nick & Nora is a small stemmed glass with a rounded tulip bowl, usually about five ounces, used for cocktails served up. Its whole argument is arithmetic: a cocktail served up is roughly three ounces, so a five ounce bowl is nearly full — which keeps it colder, makes it look generous, and makes it very hard to spill.
The headroom argument, with numbers
This is the one shape decision on the whole site that can be settled with division.
| Nick & Nora, 4.94 oz | Coupe, 8.5 oz | Large coupe, 11.6 oz | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headroom | About 2 oz | About 5.5 oz | About 8.5 oz |
| Surface exposed to air | Smallest | Larger | Largest |
| How long it stays cold | Longest | Middle | Shortest |
| Carrying it across a room | Easy | Careful | Very careful |
| Looks | Full and generous | Balanced | Sparse |
Melting and warming both track surface area. A narrow bowl exposes less of the drink to the room, which is why the same cocktail stays cold noticeably longer in the small glass — and why the last mouthful is still a cocktail rather than a tepid one.
Who it is genuinely wrong for
A household that entertains. Serving six people from a five-ounce glass means a small pour and a lot of trips, and any drink with a substantial garnish or a longer build simply will not fit. A coupe is the more practical shape when other people are involved.
It is also the wrong first purchase for a home with no cocktail glassware at all, for the simple reason that sets are usually pairs. Two glasses cannot serve anyone and cannot survive a breakage. Four is the number.
What to look for
Published capacity around five ounces — much above six and it is behaving like a small coupe. A stem pulled from the same piece of glass as the bowl, rather than joined to it, because that joint is where stemware snaps. And, if the household uses a dishwasher, a manufacturer willing to publish that the glass is dishwasher safe, which is unusual at the crystal end of the market.
One of the sets here publishes all three, which is why it is the pick despite arriving as a pair rather than a four.
The picks, in full
1. Best overall
Riedel Drink Specific Glassware Nick & Nora, Set of 2
Riedel · best for the person who already owns coupes and would notice the difference
A Nick & Nora — a small, tulip-shaped stemmed glass — from Riedel's Drink Specific range. Its 4.94 oz bowl is the reason it exists: a 3 oz drink nearly fills it, so it stays cold and does not spill.
Published specs
- Capacity
- 4.94 oz
- Set
- 2 glasses
- Height
- 6.024"
- Material
- Crystal
- Shape
- Oblong vertical bowl, stemmed
- Manufacture
- Machine made; chip resistant
- Care
- Dishwasher safe
- Designer
- Zane Harris, for Riedel Barware
The math
- Headroom over a standard pour: About 2 oz
- A cocktail served up is around 3 oz. A 4.94 oz bowl leaves roughly 2 oz of headroom — enough not to spill, tight enough that the drink is not sitting in a wide warm dish. Compare the 8.5 oz coupe, which leaves about 5.5 oz.
What’s good
- The small bowl keeps a 3 oz drink cold from first sip to last, which a wide coupe does not
- Nearly impossible to slosh walking across a room — the practical case for this shape over a martini glass
- Riedel publishes it as chip resistant and dishwasher safe, which is unusual for crystal
What’s not
- A set of two, so serving four people means buying two boxes
- Crystal at this price is a genuinely painful thing to break
- Too small for anything long or served over ice
Skip this if
A household that owns no cocktail glasses at all. Start with four glasses, not two, and come back to these.
#ad We don’t print a price we can’t verify today. We may earn a commission at no cost to you. Disclosure.
2. The affordable alternative
Bormioli Rocco Novecento Cocktail Coupe Glasses, 8.5 oz, Set of 4
Bormioli Rocco · best for the first proper cocktail glasses in a house that only owns wine glasses
A coupe — the wide, shallow stemmed glass — in a set of four, made in Italy, at a price where breaking one is annoying rather than a small tragedy. That last part is the actual specification.
Published specs
- Capacity
- 8.5 oz
- Set
- 4 glasses
- Dimensions
- 3.7" diameter x 6.1" height
- Material
- Clear soda-lime glass
- Made in
- Italy
- Construction
- Stem hot-pulled in one piece with the cup; rim finished by laser
- Care
- Dishwasher safe
The math
- Headroom over a standard pour: About 5.5 oz
- A shaken or stirred cocktail served up lands around 3 oz in the glass. An 8.5 oz coupe leaves roughly 5.5 oz of air, which is why a coupe does not slosh the way a full martini glass does.
What’s good
- The one-piece hot-pulled stem is the joint that snaps on cheap stemware, and this design does not have it
- Dishwasher safe, which matters more than it should for glassware that gets used on a weeknight
- A set of four means you can serve guests without counting glasses
What’s not
- Soda-lime glass, not crystal — heavier walls and less brilliance than the Schott or Riedel
- 8.5 oz is generous for a coupe, so a 3 oz drink can look small in it
- Wide bowl warms a drink faster than a narrow one
Skip this if
Someone who already has coupes and wants an upgrade in feel. This is the sensible first set, not the fine one.
#ad We don’t print a price we can’t verify today. We may earn a commission at no cost to you. Disclosure.
Questions people ask
What is a Nick and Nora glass?
Why use a Nick and Nora instead of a coupe?
How many ounces is a Nick and Nora glass?
Is a Nick and Nora glass worth buying?
Can you put ice in a Nick and Nora glass?
Where these numbers come from
Every specification on this page is a figure the manufacturer or retailer publishes. We have not measured any of it ourselves, and every calculation shows its working so you can redo it.