What is a Coupe?  🇫🇷 Bar Glassware part 1
Channel: Keikofilms
Date: 2022-05-22

From Winston Churchill to Napoleon Bonaparte to Mark Twain, everyone who was anyone in history seemed to have something to say about Champagne. After all, as Madame de Pompadour once said, “Champagne is the only drink that leaves a woman still beautiful after drinking it.” As Louis XV’s royal mistress, she knew a thing or two about beauty, and also about Champagne: She was one of Claude Moët’s most loyal customers.

Louis XV didn’t leave the Champagne drinking to Madame de Pompadour, though. It was quite literally the drink of kings in the 17th century; Louis XV's private dining room had a painting of a post-hunt oyster lunch, complete with a Champagne action scene. This was the first time that it was ever depicted in a painting, and if you look closely at the head of the table, you can see a man who has just popped the cork -- he's still holding the knife used to cut the string that held it in place. Follow his gaze, and you can even see the cork in mid-air.

In these early days of Champagne, it wasn't so much a beverage to be savored, but rather something to slam like a shot of tequila. People drank each serving in one big gulp and then turned their glasses over in a bowl to allow the sediment to drain out. The Champagne glasses in Louis XV's painting look remarkably like what we call a Champagne coupe -- basically round bowls on stems. But where did that shape originate?

More: Here's a pair of glasses that will keep your Champagne bubbly for longer.