Best Everyday Drinking Glasses for 2019

What are the best everyday drinking glasses you’ve ever seen? For me it’s a Bodum thermo glass, and there’s a chance you’ve never seen such a thing!

Handmade Professional Quality

These fine double walled glasses are handmade and mouth blown by professional glassblowers. Consequently, I imagine they’re relatively uncommon compared to cheaply machined rival glassware. Every time I see one it’s a bit of a “wow” moment—yes, I really, really like them.

Since these glasses are also a little unusual in their design, they’re also known as insulated drinking glasses, tumblers or mugs. I’m fairly sure they’re all the same thing. Quite simply, such a glass keeps your hot drink hot and they look smart doing it.

Tea, coffee, hot chocolate or whatever, if it’s hot it’ll stay nice and hot for longer in a Bodum glass. And it’ll do the same for keeping cold drinks cold too, which is perfect for the summer.

35cl (~12oz) Bodum Pavina (double walled thermo glass mug) primed with a teabag and spoon.
35cl (~12oz) Bodum Pavina primed with a teabag and spoon.

Revisiting An Old Discovery

I’ve told this story on Pocket Myriad before, that I first saw thermo glasses in the Netherlands. There I was in a Dutch restaurant and they served me a tea in a double walled glass, piping hot contents and a cool exterior. It looked really smart. The type of glass used is similar to laboratory quality glass, very thin, clear and light. If you’ve ever done any lab work you’ll know it’s quite easy to smash, too.

Having said that, I’m not in the habit of throwing glassware around and so I’ve never had one break in normal use. The glasses are made by Swiss company, Bodum. They seem to prefer coffee in Switzerland and so most of the company’s products are coffee oriented but the glasses are perfectly good for tea and cold drinks too.

Here’s a 30 second overview from a nice lady and (spoilers!) yes, that’s my favourite glass right there.

Smart, Versatile Glass

The great thing with thermo glasses is their versatility. You can stuff them with something ice-cold and your hands won’t freeze, or you can fill them with something piping hot and the glass remains comfortable to hold.

So why am I writing about Bodum glasses again? Quite simply I’ve owned Bodum glasses for a couple of years now and it’s high time for an update. I’m still really impressed by one type of glass in particular, which is the type I originally went with—the 35cl (~12oz) ones.

The other reason for an update is that I was only able to plug the glasses in Europe through Amazon.co.uk. It’s a European product so it makes sense to be able to buy them from Europe, but what a shame not to be able to plug the glasses in North America! Well thankfully I’ve managed to rectify that and I can now shout about my favourite glasses to people across the pond.

35cl (~12oz) Bodum Pavina (double walled thermo glass mug) brewing a nice hot cup of tea.
35cl (~12oz) Bodum Pavina brewing a nice hot cup of tea.

My Everyday Use

What do I use them for? Well, usually for keeping my tea hot next to the computer. Whether you drink tea, coffee, hot chocolate or whatever, you’ve probably had your drink go cold on you after you got carried away doing whatever it was you were doing. I’ve had that a lot. The Bodum glasses just give you more time to enjoy your drink. One less problem.

Also, if you do need to reheat your drink and microwaving is an option, you can put them in the microwave. Hot chocolate reheats just fine, although I’m not fond of microwaved tea. Far better if it doesn’t go cold in the first place, which is why I like the mugs.

35cl (~12oz) Bodum Pavina (double walled thermo glass mug) containing a nice hot cup of tea.
35cl (~12oz) Bodum Pavina containing a nice hot cup of tea.

The Best Everyday Drinking Glasses?

As I keep saying, my favourite glass is the the 35cl (~12oz) one. What makes it the best thermo glass for me is the overall size and shape, which in the UK would be a generous size and slightly larger than a typical mug. If you prefer a larger or smaller volume, Bodum make 45cl and 25cl mugs too. That’s pretty much something for everyone.

You’ll find that as the outside of the glass doesn’t get hot, there’s no need for a handle. It gets warm at the most, which is quite nice in winter to warm your hands. The shape of the glass is comfortable to grasp and the texture is both hard and smooth like marble. Having said that, be careful not to drop them while wet.

I might as well mention the 8cl shot glasses simply because they exist, but personally I don’t see the point of those. I should mention them, just in case you’re the kind of person to pour an espresso and leave it 10 minutes before drinking it. But why would you do that? Well if you do, there’s a glass for that. Personally I’m sticking to a nice big mug!

Get One Right Now

If any of those sound absolutely fantastic and you want your own, order them from Amazon right here and have them delivered directly to your door. Other options are linked off the product page below should you want something slightly different from the one pictured, just click the link and select the product you want.

These glasses have hundreds of reviews on Amazon with an amazing overall score of 4.5 of 5 Stars. Great!

And with that, I hope you enjoy your Bodum mugs as much as I do. Bye!