A field guide to the cutting glass
Why the small glass exists, what "cutting" actually means, and why your mug is working against you.
· 3 min read
A cutting glass holds about 140ml. That is a bit over half a mug. People see it and assume it is a portion-control thing, or worse, a styling decision. It is neither. It is a temperature decision.
Cutting means halving
The name comes from the practice of splitting one glass between two people — a cutting, half each. If two of you want one at four o'clock but neither of you wants to be awake at midnight, you order one cutting and it arrives as two. Half a chai is a completely normal thing to want and the mug has never once allowed for it.
Half a chai is a completely normal thing to want.
Why small is correct
Chai is drunk very hot and it does not survive cooling. At about sixty degrees the milk fat and the spice separate on your tongue and the whole thing goes flat and slightly chalky. A 140ml glass gets finished inside four or five minutes, so every mouthful is at the temperature the drink was designed for. A 350ml mug guarantees the last third is disappointing. You have experienced this. You blamed the tea.
The thick base
The base is heavy for two reasons: it stops the glass tipping when someone puts it down hard on a counter, and it keeps the heat in the body of the glass rather than dumping it into the surface. The lip is thin, because a thick lip makes anything taste like a canteen.
Get six. You will break one within a year — everybody does, it is part of the arrangement — and you will still have five.